tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post5795118458267355638..comments2023-11-10T09:15:40.084-08:00Comments on The Friends of Jake: Do science and religion teach the same lessons?Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124314924693077453noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post-91775147434932315472013-08-21T09:10:12.850-07:002013-08-21T09:10:12.850-07:00PZ Myers, responding to Steven Pinker's essay,...<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/08/08/repudiating-scientism-rather-than-surrendering-to-it/" rel="nofollow">PZ Myers, responding to Steven Pinker's essay, writes</a>:<br /><br />Science is a fantastic tool (our only tool, actually) for probing material realities. Respect it for what it is. But please, also recognize that there’s more to the human experience than measurement and the acquisition of knowledge about physical processes, and that science is a relatively recent and revolutionary way of thinking, but not the only one — and that humans lived and thrived and progressed for thousands of years (and many still do, even within our technological culture!) without even the concept of science.<br /><br />Scientism is the idea that only science is the proper mode of human thought, and in particular, a blinkered, narrow notion that every human advance is the product of scientific, rational, empirical thinking. Much as I love science, and am personally a committed practitioner who also has a hard time shaking myself out of this path (I find scientific thinking very natural), I’ve got enough breadth in my education and current experience to recognize that there are other ways of progressing.IThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09605163506396013904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post-42599475915536666742013-08-20T14:37:39.569-07:002013-08-20T14:37:39.569-07:00Hmmm. I think they're rather merely differing ...Hmmm. I think they're rather merely differing <i>aspects</i> of the same thing. They share MANY things (therefore), a sense of wonder being one of them.JCFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14516376500318551838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post-78222630164640062362013-08-20T09:43:53.516-07:002013-08-20T09:43:53.516-07:00I don't think the writer's argument is tha...I don't think the writer's argument is that they do the same thing, obviously, but that there are some big things they share. Like a sense of wonder.<br />IThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09605163506396013904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post-45776415251328822312013-08-19T23:29:37.015-07:002013-08-19T23:29:37.015-07:00"Science" didn't do bupkus, Erp.
*P..."Science" didn't do bupkus, Erp.<br /><br />*People* made these discoveries. People w/ various belief-systems, about the Ultimate Meaning of it all. Some great scientists have "religious" belief-systems, wherein their religious faith compliments and spiritually (emotionally, if you prefer) EMPOWERS their vocations to scientific discoveries. Other scientists, of course, have non-theistic belief-systems.<br /><br />Unless one's belief-system is *specifically* anti-science (sadly, there are some), there's no reason to set religion and science at odds. It's a false dichotomy.JCFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14516376500318551838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8238382886103256219.post-89821431955909967332013-08-19T19:33:03.746-07:002013-08-19T19:33:03.746-07:00Science (and engineering, the application of scien...Science (and engineering, the application of science) has made possible the removal of the scourges of smallpox, polio, measles, cholera, and many other diseases (that they haven't been removed is due to political and sometimes religious obstacles). It is our hope of removing malaria and cancer. It created the internet (for both good and ill). It allows us to design building that are less likely to kill us in earthquakes. It enables us to predict reasonably well the future be it the weather in the next 7 days or global climate change. It enables us to discover our unwritten history in time. Can any religion do these?Erphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18037406583478493064noreply@blogger.com