Has scientific social engineering got a bit too big for its boots? Now I’m not knocking science. Just the few who like to devalue anything that has not been validated by research.
I think that Victor Frankl was on the right track when he suggested that our greatest drive is the search for meaning.
When a minority spoils good science by lampooning traditional values, peoples identities feel threatened. Is this why Professor Courtenay Raia stated the last century has seen the rise of magical thinking under the guise of science.
Don’t I have a right to an opinion? Do I need a scientific test to asses if I really love my spouse? What if I have a wrong idea? Even if it is wrong – as long as it doesn’t hurt another, who cares?
Science and religion have both done their fair share of hurting others; usually edged on by politicians. Perhaps the problem is not science or religion, but the ethnocentric divides drummed up by the power hungry.
Early scientific disputes with the church by Copernicus, Galileo, and Bruno were often fed by rival political groups exploiting religion and science for personal gain. During the same periods science was happily practiced by the clergy themselves. Jesuit schools taught Copernicus view as a theory. Galileo demanded it be called a fact and lampooned the Pope and demanded the church change its theology.
Meanwhile legitimate scientists, very aware of the weaknesses of the Ptolemaic model, believed the universe to be far smaller. If Copernicus view was right then astral parallax would be observed as the earth rotates the sun. It wasn’t. We now know that in a much larger universe a correspondingly miniscule parallax is observed.
Nothing, including science, occurs in a vacuum.
The Galileo debate and the religious divide polarized in the 19th century. Darwin’s discoveries were a large sticking point. Then John William Draper reacted against Papal contemporary edicts such as Papal infallibility in his book History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874). He argued that Islam and Protestantism was science friendly but Catholicism was not.
Andrew Dickson White’s similarly criticized the church, but added the patently false idea that the church taught the earth was flat. It is true that some clerical authors in the theological backwaters with odd ideas.
“While some historians had always regarded the Draper-White thesis as oversimplifying and distorting a complex relationship, in the late twentieth century it underwent a more systematic reevaluation. The result is the growing recognition among historians of science that the relationship of religion and science has been much more positive than is sometimes thought” wrote Gary Ferngren in Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction.
”Although popular images of controversy continue to exemplify the supposed hostility of Christianity to new scientific theories, studies have shown that Christianity has often nurtured and encouraged scientific endeavour, while at other times the two have co-existed without either tension or attempts at harmonization.”
“If Galileo and the Scopes trial come to mind as examples of conflict, they were the exceptions rather than the rule” ” Gary Ferngren (editor). Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.(Introduction, p. ix).
Perhaps the recent rise in magical thinking and The Secret is a response to disenchantment at a mechanistic worldview.
Einstein was almost deified after his theories seemed to be vindicated by astronomical observations of a 1919 eclipse
The social order at the time was fragmented, monarchies had collapsed, and technology seen as a savior had been at the forefront of mass slaughter. Then suddenly everyone started to espouse ‘everything is relative’. There are no absolutes -contrary to Einstein who argued space time was relative because the speed of light was absolute. Science was incorrectly used to justify a free for all.
Now it seems that when nearly everything – from how we love to our life span may be preprogrammed in our genes or neurology people are again pursuing a search for meaning.
The Secret has perhaps again allowed science to be misused.
Of course, science should influence social discourse. However, so should religion. Values, morals and religion are part of the fabric of man.
If I want something built, I want it crafted on certainties and fact. However, I would object if I were condemned simply because simply because I could not disprove every piece of innuendo.
When establishing a fact start with facts. When evaluating a person start with compassion.
People have a right to their feelings even if they don’t fit all the facts. Whether valid or not, religious opinion reflects the concern of sections of the population. It is too easy to lampoon a religion that questions the efficacy of a scientific pursuit.
It is far better educating the public than alienate it. I often see new age practitioner criticized by writers ‘who know this is nonsense because I am a scientist.” Ok fine – but tell us why it is wrong. The facts must do the talking.
In our market drive economy, advertises deviously statistically associate their product to desirable outcomes with no causal link. A supermodel wears a brand name bikini, but not everyone in a brand name bikini becomes a supermodel. This is the type of associative mis-logic quantum speculation and religion is accused. Perhaps we should criticize marketers too, but then I suppose marketers pay the government taxes and churches don’t.
Money driven values seem to escape criticism.
Religion and science have both inspired artistic and technological endeavor. The both deserve recognition.
During my son’s graduation, the Valedictorian suggested that the image of the isolated boffin was gone and that her generation would awaken the sexy scientist.
Perhaps, the best way for science to win the battle against pseudo science is to attempt to again reawaken our marvel of the universe.
Show us how new technologies can empower the daily spiritual life of a population that is trying to find meaning in their lives. Then there will be less reason for people to chase after magical thinking.
