Scientism

<p>Haldane was one of those, along with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Stapledon" title="Olaf Stapledon">Olaf Stapledon</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kay_Ogden" title="Charles Kay Ogden">Charles Kay Ogden</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.A.Richards" title="I.A. Richards" class="mw-redirect">I.A. Richards</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.G.Wells" title="H.G. Wells" class="mw-redirect">H.G. Wells</a>, whom <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.S._Lewis" title="C.S. Lewis" class="mw-redirect">C.S. Lewis</a> accused of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism" title="Scientism">scientism</a>, "<b>the belief that the supreme moral end is the perpetuation of our own species, and that this is to be pursued even if, in the process of being fitted for survival, our species has to be stripped of all those things for which we value it—of pity, of happiness, and of freedom."</b> Shortly after the third book of the Ransom Trilogy appeared, J.B.S. Haldane criticised all three of them in an article titled <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.lewisiana.nl/haldane">"Auld Hornie, F.R.S."</a>. The title reflects the sarcastic tone of the article, Auld Hornie being the pet name given to the devil by the Scots and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.R.S." title="F.R.S." class="mw-redirect">F.R.S.</a> standing for "Fellow of the Royal Society". Lewis’s response, "A Reply to Professor Haldane", was never published during his lifetime and apparently never seen by Haldane. In it, Lewis claims that he was attacking scientism, not scientists, by challenging the view of some that the supreme goal of our species is to perpetuate itself at any expense.</p>