In a word, quaint.
To think that the concepts of Darwinian Evolution, Newtonian Physics, Relativity, et aliae doxae a priori ad infinitum, should share the grail of a universal commons. Kant, like the proverbial moth to a flame, dared approach it and--we must admit now with our wiser wisdom--he did so with the ignorance of an insect driven by forces and motors. He infused his approach with stolen goods disguised by transformation of his signature wing: transcendence. After Kant, everything was Nature dancing with a divinized Ego. With transcendence immanentized, Pope's dictum became the law, "presume not God to scan" and in obedience they are happy to no longer have to study man.
cornelis, there is justice in what you say. The problem is, science has not demonstrated a whole lot of competence to study man. At least not so far, not seriously. Which I have to admit is an extraordinarily odd thing, since science is the offspring of the human mind, and supposedly in the service of man.
It may well be that the job of studying man is properly left, not to Naturwissenschaft, but to Geistenwissenschaft. We just don't want Naturwissenschaft to grind him down to dust beforehand; and so we say that in principle, intellect, mind, consciousness are preeminent in the universe. This is to "immanentize transcendence" only in the scientific setting, because science has difficulty dealing with transcendence in principle: It is beyond the reach of physical laws and direct observation.
But still one can't deal with God as an intended object; and similarly, one really can't deal with man in this way either.
Does this make any sense to you?
Let me guess: You were reading a book by Berlinski and just came up for air. :-)To think that the concepts of Darwinian Evolution, Newtonian Physics, Relativity, et aliae doxae a priori ad infinitum, should share the grail of a universal commons. Kant, like the proverbial moth to a flame, dared approach it and--we must admit now with our wiser wisdom--he did so with the ignorance of an insect driven by forces and motors. He infused his approach with stolen goods disguised by transformation of his signature wing: transcendence. After Kant, everything was Nature dancing with a divinized Ego. With transcendence immanentized, Pope's dictum became the law, "presume not God to scan" and in obedience they are happy to no longer have to study man.