Uploaded May 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Science Delusion / Science Set Free
sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-science-delusion-science-set-free
Support this content and my research by becoming a channel member or subscribing to my Substack, for early access and exclusive content.
rupertsheldrake.substack.com
In Science Set Free (originally published in the UK as The Science Delusion), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake shows the ways in which science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity.
1. Nature is mechanical
2. Matter is unconscious
3. Laws of nature are fixed
4. The total amount of matter & energy is always the same
5. Nature is purposeless
6. All inheritance is material
7. Memories are material traces
8. Minds are confined to brains
9. Psychic phenomena are illusory
10. Only mechanistic medicine works
According to these principles, all of reality is material or physical; the world is a machine, made up of inanimate matter; nature is purposeless; consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain; free will is an illusion; God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls.
But should science be a belief-system, or a method of enquiry? Sheldrake shows that the materialist ideology is moribund; under its sway, increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns while societies around the world are paying the price.
In the skeptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of materialism into exciting questions, and shows how all of them open up startling new possibilities for discovery.
Reviews
"Thirty years after his first heretical books, Sheldrake's new one, Science Set Free, is a landmark achievement. No science writing has inspired me more." — Deepak Chopra, San Francisco Chronicle
"Sheldrake drags ten of the most powerful dogmas out of the basement and into the light of day; and does science, humanity and the world a large, a considerable favour." — The Independent
"For those of us who are suspicious of the claims of materialism it's astonishing, and also heartening, to hear a scientist agree that it's a hidebound ideology, dismiss the belief in determinism as a 'delusion' and call on the 'high priests' of science to abandon their 'fantasy of omniscience'." — Robert McLuhan
The Science Delusion / Science Set Free
sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-science-delusion-science-set-free
Support this content and my research by becoming a channel member or subscribing to my Substack, for early access and exclusive content.
rupertsheldrake.substack.com
In Science Set Free (originally published in the UK as The Science Delusion), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake shows the ways in which science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity.
1. Nature is mechanical
2. Matter is unconscious
3. Laws of nature are fixed
4. The total amount of matter & energy is always the same
5. Nature is purposeless
6. All inheritance is material
7. Memories are material traces
8. Minds are confined to brains
9. Psychic phenomena are illusory
10. Only mechanistic medicine works
According to these principles, all of reality is material or physical; the world is a machine, made up of inanimate matter; nature is purposeless; consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain; free will is an illusion; God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls.
But should science be a belief-system, or a method of enquiry? Sheldrake shows that the materialist ideology is moribund; under its sway, increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns while societies around the world are paying the price.
In the skeptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of materialism into exciting questions, and shows how all of them open up startling new possibilities for discovery.
Reviews
"Thirty years after his first heretical books, Sheldrake's new one, Science Set Free, is a landmark achievement. No science writing has inspired me more." — Deepak Chopra, San Francisco Chronicle
"Sheldrake drags ten of the most powerful dogmas out of the basement and into the light of day; and does science, humanity and the world a large, a considerable favour." — The Independent
"For those of us who are suspicious of the claims of materialism it's astonishing, and also heartening, to hear a scientist agree that it's a hidebound ideology, dismiss the belief in determinism as a 'delusion' and call on the 'high priests' of science to abandon their 'fantasy of omniscience'." — Robert McLuhan
