Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
SCIENTIFIC TEMPER &
RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND
RELIGION
SEMINAR ON
BY; ASWATH K ARUN A S BTECH ME GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING KANNUR
Our age is essentially an age of transition where all things are changing, and changing so rapidly that many feel somewhat lost. There is much of confusion, a feeling of insecurity, and a sense of fear and anxiety, and these make for restlessness. This need not be so if we understand what it is all about, and if we retain a true sense of direction. Old forms must die to make room for better ones. Progress means change and we all need greater flexibility of mind and preparedness to face all changes, while retaining our faith in that which changes not. Adaptability is essential to meet the challenge of our era, the era of science and technology, with both wisdom and courage.
INTRODUCTION
We are in the middle of a race between human skills as to means and human folly as to ends....Unless men increase in wisdom as much as in knowledge, increase of knowledge will be increase in sorrow.
Science has dominated the Western world and everyone there pays tribute to it, and yet the West is still far from having developed the real temper of science. It has still to bring the spirit and the flesh into creative harmony. In India, in many obvious ways we have a greater distance to travel. Its our responsibility to look into these obstructions and their solutions.
SCIENTIFIC TEMPER
Scientific temper is a way of life - an individual and social process of thinking and acting - which uses a scientific method, which may include questioning, observing physical reality, testing, hypothesizing, analyzing, and communicating (not necessarily in that order). Scientific temper describes an attitude which involves the application of logic. Discussion, argument and analysis are vital parts of scientific temper. Elements of fairness, equality and democracy are built into it. [1] Jawaharlal Nehru was the first to use the phrase in 1946.
"[What is needed] is the scientific approach,
the adventurous and yet critical temper
of science, the search for truth and new
knowledge, the refusal to accept anything without
testing and trial, the capacity to change previous
conclusions in the face of new evidence,
the reliance on observed fact and not on preconceived
theory, the hard discipline of the
mind—all this is necessary, not merely for the
application of science but for life itself and the
solutio of its a y pro le s.” —Jawaharlal
Nehru (1946) The Discovery of India, p. 512
MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS ARE KEY TO SCIENTIFIC TEMPER
Jawaharlal Nehru strongly believed in two wonderful concepts; freedom of speech, and a concept he had coined, a nation with a “scientific temper”. That term, a “scientific temper” is a wonderfully succinct way to describe a broad concept. By speaking of a nation with a “scientific temper”, he wanted to speak of the people of a nation who would be able to think independently, understand and practice the scientific method in their daily lives, analyse and not take statements at their face value, and avoid simplistic reasoning. Of course, it has been easier said than done to create that atmosphere in a nation where superstition, religion, rumor, myth and innumerable beliefs abound
WHY DO WE NEED SCIENTIFIC TEMPER?
BECAUSE MY SELF EVALUATION SAYS THAT TODAY WE ARE
IN GENERAL -WE AS AN INDIVIDUAL &NATION
•LOST NATIONALISM •BECAME MACHINE CENTRIC •LOST ORIGINALITY •LOST SELF CONFIDENCE •LOOK FOR EXTERNAL RECOGNITION •FOLLOWERS THAN SELF ORGANISERS • ENCAPSULATED IN SOCIAL EVILS
Youth Problems National Problems
Laziness & postponement
Low productivity leads to Poverty; INEFFICIENCY
Desires beyond needs
Greed and corruption SOCIETAL INJUSTICE
Attractions and romance
HEALTH &MENTAL UNREST
Groups based on Caste, religion, region
Disunity
Correlation of National & Youth Problems
RESULTING IN Natures revenge— spot and future health challenges
EXPLOSION
HAS IT BROUGHT
HUMAN
EXPANSION?
ALL SCIENTISTS MAY NOT HAVE SCIENTIFIC TEMPER
So we should remember that:
FOLLOWING SCIENTIFIC WAY DOES NOT GIVE SCIENTIFIC TEMPER
TRUE SCIENTIFIC TEMPER
IS THE NEED OF THE DAY
SO…..as per
Its our responsibility to obey this. TRUE SCIENTIFIC TEMPER IS THE NEED OF THE DAY
DO SCIENCE AND RELIGION
NEED EACH OTHER?
People ask questions
Why does the sun rise and set?
When will it rain?
Why isn’t it raining?
How can we make it rain?
Why is there a universe?
Why do people suffer?
