In The Reenchantment of the World, Morris Berman critiques the modern Western worldview shaped by scientific rationalism and mechanistic thinking. He argues that the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries "disenchanted" the world by separating humanity from nature, leading to alienation, ecological destruction, and spiritual emptiness.

Berman proposes that a new worldview — one that re-integrates human beings with the natural world in a sustainable and meaningful way — is urgently needed for the survival of both humanity and the planet.

Berman outlines the psychological and cultural consequences of modern scientific thinking.

• The mind/body split (originating from Cartesian dualism) fostered a sense of separation between self and world.
  
  

• Scientific rationalism emphasized objectivity and detached observation, diminishing subjective experience.
  
  

• This division resulted in widespread alienation: individuals experience disconnection not only from nature but from their own bodies and emotions.
  
  

• Berman introduces the concept of repression — society suppresses holistic ways of knowing that could integrate emotion and intuition.
  
  

He argues that modern consciousness is a historical anomaly: earlier civilizations experienced the world as animated, interconnected, and meaningful.

The Disenchantment of the World

Here, Berman details how the Scientific Revolution — particularly figures like Galileo, Descartes, and Newton — radically shifted humanity’s relationship with the world:

• Nature was redefined as a machine, operating through mechanical laws, devoid of spirit or purpose.
  
  

• Knowledge was to be gained through mathematical abstraction and empirical measurement, not through participation or intuition.
  
  

• This transformation served economic interests (colonialism, industrial capitalism) by making the world exploitable.
  
  

Berman calls this process disenchantment: the systematic stripping away of meaning from the cosmos, reducing it to dead matter.