Movies these days are full of goblins, wizards and vampires, which looks like a throwback to medieval times. But is it? How about this for a few more modern ghouls....
In the 1870's, Alfred Russel Wallace was a naturalist who proposed a theory of natural selection at the same time as Charles Darwin. An example of 19th Century rationalism? But Wallace was also interested in spiritualism.
What about Carl Jung in the 1920's? He was not exactly a materialist, but was a colleague of Freud, as well as a devotee of alchemy.
In more modern times Jonathan Marshall and Mike Hulme are discussing our attitudes towards climate change. But its not a question of science, but of psychological and cultural forces.
What to make of all this? Perhaps not many people are really prepared to accept that materialism and physical science is able to explain all our lives and interests.
