In this compelling and challenging argument, biologist Rupert Sheldrake explains that the fundamental delusion of science is the belief that it has understood the nature of reality, that all of the fundamental questions have been answered and only the details remain to be ironed out. In an impassioned contention, however, Sheldrake demonstrates that science—true science, which should be skeptical and inquisitive—has been constricted by assumptions that have become dogmas. He scientifically tackles these dogmas—which include the belief that all reality is either material or physical, that the world is composed of dead matter, that nature has no purpose, that the conscience is merely a physical manifestation of the brain—showing that science would be immeasurably better without them: freer, more interesting, and more fun.

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist, a former research fellow of the Royal Society, and the former director of studies in biochemistry and cell biology at Cambridge University’s Clare College. He was the director of the Perrott-Warrick Project on unexplained human abilities, funded by Trinity College in Cambridge, England. He is a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences near San Francisco and a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute in Connecticut. He has previously contributed to publications such as the Guardian, where he had a regular monthly column, the New Scientist, Spectator, and the Sunday Times. He is the author of Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home, A New Science of Life, and The Presence of the Past.