March 13, 2007

Science and Faith

While this post is probably a tiny bit cynical I think it addresses the behavior of the worst fundamendalists, choose any denomination you like.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That definitely devalues Magic.

Steve said...

That definitely devalues Magic.

Personally I don't think it does. Scientific studies were originally called "natural philosophy". If magic is a part of the natural world then it shouldn't be excluded from scientific examination. If it doesn't stand up to such examination then it deserves to be devalued.

Faith and science can coexist as long as one doesn't contradict the other. The middle ages taught us that in the event of a conflict there is likely to be a social cost for science's victory (think of Galileo) but I believe we must be rational about our lives.

CoralPoetry said...

Hi, Steve,

I hope you are well and that your move back to the US went smoothly.

Have you seen this blog? It looks like a splog to me.

http://bobbo547.duskdiary.com/

There’s more about splogs at my blog, plus another sunset picture.

Regards,
Coral

CoralPoetry said...

Hi, Steve,

Rationality isn’t a human trait. We need to look for something else. Sometimes religion fills this need. Sometimes it becomes a weapon or a shield to hide behind.

Regards,
Coral

Steve said...

Hi, coral:

Thanks for pointing out the splog: presumably such things really confuse the search engines if they aren't notified, so I reported it on Splog Reporter.

I think the human race should strive to become more rational. While I agree that rationality isn't everything I believe that ultimately we must act rationally in order to survive. Otherwise we will drown in our own excrement or kill each other with weapons of mass destruction.

Acting rationally doesn't exclude irrational beliefs, but if the results of actions are predictably disastrous belief alone won't rescue us from the consequences.

Anonymous said...

+1
"Come now, let us reason together". :D