Characteristics of Science
James Mackey
Physical Science 410
Where am I going with thias material?
•1 To show the connection between
Christianity and modern science
•2 To look at certain characteristics that are
hallmarks of what we today call science
Ancient World
Most societies pantheistic
– God/nature blended together
– Gods are not to be studied/investigated
Duane Warden addressed this
worldview earlier thissemester
•Ancient, Pagan Worldview:(recall previous
references to the Enuma Elish -Babylonian Creation Myth
•Conflict a part of creation:
•gods are capricious
•world is antagonistic to man
•man must placate or appease gods
•magic and ritual vital to this task
•No purpose or meaning in universe
•man is incidental in the scheme of things
Greeks
Many believed planets were living beings
influencing man’s life.
Great astronomer Ptolemy wrote book
called Tetrabiblios (the bible of astrology)
While Greeks made many advances in
thinking about the universe, they were
handicapped by almost exclusive
deductive reasoning
•German physicist who studied nuclear processes in
stars and also worked with Heisenberg and others
on German atomic projects in WWII. After the war,
became a strong pacifist and religious thinker –
received a Templeton Prize in 1989, died in 2007.
“Matter in the Platonic sense, which must be
‘prevailed upon’ by reason, will not obey
mathematical laws exactly :
matter which God has created from nothing may
well strictly follow the rules which its Creator
has laid down for it. In this sense I call modern
science a legacy, I might even have said a child,
of Christianity.”
•C.F. von Weizsacker, p163
Eastern Cultures
• China
– Despite tremendous technical
achievements superior to western culture
• gunpowder, magnetism, block printing, etc
– Science as we know it never develops
• Eastern cultures in general
– fatalistic (man is powerless before fate)
Why the Chinese never developed Modern Science
“There was no confidence that the code of
Nature’s Laws could be unveiled and read,
because there was no assurance that a divine
being, even more rational than ourselves, had
ever formulated such a code capable of being
read. The Chinese did sense order in nature, but
decided it was a necessity inscrutable to the
human mind.
It was not an order ordained by a rational
personal being and hence there was no
guarantee that other rational beings would be
able to spell out in their own earthly language
the pre-existing divine code of laws...”
•Joseph Needham, p327
Jewish View
• Primarily teleological
• Nature and the Divine are distinct
entities
• Nature is a creation of God and thus
subordinate in character to God
• Since the world is only a created entity,
it can be freely studied and dissected
Richard H Bube, prof of materials
science at Stanford University
• “The presuppositions that make science
possible are not derivable from the scientific
enterprise itself; they are, however, a direct
consequence of the Judeo-Christian biblical
world view. It is no more possible to do
science without a faith that a rational
understanding of the world is a possible goal
for finite minds, than it is to enter into
religion without the faith that God exists.”
– Bube
•Stanley L. Jaki, (1924 – 2009) was a Benedictine priest and Distinguished Professor of Physics
at Seton Hall University, New Jersey since 1975. He was a leading thinker in the philosophy of
science, theology, and on issues where the two disciplines meet and diverge. He authored more
than two dozen books.
“The essence of paganism, old or new,
is that the universe is eternal, that its motions are
without beginning and without end…
…Belief in creation out of nothing, and in time is
the very opposite of paganism. Once that belief
became a widely shared cultural consensus during
the Christian Middle ages, it became almost
natural that there should be arise the idea of
inertial motion”
Jaki
(emphasis mine)
•"As I try to discern the origin of that conviction [that the
universe is ordered], I seem to find it in a basic notion
discovered 2000 or 3000 years ago, and enunciated first
in the Western world by the ancient Hebrews: namely,
that the universe is governed by a single God, and is not
the product of the whims of many gods, each governing
his own province according to his own laws. This
monotheistic view seems to be the historical foundation
for modern science."
•
Melvin Calvin, Nobel prize-winning biochemist
(Pearcey and Thaxton, p. 25)
• (1911-1997) Director of the Laboratory
of Chemical Biodynamics Group in the
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory since 1946.
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 1961
The exclusion of any religious influence
on scientific thinking is a rather recent
situation developing primarily in the late
19th and early 20th centuries
Isaac Newton arguably one of the greatest
and most influential scientist ever, wrote
far more religious writings than scientific
writings
•Sir Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) was an English
physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher,
alchemist, and theologian who is considered by many
scholars and members of the general public to be one of
the most influential scientists in history. His 1687
publication of the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia
Mathematica (usually called the Principia) is considered to
be among the most influential books in the history of
science.
