reductio

reductionism bore most of the weight
erecting Science root, and branch, and bole
but consciousness is an emergent trait
no smaller units add up to the whole
the mind regards itself but has no tools
to tell if there's an other looking back
Cartesian logic with its stepwise rules
has met the straw beneath which it may crack
what's left is mysticism, or despair
perhaps the error's what's been reified
attempts to quantify what wasn't there
eluded Francis Crick until he died
philosophizing's fun 'til it goes bad
and drives biologists stark raving mad