Influences of -Religion & Science debates

Key Words  - 

• Conflict 

• Compatibility

• Rationalism

• Empiricism

• Realism

• Anti-Realism:

• Scientific MethodologyBig Bang

• Steady State

• Intelligent Design

• Irreducible Complexity

• Creationism

• Cosmological Constant 

• Evolution

• Gaia Hypothesis

• Naturalism

• Miracles

• Probability

• Principle of Credulity

• Principle of Testimony 

Key Texts

 "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin (1859)

"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins (2006)

OTHERS

"Issues in Science and Religion" (1966) By Ian Barbour 

 "God and the New Physics" by Paul Davies (1983)

"Timaeus"  and "Phaedo" by Plato

"Physics" and "Metaphysics" and "On the Heavens"  By Aristotle

"Meditations on First Philosophy" (Meditationes de Prima Philosophia) and "Discourse on the Method" (Discours de la méthode)By René Descartes 

"The Phenomenon of Man" ("Le Phénomène Humain") (1955) By Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

"Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution" (1996) by Micheal Behe

"Summa Theologica" and "Summa Contra Gentiles"  by Thomas Aquinas

"An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding ["Of Miracles" ]" and "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" by David Hume

"The Concept of Miracle" (1970) By Richard Swinburne 

"Against Empiricism: On Education, Epistemology and Value" (1980) by R.F. Holland

 "God's Action in the World" (1986) by Maurice Wiles

Context

• Sciecne  

Scientific Methodologies 

Science

• Based on methods of observation, reason and experiment 

• They have been repeated and tested independently

• We can look at this data or trust that we could carry out these experiments ourselves 

Five Key Steps

• Observation

• Hypothesis

• Experiment

• Law

• Theory

Issues / Criticisms

• Nothing has full knowledge of the world, sometimes out senses can deceive us

• There is no way of knowing what is real – Descartes & Plato

Philosophy & Truth 

Truth and Thought 

Rationalism: Belief that the mind is the source of knowledge. Truth can be discovered using the power of reason

Realism: The view that there are actual facts ‘out there’ which we get right or wrong in our search for understanding

Anti-Realism: Holds that all truth is relative – something can be true for one person but not another 

Descartes

Adopted a method of extreme scepticism in an attempt to determine what we can know

Argued that nothing could be accepted as true knowledge unless we could clearly perceive it without any possibility that we could be mistaken

Plato 

In Plato’s view, there was an absolute truth that existed, somewhere, in some sense, in reality. 

He thought that truth existed, but he wasn’t sure whether or not that people would ever be able to find and recognize this truth

Compatibility – Barbour 

Conflict

Science and religion are in perpetual and principal conflict

Independence

States that science and religion can both be true as long as they are kept to their separate domains. 

 Dialogue

There is common ground between both fields, perhaps in their presuppositions, methods, and concepts – they share a mutualistic relationship 

Integration

Natural Theology = There is obvious (scientific) evidence in nature of God 

Theology of Nature = We have scientific evidence – religion interprets this 

Process Philosophy = Nature changes – this is scientifically obvious. This is due God. A God that is the source of order but he is also changeable

Theories of Creation

• Big Bang

• Steady State

• Intelligent Design

• Irreducible Complexity

• Creationism

• Cosmological Constant 

• Evolution

• Gaia Hypothesis

Darwin & Behe

Darwin's Theory

Observed variation in species due to the environment

Those with traits that helped them survive longer passed these traits onto their offspring who also thrived

Survival of the fittest

Darwin's Threat to Christianity

It appeared humankind was not the supreme creation of God after all – it was an accident – chance

Humankind had not been deliberately created in a ready made form (‘In Gods image’) 

Michael Behe and Irreducible Complexity

Claims there are serious flaws in Darwinist Models of evolutionary theory and rather than trying to find ever more convoluted ways to explain them – it is far more obvious to look to God

Michael Behe Criticisms of Darwin

For Behe the observations scientists now make are best accepted by the belief in an intelligent designer - God is in control of the evolutionary process

Modern Creationism – Henry Morris 

Argument

Argued that the world was exactly as described in Genesis

Scientists who disagree are seriously mistaken in the understanding of their data 

God is the only being that has certain TRUE knowledge of what happened

Science vs Creationism

Claimed there was clear evidence in the Bible that the world was created in 6 actual days (NOT an era ‘Yom’) 

All animals were created by God and named by Adam – this is Biblically evident

Dinosaurs are NOT a faith test from God – they were present in creation – ‘Behemoth’

Richard Dawkins 

Argument

Richard Dawkins not only regards Darwinism as compatible with atheism, but that atheism is a logical outcome of evolutionary belief. 

Dawkins singled out theistic religion as a virus.

Memes 

Mind viruses – they are ideas that have ‘evolved’ over time – they have no evolutionary benefit but continue to exist. A group of memes is a memeplex (religion) there is no value 

Compatibility – Key Thinkers 

Chardin

Palaeontologist and Catholic 

He aimed to show that science and religion could live compatibility together and discoveries in one could enhance the other 

Paul Davies

Modern Physicist - Three key ideas:

Mathematics – There are mathematical patterns in the universe that point to God 

Chance – The universe could not have happened by chance – it is too complex 

Knowledge – Science is the how – religion is the why 

Chardin -Issues / Critiisms

Incompatible with traditional doctrine and teachings

Tries to replace important section of the Bible with new and made up ideas

Paul Davies -Issues / Critiisms

Just because there are patterns doesn’t mean anything

There is no purpose to the universe

We are here as a result of randomness

Miracles 

Definition

Issues surrounding the definition of a miracle 

Unexpected violation of natural law – that serves a higher purpose – has religious significance 

Examples

Bible – Jesus (Feeding Five Thousand, Walking on Water etc)

Modern – Mother Teresa 

Science – Hume

Rejected miracles – they were beyond the grounds of reasonable belief

No sensible person could really believe a miracle had happened

We should consider all the evidence 

Religion – Aquinas

Three ranks of miracle:

1. Something done by God that nature can never do 

2. Something done by God that nature can do – but not in that sequence or connection 

3. Something done by God which is usually done by nature but is beyond the natural principles 

Key arguments/debates Mill

• Some philosophers

Key Quotes

• Some philosophers

Possible Exam Questions Science and Religion  

Section A

1. Examine ideas about  .

2. Assess the debate between  .

Section B

3a Clarify the ideas illustrated in this passage about  .

3b Analyse the implications for l  from this passage

Section C

4 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of  

Possible Exam Questions Miracles

Section A

1. Examine ideas about  .

2. Assess the debate between  .

Section B

3a Clarify the ideas illustrated in this passage about  .

3b Analyse the implications for l  from this passage

Section C

4 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of