“Happy is he who gets to know the reasons for things.” (Virgil)
Trying to make sense of the world
Religion, science, philosophy developed to answer such questions
Originally they were not divided The first astronomers were
priests
Medicine men were also prophets and physicians
Stonehenge
relationship - cooperation
and interaction
Scientists were supported by the Church
Many great scientists were also believers - Galileo, Kelper, Newton and Maxwell
Quotes of great scientists
“Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe.” (Galileo)
"Science brings men nearer to God.” (Louis Pasteur)
"It is evident that an acquaintance with natural laws means no less thanan acquaintance with the mind of God therein expressed.” (Joule)
What is science?
Human endeavour to discover the structure of the world and the laws that govern its working
Science is a spiritual adventure “The joy of discovery is certainly the liveliest that
the mind of man can ever feel.” Claude Bernard (1813-78) French physiologist.
Science is a communal enterprise Peer review
What makes scientists tick?
“I want to know how God created this world.”
Albert Einstein
“Science is an imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of mystery.”
Sir Cyril Hinshelwood
Nobel prize Chemistry 1956
Limitations of science
Which of the following questions can be answered by the natural sciences?
How are atom bombs made?
Should we make atom bombs?
How does the human organism function?
What is the meaning of human existence?
Why are the laws of nature mathematical?
Why do the laws of nature exist?
What is religion?
Quest to understand life’s mysteries and discover the true way of life
What is the purpose of life?
What is right and wrong?
Spiritual adventure into the heart of God
Prayer, meditation
A communal activity
Church, ummah, sangha, councils
What are religious practices?
Religious knowledge based on experience
and reason
Revelations - Insights from profound encounters with the Divine
Reflections on life’s experiences
At the heart of reality is mystery
Use metaphors and similies to describe it
Science and religion are different
"The goal of science is understanding lawful relations among natural phenomena. Religion is a way of life within a larger framework of meaning.”
Ian Barbour (Professor of Physics and Professor of Religion)
Different areas of competence
Science focuses on explaining physical dimension of reality: How?
Religion focuses on explaining spiritual dimension: Why?
Science and religion
complementary “Science and religion
are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here.”Freeman Dyson
What’s the problem then?
“Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction, when either religious dogma or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive.”
Freeman Dyson
Conflicts between science and
religion Religious imperialism
Galileo affair - Church rejected facts that conflicted with theology and tried to supress scientific theories
Scientific imperialism
Neo-Darwinism - Some people claim that evolution disproves the existence of God
Need for cooperation
“Science can purify religion from error and superstition, and religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.”
Pope John Paul II
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Albert Einstein
Unification view
For humanity to completely overcome the two aspects of ignorance . . . There must emerge a new truth which can reconcile religion and science and resolve their problems in an integrated understanding. EDP, 6-7
Science and values
“Science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.”Albert Einstein
Religion and philosophy necessary to provide ethical framework for science and its application.
God is only immanent
God is the universe; the universe is God
Einstein was a pantheist (some thing divine)
Spinoza was a pantheist
Naturalist poets (Coleridge, Wordsworth)
Evolution is the natural process through which development occurs
There is no soul or spiritual world
SO AS INDIVIDUALS WE SHOULD LOOK AT THINGS IN OUR OWN VIEWS NOT WITH THAT THOUGHT BY OTHERS .
CONCLUSION:
INDIA IS SECOND TO NONE
NOT ONLY WE CAN DO WHAT OTHERS CAN ; BUT ALSO WHAT OTHERS CAN‘T DO
I S R O EXCELLENCE WITH HUMAN TOUCH
Inculcate ideas early in a child’s life, so that it would enable the child to understand the scientific method better, better enable the child to question simplistic statements or “theories” (thereby differentiating scientific theories from popular “theories”), and would help the child grow up into someone more rational and someone less likely to be swayed purely by emotion or passion.
SO OUR AIM IS TO;
So, o i g a k to Nehru’s s ie tifi te per, I think these are the type of initiatives that we
need, starting with kids at a very young age. There
certainly are small efforts here and there, by
wonderful NGOs or other organizations, but most
of the efforts are few and far between. With
education in India itself, most of the effort
appears to be for better colleges or research
institutes or more IITs, but the biggest hole lies in
our schools. It is a white elephant no one wants to
touch. But only when that hole is plugged will
terms like a nation with a scientific temper mean
anything.
EXPERIENCED ONENESS IN RELIGION
POSTULATED & VINDICTED ONENESS IN SCIENCE
This can only be achieved through…..
SO TOGETHER WE CAN WORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR NATION
