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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond the Counterculture,
By A Customer
This review is from: Where the Wasteland Ends (Paperback)
Roszak analyzes the single vision philosophy of the Judeo-Christian tradition and its descendant, science. These two seemingly opposing philosophies are seen as the foundation of the creation of the dominant technocracy which is poisoning the planet and alienating manking. His analyses of Blake, Wordsworth, and Goethe are also interesting and erudite. The amazing feat of this book is that he broadens his analysis of the Counter Culture to the foundational roots of the problem. An amazing, life-changing book, which will make you re-evaluate "progress" and the alienating powers of our technocratic age. It should be required reading for all philosophy and science classes.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More meaningful than ever,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Where the Wasteland Ends (Paperback)
It's been over 35 years since this rich, insightful book was first published, and its detailed critique of our technocratic, spiritually empty society has only become more devastatingly accurate. Let's disregard certain specific, dated references, as any work written in & of its time will contain those -- what matters here is the overall substance, which remains terribly relevant.
Contrary to the negative review below, Roszak is far from despising science. What he's critiquing is "scientism," the idolatry of science & the rationalist worldview -- for that matter, he's just as far from despising reason, as well. Drawing upon William Blake in particular, his argument is that reason & science are PART of a living worldview, but do not constitute a viable worldview on their own. In short, he's critiquing the reductionist worldview that claims everything can be reduced to "nothing but." Are human beings complex biological, or chemical, mechanisms? That argument can be made ... but are we "nothing but" biological or chemical mechanisms? If so, what does such an outlook mean for human beings & their culture? After all, machines can be replaced, rebuilt, bought & sold -- individual machines have no intrinsic worth, only utility -- mercy, pity, compassion, empathy have no bearing on the bottom line -- such are the moral & spiritual dilemmas Roszak poses for all of us. Nobody can deny that we live in a world of astonishing technical breakthroughs & wonders. We can communicate with anyone around the world, we have access to vast libraries of information at the click of a mouse, we can download music & film & art from every culture & era in an instant, we can perform medical miracles ... but is that enough to make a better, more humane world? If anything, the alienation & commodification of the human being that Roszak decried in 1972 has only grown worse in the passing decades. Despite the greater access to information, there's a general dumbing down of culture. Anti-intellectualism is a public virtue, narrow-minded fundamentalism of every stripe has made a ferocious, horrific comeback, and the culture as a whole is soaked in fear, anxiety, and a desperate hunger for hedonistic escape. Hardly the utopia promised by Progress! What Roszak points out is the need for the Sacred, the Holy, the Meaningful -- which is NOT the same as the need for that old-time religion in any of its traditional forms. Indeed, it's quite possible to cultivate the Sacred without any belief in the supernatural, as it's essentially a holistic worldview, born of experience & wisdom, one which poets & philosophers have advocated for centuries. A mode of Being, rather than merely Existing. Granted, this approach can have dangers of its own -- just look at much of the vague New Age wooliness pervading our culture today. It's just as much an escape as fundamentalism, or easy bigotry, or mainlining one's drug of choice (chemical, electronic, sexual, take your pick). But again, Roszak isn't suggesting that we simply throw reason to the wind & eagerly embrace whatever feels good & makes us happy for the moment. This book isn't an argument for easy panaceas, empty placeboes, slack thinking, or feel-good philosophies. It's a passionate plea for depth & wholeness, which seldom comes without hard work. As the culture becomes more vacuous, frenetic, dehumanized, so the need for an alternative worldview becomes more pressing. Roszak offers this critique as a starting point, a diagnosis of our present illness. The next step is up to each us. Most highly recommended to all who seek a better life, a better world!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Watershed Book,
By Robert L. Rose (Blooming Glen, PA, 18911-0064, Bucks County,United States)) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)
This review is from: Where the Wasteland Ends (Paperback)
This is one of my treasured rubber-banded paperbacks; I re-read it regularly (and replace the worn rubber band with new). Roszak's work here (and in The Making of a Counter-Culture, another rubber-banded edition in my book collection) was a personal watershed for me in the mid-70s, allowing me to understand the tragic appeal of "mystification" in my own life and to begin my own transcendence of "objective consciousness." A joy to re-read during this 40th anniversary of The Summer of Love.
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