[D66] Here is a curated reading list of books that are highly critical of orthodox science, scientism, materialism, and reductionism

[René Oudeweg]

Here is a curated reading list of books that are highly critical of 
orthodox science, scientism, materialism, and reductionism, grouped by 
theme. These works range from philosophical critiques to radical 
alternatives to mainstream scientific worldviews. I’ve emphasized 
serious, influential texts rather than pop spirituality, and noted each 
book’s angle so you can navigate the landscape.

I. Core Critiques of Scientism & Materialism

These books directly challenge the idea that science (as currently 
practiced) is the only valid path to knowledge.

• Mary Midgley – Science as Salvation

A powerful philosophical critique of scientism as a quasi-religious 
ideology. Midgley argues that science has been wrongly elevated from a 
method into a total worldview that claims authority over ethics, 
meaning, and metaphysics.

• Mary Midgley – The Myths We Live By

Explores how scientific narratives (e.g., progress, reductionism, 
selfish genes) function as myths shaping culture, often unconsciously 
and dogmatically.

• Hilary Putnam – Reason, Truth and History

A landmark philosophical attack on metaphysical realism and scientific 
absolutism, questioning the idea that science gives a “God’s-eye view” 
of reality.

• Wolfgang Smith – Cosmos and Transcendence

A devastating critique of scientism from a metaphysical and Thomistic 
perspective, arguing that modern science amputates qualitative reality 
and replaces it with abstraction.

II. Challenges to Reductionism in Biology & Mind

Books questioning whether life and consciousness can be reduced to 
physics and chemistry.

• Thomas Nagel – Mind and Cosmos

Famously controversial. Nagel argues that materialist neo-Darwinism 
cannot explain consciousness, reason, or value, and that science needs 
radically new principles.

• Evan Thompson – Mind in Life

A rigorous, non-dual alternative drawing on phenomenology and biology. 
Rejects the idea that mind is an accidental by-product of matter.

• Brian Goodwin – How the Leopard Changed Its Spots

Challenges gene-centrism and mechanistic Darwinism, arguing for form, 
self-organization, and meaning in biology.

• Stuart Kauffman – Reinventing the Sacred

Argues that life and creativity transcend reductionist laws, proposing a 
post-mechanistic science that acknowledges emergence and agency.

III. Radical Revisions of Scientific Worldviews

These authors don’t just criticize orthodoxy—they propose alternative 
frameworks.

• Rupert Sheldrake – A New Science of Life

The foundational work behind The Science Delusion, introducing morphic 
resonance and attacking mechanistic biology head-on.

• David Bohm – Wholeness and the Implicate Order

A profound critique of fragmentation in science, proposing a holistic 
ontology where separateness is an illusion.

• Iain McGilchrist – The Master and His Emissary

A cultural and neuroscientific critique arguing that Western 
civilization—and science—has been distorted by left-hemisphere dominance 
and excessive abstraction.

• Fritjof Capra – The Turning Point

Classic systems-theory critique of mechanistic science, advocating 
ecological, holistic thinking across disciplines.

IV. Philosophy of Science: Paradigms, Power, and Dogma

Books examining how scientific consensus forms—and how it can become 
rigid or ideological.

• Thomas Kuhn – The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

The essential text on paradigms, showing that science does not progress 
purely rationally but through crises, power shifts, and worldview changes.

• Paul Feyerabend – Against Method

One of the most radical critiques ever written. Feyerabend argues that 
there is no single scientific method, and that methodological pluralism 
is essential for progress.

• Philip Mirowski – Science-Mart

Examines how institutional, economic, and political pressures distort 
modern science, undermining its claim to neutrality.

V. Consciousness, Psyche, and the Limits of Physicalism

Books pushing back against the idea that mind is “nothing but” brain 
activity.

• William James – The Varieties of Religious Experience

Still one of the strongest critiques of reductive psychology, insisting 
subjective experience is a legitimate domain of inquiry.

• David Chalmers – The Conscious Mind

Introduces the “hard problem” of consciousness, arguing that physicalism 
cannot explain subjective experience.

• Edward F. Kelly et al. – Irreducible Mind

A massive, scholarly challenge to materialist neuroscience, arguing that 
mind cannot be fully explained by brain processes.

VI. Meta-Critiques: Science as Ideology

Books that frame scientism as a cultural or political belief system 
rather than neutral inquiry.

• C.S. Lewis – The Abolition of Man

A prescient critique of scientific reductionism applied to values, 
ethics, and human nature.

• Jean-François Lyotard – The Postmodern Condition

Critiques scientific “metanarratives” and their claims to universal 
authority.

• John Dupré – The Disorder of Things

Argues against the idea of a unified science, promoting pluralism over 
reductionist hierarchy.




Suggested Reading Paths

If you want a coherent progression:

Start with: Kuhn → Feyerabend → Midgley

Then biology & mind: Nagel → Sheldrake → Thompson

Then deeper metaphysics: Bohm → McGilchrist → Smith