What is Science?

Philosophy and Science

BRENT SILBY Unlimited (UPT)

From the Big Bang to Evolution How the Universe gave rise to Consciousness

We will tour the history of scientific knowledge

We will compare scientific knowledge with religious belief During these sessions I will argue that as religion is faith based, it is not open to change on the basis of new evidence. This is not to say that religions do not evolve; rather, it is to say the reason for the evolution is non-scientific.

Characteristics of Religion * Belief without independently verifiable evidence * Unquestioned acceptance of the testimony of authority figures

* Knowledge gained by reading mythology and legend rather than through investigation
* Beliefs are not modified on the basis of new evidence * Ideas and beliefs are often from a biased point of view (the believer already has an opinion, which is generally set in stone)

* Beliefs are largely fixed and unchanging - when left alone they do not change
* Involves supernatural explanation - ultimately beyond human understanding. This part is fixed and unchanging.

Characteristics of Religion

But dont religions change?

Dont religions respond to science?

After all, the Catholic church accepts Big Bang and Evolution.

Characteristics of Religion

True, religions evolve through time, like all cultural systems. Its a memetic evolution - the modification and descent of ideas.
How does this work?

Religions evolve, not through scientific process, but through the assimilation of ideas contained within competing belief systems.

Characteristics of Religion When a religion encounters a competing belief system it: 1. Attempts to convert the followers of the competing system 2. If that fails, it assimilates key parts of the competing system into its own system, thus making it easier for members of the competitor to make the switch 3. Destroy the competitor (as in the Inquisition) Goal of Religion, not to understand the world but to increase membership.

The inquisition wheel

The inquisition in the US

Characteristics of Science? * Based on evidence * Gains knowledge by testing of hypotheses to form theories

* Skeptical approach is taken; no blind acceptance of authoritative statements

* Unbiased approach (open minded approach; able to accept new ideas even if they conflict with pre-existing beliefs) * Theories are falsifiable

Religions are based on ancient texts * Texts such as the bible were written over 1500 years ago

* The bible was written by a series of people who are passing on stories and anecdotes that have been passed down by word of mouth
* The bible is unable to be questioned by its own religion * The bible has not been changed or updated in response to new discoveries

Dead Sea scrolls dated between 400BCE and 300CE

Imagine what our knowledge of the world would be like if we refused to update scientific theories on the basis of new discoveries

Flat Earth
For much of pre-scientific history people thought the Earth was flat. Even in the middle ages the common view was that Earth is flat.

The caption beneath this picture translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet..."

Flat Earth

Ptolemy figured out the Earth was round in 140 AD. He measured the length of shadows at different locations at the same time of the day and deduced that the world was spherical. [Draw on whiteboard]
He even calculated the size of the Earth to astounding accuracy. This knowledge was lost due to religious suppression. More ancient evidence for spherical Earth came from watching the eclipse of the moon. Enlightened people noticed that the shadow moving across the moon was curved. They reasoned that this was Earths shadow.

Knowledge was rediscovered during the middle ages

Picture from a 1550 edition of: "On the Sphere of the World". The most influential astronomy textbook of the 13th century.

Earth at Center of Universe

* Commonly held view until Kepler reformulated the theory of planetary motion in the 17th Century.

Earth at Center of Universe

* Wandering stars had strange movements. Explaining those movements was very difficult while maintaining that everything orbited Earth. Their motion could only be explained if they had complicated orbits.
* So they imagined that these wandering stars moved around Earth while also moving in circles (see above)

Sun at Center of Solar System

* The solution was to redraw the solar system. The wandering stars were put in orbit around the sun. Earth was also put in orbit around the sun. This explained our observations while retaining the idea of simple circular orbits. * These wandering stars are the planets. The word Planet means wondering star.

Sun at Center of Solar System

Kepler then reformulated the orbits of planets and had them move in an elliptical motion as seen above. This explains observations Planets accelerate towards the sun, swing passed and slow down as they reach the far point of their obit.

Sun at Center of Solar System

* The theory of Earth at the center of the universe was falsified by new evidence. This evidence came from observations of planets and resulted in a refinement of the theory. The new theory is more elegant than the alternative.

Sun at Center of Solar System * Discovery of moons of Jupiter confirmed that not everything was in orbit around Earth.

Teleological world view * In the past people viewed natural phenomena as Goal directed * Example 1: Things fall because they naturally belong on the ground, thats their end goal. * Example 2: An acorn grows into a tree because it has an end goal * Example 3: The stars hang in the sky because their end goal is to be up above Earth We now know that events occur because of preceding causes

If science was the same as religion, then the discoveries on previous slides would not be integrated into the belief system.
Such discoveries would be thought of as: * Tricks * Illusions * The devil

Religious ideas are fixed, cannot be changed. The nature of the world is written in ancient texts, and since they are the word of God, they must be considered to be the truth.

But the bible and other ancient texts were not written by God. Their content reveals that they were written by people with a limited understanding of the world. If God had written these texts, and if he intended for these texts to be useful for thousands of years, he would have included information such as:
1. The sun is a star

2. The Earth is a sphere

3. Mars is a place similar to Earth, with extinct volcanoes, ancient riverbeds, and an atmosphere

4. Nothing can travel faster than light

God could add to these statements something like:
You will not understand these ideas now, but this is the way of the universe. In the future you will understand.

Religion is faith based, which means belief without evidence

Science is Evidence based. Theories are open to change on the basis of new evidence.

But dont scientists have faith in scientific process? If so, doesnt that make science a sort of religion? [discuss] There is a difference between having faith and having confidence Scientists have confidence in scientific process. This is not the same as faith. They have confidence because theyve seen it work, and they know that they can independently test and verify scientific theories.

Summary
Religion doctrine does not evolve based on evidence. Ideas within religion can change, but for other reasons.

Scientific theories are modified on the basis of new evidence

Religion is faith-based. This means that beliefs can be held regardless of evidence (or lack thereof)

Science is evidence based

Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY Produced at UPT Christchurch, New Zealand www.unlimited.school.nz