science as a belief system

• The enlightenment-

  -18th century

  -emergence of scientific rationalism

  -critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, morals

  Bilton- it was during the Enlightenment that humans crossed the ‘Great Divide’ and moved from ignorance, guesswork and faith to certainty or truth
• The enlightenment view of science was based on 2 principles-

  1. the belief that reason could be provide an understanding of the world
  2. the view that the understanding could be used for betterment of human kind
• Popper- falsification and science

  -all science should be based on falsification theories, which made precise predictions that could then be tested

  -if repeated tested and found to be correct the theory may be accepted but that’s a chance it could be falsified in the future

  -uses a descriptive approach- from the theory you deduce a hypotheses and make precise predictions
• differences and similarities between Popper and positivists

  Both see scientific belief systems as superior to other belief systems. However, positivists see science as producing objective truth whereas Popper saw science as getting as close to the possible truth
• Relativism

  -science shouldn’t be given given special status

  -science = certain knowledge about world whereas religion = moral guidance about to world

  -science is just one of many beliefs that are all equally valid

  -scientists are human beings too so can’t be 100% objective
• What is science?

  -based on empirical evidence

  -remains objective at all times

  -rational and logical thinking

  -observations, theories and hypothesis must be testable
• Rationalism vs relativism

  -Gellner- objective nature of science sets it above all other knowledge

  -Gould- science and religion are 2 separate realms- facts vs values

  -Dawkins- Gould… you’re only trying to please powerful religious groups
• Social construction-

  -Berger and Luckmann- beliefs are socially constructed and science can be seen as a social construction

  -Kuhn- science is directed by paradigms constructed within communities of scientists
• Kuhn- scientific revolutions

  • science operates through paradigms (general theories or sets of beliefs held by groups of scientists)
  • each paradigm has a social base of scientists who have dedicated their careers to working with it and tend to work with a single paradigm ignoring evidence that doesn’t fit the theories
  • only when inexplicable anomalies are found does a scientific revolution take place and the paradigm is replaced by a new one
• evidence for Kuhns scientific revolutions

  Newtons views of physics with einstein's theory of relativity
• Problems for religion

  -these scientific ideas create problems for religion as the existence of God can’t be proved

  -religious beliefs rely on faith (subjective) not scientific evidence (objective)

  -Frazer- the growth of scientific explanations will cause religion to disappear
• USA-

  -the most religious advanced industrial democracies

  -American scientists= leader in world of discovery

  -However, many Americans still reject science in favour of the Bible