Havel said that because scientific observation could not be done objectively, science can only mislead in its attempts to explain the definitive nature of the universe.

In the book Vaclav Havel, or Living in Truth, Havel is quoted as saying science "kills God and takes his place on thevacant throne so that....science would be the solelegitimate arbiter of absolute truth."

Havel suggests that under the guise ofobjectivity, science steals the inexplicablewondrous nature from the human soul and leaves agaping hole in its wake.

Feyerabend agrees that objective reality is notknowable through science. He says of scientificresults, "What they have figured out is oneparticular response to their actions, and thereality that is behind this is laughing, 'Ha ha!They think they have found me out!"

Anti-Science in Politics

The depiction of science as a misperceived pathtowards unequivocal truth has also becomeprevalent in American politics.

California representative George E. Brown Jr.wrote in the Los Angeles Times of the follies ofscience: "The promise of science--a miraclecure--serves politicians, who always are lookingfor a tonic to sell to the public, and it servesscientists, who understandably seek to preservetheir elevated position in our culture."

Brown, former chair of the House Science, Spaceand Technology Committee, says that science'sreputation as an absolute truth makes itvulnerable to political abuse. Many are tempted touse science as a "cure" when it is not fullyapplicable.

"Indeed, the promise of science may be at theroot of our problems, because it iseasier--politically, economically, socially,scientifically--to support more research than itis to change how we behave," writes Brown.

Post-Modernism

Many of the ideas championed by Brown,Feyerabend and Havel are part of the movement of"post-modernism."

The post-modernist theory states that thematerialistic, rationalistic, scientific idealogyof Western culture has reached its limit and isnow causing a rapid cultural collapse.

Post-modernism regards partiality in science aspart of an inescapable universal bias. Accordingto post-modernist theory, no truths can beuniversally held, since all concepts of trutharise from local influences.

Paul R. Gross of the University of Virginia andNorman Levitt of Rutgers University write in theirbook Higher Superstition: "there is noknowledge...there are merely stories,'narratives,' devised to satisfy the human need tomake some sense of the world."

The Gaia Concept

One popular theory that has arisen out ofpost-modernistic philosophy is the "Gaia" concept.