Learning that Newton was very religious may have surprised most but it did not come as much of a shock to me. Most people see science and religion being polar opposites and both of them can not strongly co-exisit within one person but I disagree. I feel that it is quite possible for one of the greatest scientist to also be very religious but what do you think, do you think religion and science can co-exisit within a person, what about a society?
One of the causes of the Scientific revolution was the development of the medieval university. Within the university there was a small but independent study of philosophy ( or science) that stood right alongside law, medicine and theology. I feel that this was a big step for science to start to be independent from theology. Being independent would mean that science could come up with its own ideas and not be influenced by religion. Also this created a way for scientists to share their ideas to large groups of people and be able to answer questions. What do you think the most important part of the development of the university was?
Towards the end of the reading it talks about the scientific community. The scientific community allowed knowledge to be shared and for people of like interests in science to work together. But now the government often gets involved and tells scientist what to research. This can restrict the freedom of the scientists. This is even going in todays world. President Obama issued an order for more fuel efficient cars. I think this was a good way to use the scientific community. This provided incentive to research something but did not require all scientist to research something. What do you think? Do you think the government should be involved in the scientific community?
I agree that science and religion can co-exist, so long as the scientist keeps an open mind. The Protestant church is a good example of this, because they encouraged science while at the same time promoting Christianity.
ReplyDeleteI think that science and religion can exist in a single person, but not in a society. I do not think that science and religion are polar opposites, but I do think that some of the beliefs contradict each other. In a society, I do not think science and religion can co-exist because people have strong beliefs and argue with differences.
ReplyDeleteI think that your point about how it was a big step for science to gain its independence from theology is excellent. During the times of antiquity, especially during the religiously filled middle ages, much of science was dictated by theology. The paradigm is how the universe worked. Theologians claimed that the Sun went round the Earth and that there were ten spheres and many other specific phenomena. I think that the first step was the development not of science, but of scientific thought. People had to begin to think like scientists (i.e. inductively and deductively) in order to separate from areas like theology. Otherwise, if the way of thinking had not changed, the religious, assumption-filled way of thinking would have prevailed and we would not have modern science today.
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