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Paul Goodman's Last Testament New Reformation: Notes of a Neolithic Conservative By Paul Goodman, PM Press, 194 pages, trade paperback, $20.00
Although Paul Goodman established himself as one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, by the end of his life the anarchist philosopher felt dissatisfied with the direction of the political movements his writings had inspired.
In New Reformation: Notes of a Neolithic Conservative, his last book of social criticism published two years before his death in 1972, Goodman attempted to resynthesize his theories with a wider scope, and address the problems he saw in the movements of his time. In many ways it was an update of his "May Pamphlet," a manifesto written in 1945.
In New Reformation, Goodman makes the argument that for much of society, youth in particular, science has become the new religion. "It is evident that. . .we are not going to give up the mass faith in scientific technology that is the religion of modern times; and yet we cannot continue with it, as it has been perverted," he writes in the Preface.
What he proposes is a "New Reformation," along the lines of the Protestant Reformation, to restore faith in the sciences.
Goodman begins his analysis from the perspective that much of this change must come from the sciences and professions themselves. If science is a religion for modern times, he argues, then "technology is a branch of moral philosophy, not of science." Technology's current place in the realm of the sciences, both in "the universities, in funding, and in the public mind," is a bastardized position, devoid of what it needs most: moral perspective.
Relying on technologists to enforce morality within their professional sphere makes sense not only from a utilitarian perspective, he asses. The more over-used a technology gets, the less productive it ends up being, and from an environmental perspective, as well. In order to ensure the survival of ourselves, and the planet, a more responsible and modest approach to technology is necessary.
Goodman is quick to dismiss the idea that science and technology are "value-neutral," arguing that it is scientists and engineers, the creators of the technologies themselves, who are...