Michael Faraday, one of the greatest
experimentalists of all time, and discoverer of
the electromagnetic interaction as well as
Benzene, was a devout believer. He was a
member of a NT group in England referred to
as Sandemanians* (after Robert Sandeman,
the group’s leading thinker on primitive
Christianity.
•*Probably in the same sense as
“Campbellite”
•Michael Faraday, (1791 – 1867) was an English
chemist and physicist (or natural philosopher, in
terminology of the time), who contributed to the fields
of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
•Faraday was highly religious; he was a member of
the Sandemanian Church, a Christian sect founded in
1730 which demanded total faith and commitment.
Biographers have noted that "a strong sense of the
unity of God and nature pervaded Faraday's life and
work.
“To do physics today, one need not be
western, one need not even be a
Christian.
Science or physics has its highly
developed and well proven techniques
- theoretical and experimental.
Such techniques remain universal even
if their origin shows some special
connection with Christianity. ….
•…...But they require a philosophical and
ethical underpinning if the purely
quantitative results of physical science are
to be integrated into the broader human
context.”
•Jaki
•Other well known devout scientists
•Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543)
•Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
•Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
•Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
•Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
•Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686)
•Lord Kelvin [William Thomson] (1824-907)
•James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
•Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
•Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
•Timothy Ferris (astronomer and emeritus professor at the
University of California, Berkeley is the author of 12 books,
three documentary films, including the one referenced below,
and producer of the Voyager phonograph recording
Science author Timothy Ferris, in a PBS special “The
Creation of the Universe” made the following
comments:
•“Religion and Science are sometimes depicted as if
they were opponents, but science owes a lot to
religion. Modern science began with the rediscovery,
in the Renaissance, of the old Greek idea that nature
is rationally intelligible.
•But science from the beginning incorporated
another idea, equally important, that the
universe is really a uni-verse, a single system
ruled by a single set of laws. And science got
the idea from the ... belief in one God...”
•“I’m not saying that you have to believe in God
in order to do science. Atheists and agnostics
have won Noble Prizes, as have Christians and
Jews, and Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists.
•But modern scientific research, especially unified
theory, testifies to the triumph of the old idea that
all creation might be ruled by a single and
elegantly beautiful principle.”
In the same special, astronomer Allen Sandage,
commenting on the scientific fact of the “Big
Bang” stated...
“If there ever was a creation event, it had to have
a cause. This was Aquinas ‘ whole question (one
of the 5 ways he tried to prove the existence of
God). If you can find the first effect, you have, at
least, come close to the first cause, which to
Aquinas was God……
•Allen Sandage was an assistant to Edwin Hubble. His research has been in stellar astronomy
and observational cosmology. He worked with Martin Schwarzschild, and has worked on
calibrating all of the “standard candles” used is astronomical distance measurements. He has
authored more than 75 technical papers. He has written and commented on religious beliefs
and science.
…What do astronomers say? As astronomers you
can’t say anything except, ‘Here is a miracle,
what seems --- what seems almost supernatural
... Can you finally find the answer ‘Why is there
something instead of nothing?’ No, you cannot,
not from within science. But it still remains an
incredible mystery: Why is there something
instead of nothing?”
•Science writer Loren Eiseley reluctantly
concludes in his book Darwin’s Century that:
•"In one of those strange permutations of
which history yields occasional rare
examples, it is the Christian world which
finally gave birth in a clear articulate fashion
to the experimental method of science
itself." Eiseley, Loren, Darwin’s Century
•Eiseley, Loren, Darwin’s Century, (Doubleday Anchor
Books,NY,1961), page 62
•Two approaches to dealing with
questions of natural law and nature in
human thinking:
•Deductive
•Inductive
•Deductive Reasoning
•general principles
•
•1
•
Grand Scheme of Things
2
3
specific observations
4
•Inductive Reasoning
• specific observations
•1
2
3
•Grand Scheme of Things
•
general principles
4
•In general the hallmark of modern
science is dominantly inductive reasoning
•Historically deductive reasoning has
been the preferred mode of analysis
Greeks elevated
deductive
reasoning to a
very high plane
•(Rodin’s statue
The Thinker)
•A quotation from Plato shows the Greek view
•“The physical world around us and all activity within
it are mere illusions, like shadows in a cave. Truth lies
beyond our immediate view. It is the philosopher’s
task to find truth, but he cannot do this by
extrapolating directly from everyday observations, just
as the prisoners in the cave cannot arrive directly at
the idea of colors from the black shadows they have
always seen. The method must be deduction from
abstract principles, not induction from experience; one
must go from the general to the specific and not the
other way around”
•Plato
(emphasis mine)
•Growth of inductive thinking
•Arabic ascendancy ~ (700 – 1200 AD)
•Roman practicality
•Galileo and experimental science
•Inductive reasoning and analysis of
complicated systems works by subdivision into
smaller parts
•Logical fallacy of modern science
•Quoting Philosopher David Hume:
•David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, economist,
historian and a key figure in the history of Western philosophy and the
Scottish Enlightenment.
