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Religion & Science as institutions of Modernity. Is this the difference?: Religion does the Ethics? Scientists do the facts? (this is a very ‘functionalist’ approach) OR, are both social practices ( altho pointing beyond their practices to “truth”)?
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Religion & Science as institutions of Modernity • Is this the difference?: • Religion does the Ethics? • Scientists do the facts? • (this is a very ‘functionalist’ approach) • OR, are both social practices (altho pointing beyond their practices to “truth”)? • (The following is from Murphy, Nancey. 1997. Reconciling Theology and Science: A Radical ReformationPerspective. Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press.
Theology as a Science • Hypothetico-deductive model • Doctrines as theories to explain facts about Cht life • Data is… • Biblical presentation • moral practices • historical events • religious experience • Use of “models”
Science as religious… • See Stahl, et al. • Kuhn (according to Murphy, 1997) • Role of authoritative texts (citing the lit). • Community of scholars who only question the basics in revolutionary periods. • Theoretical understanding shapes interp (theory-dependence of obs). • Trained in a tradition (discipline) to participate in the practices (e.g, Roth & Bowen)
When the facts are contested: • “race-science” • Global warming? Or Not? Or human-caused? • Cloning - OK/Not OK/Sometimes OK? • Pollution in what quantities? • Are these facts or ethics? • How do we know who/What to believe?
Who do we believe? • Those who gives us the answers, who spread the word • Scientists - the priests of Modernity
Social Sciences help us understand • How the issues get framed • how sides got drawn • how boundaries established • knowledge commodified • power wielded • e.g., knowl-as-power, power-as-knowl, or power-in-knowl • what maneuvers made to gain credibility (symbolic capital leading to positional power in the Field).
Religion & Science as institutions of Modernity • “Science is “rational” because it has the power to define the bounds of rationality.” • Thomas Gieryn • Getting this status is a historical process whereby science and rationality were co-constructed.
Religion & Science as institutions of Modernity • The S-R debate is a debate about • where to allocate credibility (epistemic authority [Gieryn]) • “Scientists are the Priests of Modernity”
Defending this stmt “Scientists are the Priests of Modernity” • Approach One • Explain Modernity • Approach Two • Explain Religion (& role of the priest) • Science as “religious” (Weber’s “soteriology”)
Dimensions of Religion (Paccione, 1999). • Sacred narrative - explanation of origin, true nature of being/reality. • Ritual – practices, repeated, carrying meaning. • Doctrine – something taught as principles or tenets. • Experience - personal encounter, social practices performed. • Ethics – rules of behaviour. • Social institutions - coordinating, authorizing, sanctioning, conditioning.
Dimensions of Science? • Sacred narrative - explanation of origin, true nature of being/reality. • Ritual – practices, repeated, carrying meaning. • Doctrine – something taught as principles or tenets. • Experience - personal encounter, social practices performed. • Ethics – rules of behaviour. • Social institutions - coordinating, authorizing, sanctioning, conditioning.
Dimensions of Science? • Strong reaction against the social scientific study of “science” (the “science wars”) because, • “part of the myth of science is that its methods and the knowledge produced through their application are beyond scrutiny and untainted by subjectivity…” (Stahl, et al., p. 32)
