I was reading a review of a book I intend to read: Nicholas Humphrey’s Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness. I'm always fascinated by new, especially evolutionary, takes on the phenomenology of consciousness. At one point, the reviewer, Caspar Melville, mentions another negative review of the book by a philosopher named Mary Midgley. He writes, "Humphrey remains on her black list of reductionist scientists who think that science is the only way in which we can access the truth."
I had an immediate reaction to this thought: I believe that science is not the only way we have to access the truth, but it is always the only way to confirm the truth. This seems to best capture my anti-transcendentalist take on human spirituality – on my own spirituality – as much as referencing such a vague concept makes a certain inside part of me squirm unconfortably.