•“The utmost effort of human
reasoning is to reduce the principles
productive of natural phenomena to a
greater simplicity, and to resolve the
many particular effects into a few
general causes, by means of reasoning
from analogy, experience, and
observation…...
•…But as to the causes of these
general causes we should in vain
attempt their discovery; nor shall
we ever be able to satisfy
ourselves of any particular
explication of them. These
ultimate springs and principles
are totally shut up from human
curiosity and inquiry.”
•David Hume
(emphasis mine)
•50 blonde students….
•Logical proof
•pragmatic - “if it works, use it!”
What is Science?
• Definitions: (from simple to ridiculous)
– “Science is what scientists do when they’re
working…”
– “…a systemized body of facts….”
•We will try to describe the nature of science
from some of it’s characteristics rather than
attempt to give a single, concise, universally
applicable definition
•. As always we adhere to
Abelard's 12th century dictum
"Truth cannot be contrary to truth.
The findings of reason must agree
with the truths of scripture, else
the God who gave us both has
deceived us with one or the other“.
•Peter Abelard 1079-1142
was a medieval French
scholastic philosopher,
theologian and
preeminent logician. He
was also a composer. His
affair with and love for
Héloïse d'Argenteuil has
become legendary
yes
Experimenta
l validation
by Peers
no
Peer
review
System
Formal
Publication
Intuition
Others
work
•Intuition Others
work
Serendipity ?
Serendipity
?
?
*
revise the idea
no
revise Exp.
Collect
more
data
Communic
ate with
Peers
Discuss
with
Peers
Devise an Exp.
procedure to test
(A) the idea
revised
experiment
Perform Experiment
Collect Data
Ask A
Question
yes
reword
question
Collect &
analyze
new data
Analyze/Interprete
Data
no
no
Continued Reevaluation by
Peers
no
**
reinterpret
the idea
Peer Review
Re submit Paper
Does not validate
Re-enter at (A)
yes
validates Idea
yes
Drop the
Idea
no
Simplified Scientific
"Method"
(many internal feedbacks are omitted)
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
1. The beginning of science is
observation
• “The fundamental character of any
science is that it ‘investigates’..By
investigation I mean a deliberate,
planned, devised way of getting data
beyond the ordinary experience of
men………...
•.…Science begins by additions to ordinary
experience and gradually moves farther and
farther away from the field of general
experience. Science uses deliberate,
planned effort to observe and measure what
men ordinarily don’t see and hear.”
•Adler
(emphasis mine)
•A humorous(?) story that illustrates this..
•A carpenter, a school teacher, and scientist were
traveling by train through Scotland when they saw
a black sheep through the window of the train.
"Aha," said the carpenter with a smile, "I see
that Scottish sheep are black."
"Hmm," said the school teacher, "You mean that
some Scottish sheep are black."
"No," said the scientist glumly, "All we know is
that there is at least one sheep in Scotland, and
that at least one side of that one sheep is black."
This type of observation requires effort
and training to do properly..
• “This is not work for the untutored
imagination. It may be an art, but it is
one whose exercise requires stiff
training ….theoretical physicists have to
be taught their trade and cannot afford
to proceed by genius alone”
• Toulmin
Observation may be the beginning of
science, but it is NOT the end.
Observation by itself is not enough.
• “…One might manipulate experimental
apparatus for a lifetime, and accumulate all
the observations one cared to, without ever
spotting what form the law should take.
For many centuries, indeed, scientists were
within striking distance, but failed to
discover it (Snell’s Law). Ptolemy, about
100 AD had already made many important
observations on the subject.”
