10 - 16 January 2002
Issue No.568
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 10 - 16 January 2002 Issue No.568 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
The science of morality
My hopes for the new year emanate from faith in God's infinite bounty, for the dimensions of life affected by human intervention do not offer much scope for optimism. Of course, scientific progress may well open up new horizons for a better life, eliminating starvation and disease, increasing and improving production. Even in a sad year like the one through which we live, God may inspire scientists yet.
What we want from science, of course, is the good of humanity, even though, it can bring about just as much evil. If we seek good, however, we must abide by moral paradigms and principles, for only they guarantee the rectitude of scientific progress. History is full of precedents that show us how science can, and does, go terribly wrong. Many of the inventors responsible for the evils of science have attempted to make up for their misdeeds. The example of Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, is only too obvious. Why not avoid evil inventions in the first place?
Science, as I have said directly and indirectly through my fiction, must be regulated by morality. Yet, as the case of Awlad Haretna (Children of Gebalawi) demonstrates, others seem to disagree with me. And I say it again in my old age: if it fails to benefit humanity, science must be abandoned. The only way to guarantee that it will help and not harm is to make it subject to moral principles.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page