WHAT IS A SCIENTIFIC WORLD VIEW, AND HOW DOES IT BEAR ON THE INTERPLAY OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION?

Matthew Orr; Matthew Orr

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00748.x

Research Articles
WHAT IS A SCIENTIFIC WORLD VIEW, AND HOW DOES IT BEAR ON THE INTERPLAY OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION?

Abstract

Abstract. What is a scientific worldview, and why should we care? One worldview can knit together various notions, and therefore understanding a worldview requires analysis of its component parts. Stripped to its minimum, a scientific worldview consists strictly of falsifiable components. Such a worldview, based solely on ideas that can be tested with empirical observation, conforms to the highest levels of objectivity but is severely limited in utility. The limits arise for two reasons: first, many falsifiable ideas cannot be tested adequately until their repercussions already have been felt; second, the reach of science is limited, and ethics, which compose an inevitable part of any useful worldview, are largely unfalsifiable. Thus, a worldview that acts only on scientific components is crippled by a lack of moral relevance. Organized religion traditionally has played a central role in defining moral values, but it lost much of its influence after the discovery that key principles (such as the personal Creator of Genesis) contradict empirical reality. The apparent conundrum is that strictly scientific worldviews are amoral, while many long‐held religious worldviews have proven unscientific. The way out of this conundrum is to recognize that nonscientific ideas, as distinct from unscientific ideas, are acceptable components of a scientific worldview, because they do not contradict science. Nonscientific components of a worldview should draw upon scientific findings to explore traditional religious themes, such as faith and taboo. In contrast, unscientific ideas have been falsified and survive only via ignorance, denial, wishful thinking, blind faith, and institutional inertia. A worldview composed of both scientific components and scientifically informed nonscientific components can be both objective and ethically persuasive.

Keywords

nonscientific, faith, taboo, unscientific, scientific, worldview, environment

How to Cite

Orr, M., (2006) “WHAT IS A SCIENTIFIC WORLD VIEW, AND HOW DOES IT BEAR ON THE INTERPLAY OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION?”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 41(2), 435–444. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00748.x

Rights

Downloads

Download XML
Download PDF

72

Views

153

Downloads

2

Citations

References

Ackerman, D., et al.1992. Declaration of the “Mission to Washington”: The Joint Appeal by Religion and Science for the Environment. 1992 . http://www.webofcreation.org/DenominationalStatements/joint.htm, accessed January 2006.

American Heritage Publishing Company. 2000. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Boston : Houghton Mifflin (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=worldview).

Darwin, Charles. 1859. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. New York : Bantam.

Goodall, Jane. 1997. So Like Us: My Life with Chimpanzees. Speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco . http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/20thcentury/97‐05goodall‐speech.html, accessed January 2006).

Hopkin, M.2005. “Biggest Ever Climate Simulation Warns Temperatures May Rise 11°C. Nature Online , 26 January. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050124/full/050124‐10.html).

Houghton, J. T., et al., eds. 2001. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2001. New York : Cambridge Univ. Press.

Kaiser, J.1999. “Stemming the Tide of Invasive Species. Science 285: 1836–41.

Kevles, D.1980. “Genetics in the United States and Great Britain, 1890–1930: A Review with Speculations. Isis 71: 441–55, accessed via http://www.mendelweb.org/MWsapp.html.

Marsh, J.1840. Preface to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Aids to Reflection. New York : Gould, Newman, and Saxton.

Midgley, Mary. 1989. Wisdom, Information, Wonder: What Is Knowledge For? London : Routledge.

Orr, David. 1994. Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington , D.C. : Island Press.

Orr, Matthew. 2003. “Environmental Decline and the Rise of Religion. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 38 (December): 895–910.

Philander, S. G.1998. Is the Temperature Rising? The Uncertain Science of Global Warming. Princeton , N.J. : Princeton Univ. Press.

Provine, W. B.1971. The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago Press.

Sawin, J.2003. “Long Range Forecast. World Watch Magazine (March/April), 10–15.

Spong, John Shelby.1998. Why Christianity Must Change or Die. San Francisco : Harper San Francisco.

Stein, J., ed. 1982. The Random House College Dictionary. New York : Random House.

Steingraber, Sandra. 1998. Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment. New York : Vintage Books.

Wallace, A. F. C.1956. “Revitalization Movements. American Anthropologist 58: 264–81.

𝕏

Authors

Matthew Orr (Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science)

Downloads

Issue

Volume 41 • Issue 2 • June 2006

Publication details

Pages	435–444
Published on	2006-06-02

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00748.x

File Checksums (MD5)

XML: c22204e2a975c979d90b21d726b426f5
PDF: 8cb6a585fe54e0ffbe0b5608ea0562aa

Abstract

Keywords

How to Cite

Rights

Downloads

72

153

2

References

Share

Authors

Downloads

Issue

Publication details

Licence

Identifiers

File Checksums (MD5)

Table of Contents

Abstract

Keywords

How to Cite

Rights

Downloads

72

153

2

References

Share

Authors

Downloads

Issue

Publication details

Licence

Identifiers

File Checksums (MD5)

Table of Contents

Non Specialist Summary