Toulmin
•In about AD 150, Claudius Ptolemy gave the
following measured values for the angle of
incidence 1 and the angle of refraction 2 for a
light beam passing from air to water
•This data illustrates Snell’s Law and can be used
to calculate nwater , though Ptolemy did not
recognize the relationship.
•Average
value =
1.31
1
10°
20°
2
8°
15° 30’
1
50°
60°
2
35°
40° 30’
30°
40°
22° 30’
29°
70°
80°
45° 30’
50°
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
2. Science is Quantitative &
Mathematical
• One of the major developments in science
was the move to quantitative/mathematical
procedures
• Aristotle did not believe mathematics was the
method of natural science
• Galileo is credited as one of the earliest
scientists to recognize the importance of
mathematics
•In one of his dialogues, Galileo writes...
•“Philosophy is written in that vast book…the
universe…It is written in mathematical
language, and the letters are triangles, circles,
and other geometrical figures, without which
it is humanely impossible to comprehend a
single word.”
•Galileo
The language of science is mathematical
for several reasons
• conciseness
• aesthetics
• universality
•Newton’s Law of Gravitation
•Every object in the universe with mass
attracts every other object with mass with a
force that is proportional to the product of
the two masses and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between their
centers
GM 1M 2
F
2
D
• Considerable economy in expression
- much simpler to write or read
• Aesthetically more pleasing
• Universally understandable
– same equation in French, Russian,
German, etc
– graduate language exam
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
3. Science is Naturalistic
• Science deals only with natural
categories
• Only what is perceptible with natural
senses
• Cannot deal with non-natural or supernatural explanations
•“Science is a way of knowing. It is a way of
knowing by sense interaction with the world.
There may be other ways of knowing or
there may not. This question is not settled
by science, which simply asserts that
everything that can be known by sense
interaction with the world (seeing, hearing,
feeling, smelling, tasting - and the many
sophisticated ways in which machines and
instruments extend these basic sense
impressions) is in the domain of scientific
knowledge.”
•Bube
(emphasis mine)
•Philosophical Scientism
•The only questions that are to be
associated with verifiable or valid
knowledge are the questions that science
can answer….
•The questions that science cannot
answer are either not answerable
or answerable only by opinion.
•In an article “The Evolution of Life”,
biologist H. Mehlberge wrote...
•“There is nothing in the nature
of the method of science which
could prevent it from being
applicable in principle to any
problem that could be settled by
any method whatsoever…
...The universality of science consists in
the fact that problems unsolvable by
the scientific method are either
indeterminate or answerable by false
statements only.
In other words scientifically unsolvable
problems have no solution and are
therefore unsolvable by any non-scientific
method as well.”
Mehlberge
•i.e. science is the only path to knowledge
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
4. Science is Based on Models as
Representations of Nature
• Real physical systems are too
complicated to solve exactly
• Usually work with a model that
“represents” nature
• Not “literal descriptions” of the world,
but “serious” attempts to produce a
manageable picture of nature in a
scientific framework
“No physicist or engineer ever solves a real
problem. Instead she creates a model of
the real problem and solves this problem.
This model ... must be simple enough to
be solvable, and it must be realistic
enough to be useful...”
•R.J.Sciamanda, Quantum Vol 7 No 2, p45, Nov/Dec 1966
• Apply Newton’s Law to the motion of 2 particles
•Solve 2 simultaneous D.E.
• Real, physical system ~ 1025 particles
•cannot solve 1025 simultaneous D.E.
• Only problems we can solve exactly are ones---- we create, i.e. a “model” of the problem
• Consider the mathematical nature of…
• physics as contrasted with biology
• physics chicken = point sphere
• biologist chicken = feathers, feet, etc.
• Must never forget that we solve a “model” ---of a natural system and not the system itself!
•The Sky is Blue
•Electromagnetic scattering cross-section for
particles in the atmosphere (long  approx.)
 
4 6
64π a   a
64
3λ
4
σ=
6
4
4
3 
•Where a is the
average particle
size
•EM equation above is a symbol
representing the actual physical reality.
It is not the sky!
What makes a “good” model?
