Beliefs re the Nature and Role of Science

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Overview

Questioning Mainstream Science

Questioning Mainstream Science
(example of link to QMS)

Discussion in this wiki that is based on (partial) rejection of mainstream science is gathered in pages beginning QMS: indexed at Qms:Questioning Mainstream Science and linked throughout by notification boxes like the example on the right. →

The Relationship between Religion and Science


For a variety of perspectives on the on-going tussle between religion and science, see these essays collected by the Counterbalance Foundation. One helpful approach is The Metaphor of the Maps; also listed are three ways of classifying the different ways that religion and science interact, known as Barbour's, Peters' and Drees's Typologies.

See also What is Science? from MCo.

Falsifiability

Popper's critique of the concept of natural selection (1976)

Philosopher Karl Popper was agnostic but did not speak publicly about his religious belief or otherwise, during his lifetime.

He proposed falsifiability as a criterion of demarcation between theories or hypotheses of empirical science and statements that are religious, pseudoscientific or metaphysical. On this basis, he described natural selection (not evolution as a whole!) in 1976 as non-scientific:

“Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory, but a metaphysical research program”

This position has been hailed by anti-evolutionists ever since. For example,

Is the theory of evolution scientific?

Not according to the eminent philosopher of science, Professor Karl Popper. This is all the more interesting because Charles Darwin was an Englishman and Dr Karl Popper is an adopted Englishman with a string of scientific accomplishments that fill half a column in the International Who’s Who. After a hundred years of evolution, what does this respected scientist think of his countryman's theory?

Not much that Darwin would like.

"Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory," Popper says, `but a metaphysical research programme."

Popper's retraction and "recantation" (1978)

Following discussion with scientists Popper retracted this view, admitting that natural selection is a testable theory although “difficult to test”:

The fact that the theory of natural selection is difficult to test has led some people, anti-Darwinists and even some great Darwinists, to claim that it is a tautology . . .

I mention this problem because I too belong among the culprits. Influenced by what these authorities say, I have in the past described the theory as 'almost tautological', and I have tried to explain how the theory of natural selection could be untestable (as is a tautology) and yet of great scientific interest. My solution was that the doctrine of natural selection is a most successful metaphysical research programme. It raises detailed problems in many fields, and it tells us what we would expect of an acceptable solution of these problems.

I still believe that natural selection works in this way as a research programme. Nevertheless, I have changed my mind about the testability and the logical status of the theory of natural selection; and I am glad to have an opportunity to make a recantation. My recantation may, I hope, contribute a little to the understanding of the status of natural selection.

— Cited from Talk Origins. See also this NCSCE resource.

Evolution not falsifiable?

No. 3 in the Scientific American "creationist nonsense" target list is target list is "Evolution is unscientific because it is not testable or falsifiable. It makes claims about events that were not observed and can never be re-created."

Disagreement among scientists

No. 5 in the same list addresses the claim that ". . .  disagreements among even evolutionary biologists show how little solid science supports evolution."

"Only a Theory"

The slogan "Evolution is only a theory" is commonly used to suggest that evolution may not truly explain biological phenomena. In essence it is an equivocation: evolution is a theory, theories are uncertain, therefore evolution is uncertain. (To appreciate the possibility of equivocation around the word "theory", compare the Theory of Gravity with Grandma's theory about lost socks! — BP)

Professor Paul Braterman argues here that USA Vice President Mike Pence, as an experienced lawyer, knowingly used this equivocation as a debating trick; but he says that supporters of evolution should not respond by pointing out the equivocation. It is a distraction which would divert a fruitful discussion about evidence into a disagreement about words. According to Braterman, "the correct response is to say that evolution is a theory – like gravity is a theory – and then redirect attention to the evidence. And that evidence is overwhelming."

Science and Religion: Partnership? "Non-overlapping Magisteria"? Hostility?

Science has grown from religion, particularly Judaism and Western Christianity, and remains in partnership with it. Margaret Wertheim writing for the Counterbalance Foundation:

Up until the eighteenth century, most of those in Europe studying science were indeed men of deep religious faith, many of them formally schooled in theology. In part that was because the church controlled the institutes of higher learning - particularly the universities, which had originally been set up as training grounds for the clergy and other church functionaries.
In popular mythology, the "scientific revolution" of the seventeenth century is commonly said to mark a fundamental break between science and religion. But nothing could be further from the truth. Almost all the great pioneers and founders of the new science were religious men who wanted a science that would harmonize with their faith. All three founders of the new heliocentric cosmology - Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton - saw their new vision of the universe as an offshoot of their theology. Newton. in particular, was a religious fanatic whose whole life work can be seen as a search for God. Even the infamous Galileo was a committed Catholic who wanted nothing more than for the Pope to endorse his vision of the heavens.

— Margaret Wertheim at counterbalance.org

See Relating Science and Religion for an outline of many ways that Science and Religion can be seen in relation to each other.

Christadelphian Approaches

See Qms:Questioning Mainstream Science and The Case for Considering the Science.

Jewish Approaches

See Isaiah 5:12 and Critical Thinking

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks speaks here about his book on the relationship between religion and science, The Great Partnership.

Rabbi Sacks accounts for the disproportionate number of Jewish Nobel Prize winners here. After considering other reasons that have been proposed, he offers his own answer in seven features of Jewish tradition:

  1. . . . the emphasis in Judaism on education, study, and the life of the mind. As a text-based religion, it makes literacy a primary duty.
  2. Jews argue. Judaism is perhaps the only religious civilization all of whose canonical texts are anthologies of arguments. In the Bible, the prophets argue with God. In the Mishnah, rabbis argue with one another. . . .
  3. [Jews] ask questions—the harder, the better. Abraham asked God, “Shall the judge of all the earth not do justice?” [Genesis 18:25] Moses asked him, “Why have you done evil to this people?” [Exodus 5:22-23] One of Judaism’s most ancient rituals, the Seder service on Passover, begins with questions asked by a child. [The Four Questions] . . .
  4. Judaism trains you in the multiple interpretations that can be given to any text. . . . The idea that meaning is simple — Fundamentalism, we call it nowadays — is alien to the Jewish mind. . . .
  5. Judaism loves chiddush, the new insight, the pattern that was always there but no one noticed before. . . .
  6. . . . Jews have tended to prefer the power of ideas to the idea of power. . . . Knowledge, insight, and teaching are non-zero [sum games]. The more I share, the more I have. The more I teach, the more I learn.
  7. . . . [Jews] revere scholars. "In the synagogue we seat them in the place of honour. We even have a special blessing to be said on seeing one — two blessings, in fact, one for religious scholars, another for secular ones."

Relevant Bible teaching

  • Proverbs 18:13-15 — It is shameful and foolish to answer before listening properly; it is intelligent and wise to seek knowledge.

This is one of many Bible passages that teach wisdom — wisdom in all its manifestations. Some of them are listed at Wisdom and critical thinking — take the Bible tour! If you would like to contribute more passages, or contribute to the discussion in this wiki, please join in.

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