Theodore Roszak - Point Quotes

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If we could assume the view of nonhuman nature, what passes for sane behavior in our social affairs might seem madness. But as the prevailing reality principle would have it, nothing could be greater madness than to believe that beast and plant, mountain and river have a "point of view." …minds exist, so we believe, nowhere but in human heads.

Theodore Roszak
Goethe wondered at what point our instruments might be creating what we think we see out there in the world.... his question is still a good one. Every science of observation must take care not to get lost among its own artifacts.

Theodore Roszak
Since the late 19th century, aging has been the normal state of all industrial societies; it is a sustained trend. Societies designed to cater to the needs of aging populations will soon become the accepted political condition of our species. Acknowledging that fact will, at some point, slide so smoothly into the conventional wisdom that future generations may not realize that this is a major new feature of modern life, this is different, this is not what human culture was ever meant to be—and it all started now.

Theodore Roszak
This is the point at which the "rape of nature" ceases to be a metaphor. It is an accurate depiction... rape stems from a compulsive need to control, to control completely.... From... inadequacy flow fear, anger, the need to punish and subjugate.... the objective is... to dominate this elusive, troubling female so that she will do what she is ordered to do.... that requires the objectification of the other; she must become what he wants her to become.

Theodore Roszak
The final stage of life... offers us the opportunity to detach from competitive, high-consumption priorities... At that point, life itself—the opportunity it offers for growth, for intellectual adventure, for the simple joys of love and companionship, for working out our salvation—comes to be seen as our highest value.... That is what I have always assumed it means to be countercultural.

Theodore Roszak
Science rests itself not in the world the scientist beholds at any particular point in time, but in his mode of viewing that world. A man is a scientist not because of what he sees, but because of how he sees it.

Theodore Roszak