• I. Predictive
• Not an “ad hoc” model
• II. Fits the experimental data
• Within our ability to make measurements
• III. Aesthetically pleasing
• As simple and elegant as possible
I. Predictive
• “The value of any working theory
depends upon the number of
experimental facts it serves to
correlate, and upon its power of
suggesting new lines of work”
A scientist’s and textbook author’s
view of “creation” as a “bad theory”
“A theory that is not fruitful is a ‘bad’
theory because it does not lead to
further knowledge. For example, the
theory that the earth was specially
created is a ‘bad’ theory, not because
it is not true, but because it does not
lead one onward toward a better
understanding of nature.……
•…..Such a theory is barren, because
it gives a final explanation for all
things, because they are as they are
because they were created that way.
A believer in such a theory has no
incentive to investigate nature except
to describe it, for he already has an
answer to why things are the way
they are.”
•Booth
(emphasis mine)
II. Must fit the experimental data
• Major difference between Mathematics
and Physics
– Mathematicians can invent and study any
system as long as it is consistent
– Physicists have to study the universe as it
is!
•Experimental data are always the ultimate
touchstone of reality for physical ideas!
III. Must be aesthetically pleasing
• This usually mean as “simple” and
“elegant” as possible (simple does not
mean easy!)
• Most concise form with fewest terms
• Most generally applicable form
•All of the theory and empirical results of
electrodynamics can be reduced to:
•2 “simple” looking equations
F λρ F F


0
x
x x
F
and
 o J 
x
It’s ‘simple’ and ‘elegant’ if you understand the
symbols in the equations, and how to unpack them!
In an interview with Leon Lederman, director of
Fermilab, Ferris quotes Lederman discussing the
“standard model” (currently accepted picture of
fundamental particles):
•
“The trouble we’re now in is that the standard
model is very elegant, it’s very powerful, it explains so
much - but its not complete. It has some flaws, and one
of its greatest flaws is aesthetic. It’s too complicated. It
has too many arbitrary parameters. We don’t really see
the creator twiddling seventeen knobs to set seventeen
parameters to create the universe as we know it. The
picture is not beautiful, and that drive for beauty and
simplicity and symmetry has been an unfailing guidepost
to how to go in physics.”
•Ferris pp 288
(emphasis mine)
• Evolution of conceptual models
• Tinker-toy illustration
• Copernican theory
• “God of the Gaps”
•Models are not easily ‘abandoned’
Ideal Scientist..”If a scientist holds an idea to
be true and finds any counter evidence
whatever, the idea is either modified or
abandoned in spite of the reputation of the
person advocating it…In the scientific spirit,
however, a single verifiable experiment to the
contrary outweighs any authority regardless
of his reputation or the number of his
followers.” (emphasis mine!)
Hewitt
•Paul G. Hewitt is an American physicist, former boxer, uranium
prospector, author, and cartoonist (1930 - ). Author of the widely
used Conceptual Physics textbooks
•Reality:
“ A new scientific truth does not
triumph by convincing its
opponents and making them see
the light, but rather because its
opponents eventually die, and a
new generation grows up that is
familiar with it”
• Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck,
(1858 – 1947) was a German
theoretical physicist who originated
quantum theory, which won him the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
•From left to right: W. Nernst, A. Einstein, M.
Planck, R.A. Millikan and von Laue at a dinner given
by von Laue in Berlin on 11 November 1931
•Good News/Bad News
•This critical and conservative nature of
science is not always negative……for an idea
to succeed, it must be unable to be proven
wrong, thoroughly tested and supported
•This attitude minimizes “fads” in
science and keeps scientific views
from being as changeable as political
views
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
5. Science is Limited
• Science is limited in the sense that it is
basely solely on what can be observed,
measured with instruments, and
replicated at will by other scientists
• “Because science is truly investigative
and depends on investigation, it is
therefore limited to what can be
investigated.”
• Adler
•Human activity
•Ideas arise from humans
•Experiments are designed by humans
•Carried out by humans
•Interpreted by humans
•Explained by humans
•Based on human concepts/mathematics
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
6. Science is Dynamic
• Science is not static
• Every scientific “law” or “theory” is
subject to modification as new data
accumulates
• Few scientists would expect today’s
formulation of physical laws to persist
without change in the next millenium
Example of Newtonian Mechanics
• 1800s it was the answer to everything
• Knowledge of current conditions
completely determines the future
behavior of a system
• Philosophical Determinism
•1895 - 1920 Science turned upside down
radioactivity
x-rays
quantum theory
dynamic universe
•“The entire history of science shows that in
varying degrees, much that even the greatest
dead scientists believed to be fact is today
either false or somewhat less than factual,
perhaps even superstitious…...
