So are we saying that human beings do not have the possibility of functioning as autonomous, self regulating, self directional (free) moving beings, (I am not talking about physical biology here)? Why is it that we always need another “authority”, The Church, State or Science? Is the answer to the problems of the human condition really just another external authority? Why the thought of human autonomy seems to be “some grater threat”?

it just does it on a presumption of physicalism — Pseudonym

I agree - and that is my main point.

scientific method attempts to eliminate ‘the subjective’ by concentrating exclusively on what can be objectively validated and measured. — Wayfarer

This statement made me think about something that I have been chewing on for a long time. On the one hand, the mission of science to arrive at truth sees the observer (subject/subjective) as a contamination to the objective study at hand. This is why, to have total “objectivity”, we have double/triple blind tests. This scientific method has proven to work extremely well when dealing with the outer, quantitative, material order. I for one am extremely grateful to science for its extraordinary success.

On the other hand, we have the philosophies of the “perennial traditions” asking the enduring questions of life. Their primary concern is the inner, subjective, immaterial order (psychological). They hold that these are also studies of importance, meaning and value. The difference is that the object of study is also the subject/observer doing the looking. This is called self-inquiry by some traditions. With such topics as “the unexamined life is not worth living” or “to know thyself”. They are aphorisms to remind us of the human task at hand, that there is more to life than mere material goods.

The basic rules and dynamics seem to change drastically between the two orders of inquiry. Science does not seem to be interested in the latter because of this perceived contamination.

“I know that I don’t know”
My take on this statement of Socrates is that it’s his reminder to consider the inherent limits of intellectual knowing. Intellectual arrogance can result in hubris. Another way to frame Socrates statement might be:
“We know by means of our intelligence that, what the intelligence does not comprehend is more real than what it does comprehend.” By Simone Weil