The negative aspects of science and capitalism are confronted in Wendell Berry’s 2008 article, The Melancholy of Anatomy. In his article, Berry clearly states that he understands how science can be useful, but feels that it is mostly narrow-minded and damaging to the impressionable public. Berry argues that the vast field of science provides the people with knowledge that is not “adequate to the sustenance of human life or the health of the ecosphere.” (Berry, 11) Berry states that things should not be looked at in parts, but as a whole, and uses several passages forth Bible to support his ideas. He makes statements regarding the role science and the market have on people and the earth. The Industrial Revolution, in Berry’s opinion, has vastly changed the world because science now plays a huge part in our economy. Berry believes scientists capitalize on the innocent, scared, and worried public, as well as the defenseless earth. Once certain areas can provide people with money, that becomes its sole purpose. He believes that humans no longer sympathize with people or other creatures on the planet because materialist and capitalist ways have blinded them. In the end, Berry argues that people need to stop learning a little bit about small parts, and start critiquing the whole. He believes there are too many weaknesses in the current revolution, and that people put science on a pedestal, when in reality they should question it. In Berry’s opinion, scientists have been overcome with greed and profit off of the public’s fears, concerns, and naivety, and this is something that should be amended.
Wendell Berry makes some very interesting points in his article, some of which I agree with, and others I strongly oppose. On page 14 of his article, Berry says, “We have accumulated a massive collection of ‘information’ to which we may have ‘access.’ But this information does not become knowledge by being accessible.” What Berry is attempting to say is that we so blindly take everything we hear or are able to learn as information, just because it is being presented to us in an accessible way. We never stop to question this information, and think that maybe we do not have as much access to actual important information. We must find a deeper meaning to things. One of the points Berry repeatedly brings up is how markets, research, and knowledge are interconnected. He claims that people who look highly upon science do not realize how negatively it is involved with the Industrial Revolution. This science that Berry says we all emulate, has really committed many wrongdoings, specifically by creating marketable products that range “from refined fuels to nuclear bombs to computers to poisons to pills.” (Berry, 14) He claims science is based on things like greed, fear, and suffering. We instill this fear into the public and profit tremendously off of it. For those scientists who do not involve themselves with these practices, they are often overlooked because they oppose the majority. Berry is making a point regarding how the public believes everything scientists say, and do not question this knowledge. The public is fed information that seems very convincing, so they do not search further and see if there are things they should not believe. In conclusion Berry is advocating that we stop being passive consumers who do not question things, something we were taught to be, and turn ourselves into informed critics who actively search for more answers. By examining how healthy the context is, Berry says we, “would reveal the health of the work.”
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