•…It follows that what the best scientists today
believe to be fact will suffer the same fate.
The magnificence of science is that there really
seems to be an element of ‘progress’ in it that
is not found in even the most precious of other
human arts.”
White
Science continually tests current
understanding and attempts to disprove
ideas that have been advanced by scientists
•“..the most certain truth about scientific laws is
that sooner or later some situation will arise in
which they are found to be inaccurate or too
limited. To a scientist this is no longer surprising,
for matter is not compelled to obey physical
laws……..
•…Unlike political laws, there is never
compulsion; yet the scientists expects matter
to behave according to laws. First, because
the laws are an expression of the previous
behavior of matter under specified
conditions, and second, because he believes
that nature is orderly and not capricious.”
•Booth
“The God of the Gaps”
A faith system built upon what man can or
cannot do or explain is built upon a “God
of the Gaps”.
I believe this concept lies behind some of the animosity
towards science demonstrated by some believers!
Faith must be built upon the nature
and character of God as
demonstrated in the personage of
Jesus Christ and the evidence of the
Resurrection
not on what, correctly or
erroneously, man can or cannot
currently do
•In dealing with the science-bible
interface, one must be careful that he
does not demand for religious reasons an
opinion that has been soundly discredited
by scientific investigation
•demand for scientific reasons only, an
opinion that clearly contradicts scripture
•Even Augustine in 12th century was aware
of the dangers of this
354- 430 AD
•“Usually even a non-
Christian knows something
about the earth, the
heavens, and other elements
of this world, about the
motion and orbit of the stars
and their size…and this
knowledge as being certain
from reason and
experience…...
•Saint Augustine in His
Study by Sandro Botticelli,
1480, Chiesa di Ognissanti,
Florence, Italy
•..Now it is a disgraceful and dangerous
thing for an infidel to hear a Christian,
presumably giving the meaning of Holy
Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics;
and we should take all means to prevent
such an embarrassing situation in which
people show up vast ignorance in a
Christian and laugh it to scorn…
If they find a Christian mistaken in a field
which they themselves know well and hear
him maintaining foolish opinions about our
books, how are they going to believe those
books in matters concerning the resurrection
of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the
kingdom of heaven…?”
Augustine
•The changing nature of science is
recognized by scientists, but often not by
those ignorant of the nature of science
“…one should infer that the scientist
does not expect any theory to go down
through the ages unchanged. Theories
are always subject to change (by
scientists, and not by others) as new
facts and observations accumulate…
For no scientist expects that the day
will ever arrive when he has all the
answers, for he is convinced that new
knowledge begets new facts and new
experiments, which in turn beget new
knowledge, and so ad inifinitum.”
•Booth
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. amoral
8. rational
7. Science is Amoral
• Science is neither moral nor immoral,
but rather amoral (i.e. non moral)
• The Universe is neither moral nor
immoral, it just IS!
• Science is practiced by humans who
CAN NOT operate in an amoral
framework. If he views his science as
amoral with no concern over its effects
on people - he becomes immoral
A science or any technology without
an ethical base is a curse - not a
blessing to both its practitioners and
to its clientele
Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science is……
1. based on observation and experimentation
2. mathematical and quantitative
3. naturalistic
4. based on models of nature
5. limited
6. dynamic
7. Amoral
8. Rational
8. Science is Rational
•Rational is NOT the same as logical
•Science is rational & logical, in general, with
exceptions
•Religion is non-logical & rational, in general,
with exceptions.
• Remember, human society/communication is
non-logical
•“To act rationally in a given situation is to act
upon a careful and logical assessment of all
available evidence. To act rationally does not
mean to take on [only] those actions that are
connected by a series of logically provable links….
•Indeed if this definition were to be assumed, it
would mean that most of our life would be
consigned to nonrational behavior by definition.
•To act irrationally then means to act contrary
to or in spite of the results of a careful and
logical assessment of all available evidence.
•To act meaningfully at all, whether in science
or Christian experience, requires a rational act
of faith.”
•Bube
“One of the reasons that the
Christian faith receives so much
opposition is that it is not relativistic
and subjective. The Christian faith
does not allow the individual the
freedom to construct whatever kind
of religious system he subjectively
chooses.”
Bube
•The End (for now!)