1	SCIENCE IN WESTERN CULTURE Kieran M. Clements, Ph.D. 25 March 2003 HUM 103 Guest Lecture
2	ANCIENT IGNORANCE? Surprisingly, the introductory statements were accurate as of….. ?
3	ANCIENT IGNORANCE? Surprisingly, the introductory statements were accurate as of….. 1902
4	EARLY EFFORTS Aristotle (384-322B.C.) -- first “naturalist” (hierarchical classification) Eratosthenes (c.250 B.C.) -- demonstrated Earth to be round and calculated its circumference with 95% accuracy Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253) -- optics William of Occam (c. 1285-1349) -- Occam’s “razor” Paracelsus (1493-1541) -- founded modern toxicology
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6	17th CENTURY LANDMARKS 1609-1619 -- Kepler publishes laws of planetary motion 1609 -- Galileo uses telescope make astronomical observations/confirms heliocentric theory of Copernicus/publishes until condemned in 1632 1668 -- Redi disproves spontaneous generation 1673 -- Leeuwenhoek sees microorganisms 1687 -- Newton publishes “Principia” (laws of motion/ universal gravitation)
7	THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD PROCEDURE: observation (problem) Ù hypothesis Ù controlled experimentation Ù evaluation of results (data) Ù replication GOAL: objective knowledge regarding the operation of the natural world
8	NATURE: GOD’S HANDIWORK “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” --Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV)
9	NATURE: GOD’S HANDIWORK “In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence, for he finds it impossible to imagine that he is the first to have thought out the exceedingly delicate threads that connect his perceptions.” --Albert Einstein
10	NATURE: GOD’S HANDIWORK “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” --Romans 1:20 (NIV)
11	“MIGHT MAKES RIGHT” overwhelming success of modern science the NBA testimonial mentality “If they’re right about physics, surely they must be right about metaphysics.”
12	BLESSING AND CURSE “This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.’” --Jeremiah 17:5 (NIV) “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” --Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
13	OMNIPOTENT SCIENCE “In a sense, science has taken over the role of state religion in modern culture, and it has become a very influential religion at that….It is science and not religion that gives today’s world its rationale, morality, sustenance, and story of creation, such as it is.” --Roger S. Jones
14	UPON FURTHER REVIEW…. “[The shift in scientific thinking] arose not because of that which could be demonstrated by science, but because the scientists who took this new view had accepted a different philosophic base.
15	"“The findings of science" “The findings of science, as such, did not bring them to accept this view; rather, their world view brought them to this place. They became naturalistic in their presuppositions.” --Francis A. Schaeffer
16	SCIENCE AS PHILOSOPHY “Great minds shape the thinking of successive historical periods. Luther and Calvin inspired the Reformation; Locke, Leibniz, Voltaire and Rousseau, the Enlightenment. Modern thought is most dependent on the influence of Charles Darwin.” --Ernst Mayr
17	SCIENCE AS PHILOSOPHY “Changing one’s interpretation of the world is not, however, the same as establishing a new fact. The facts were the same in 1850 as they were in 1870, only the perception of them had changed.” --Michael Denton
18	FIRST BALLOT SUCCESS? Denton catalogs prominent contemporaries of Darwin who claimed the evidence (NOT religious considerations) failed to support his theory: Georges Cuvier -- essentially founded vertebrate paleontology and comparative anatomy Louis Agassiz -- well-known naturalist Richard Owen -- anatomist/invented the word “dinosaur” Charles Lyell -- father of geology
19	WHY SO SUCCESSFUL? “First, Darwinism rejects all supernatural phenomena and causations. The theory of evolution by natural selection explains the adaptedness and diversity of the world solely materialistically. It no longer requires God as creator or designer (although one is certainly free to believe in God even if one accepts evolution).” --Ernst Mayr
20	WHY SO SUCCESSFUL? “It is easy to see why scientific naturalism is an attractive philosophy for scientists. It gives science a virtual monopoly on the production of knowledge, and it assures scientists that no important questions are in principle beyond scientific investigation.” --Phillip E. Johnson
21	WHY FEAR FACTS? evidence from modern cosmology the improbability of chemical abiogenesis irreducible complexity Ù the facts of nature cannot contradict the truth of scripture
22	THE SCRAMBLE FOR EXPLANATIONS evolutionary/self-reproducing universes undiscovered mechanisms of evolution panspermia directed panspermia
23	SCIENCE REDEFINED “[Scientific naturalism implies] that scientific investigation is either the exclusive path to knowledge or at least by far the most reliable path, and that only natural or material phenomena are real. In other words, what science can’t study is effectively unreal.” --Phillip E. Johnson
24	BIOTECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES genetic modification of crops/livestock stem cell research gene therapy human cloning
25	BIOTECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES Cloning Pros reproductive alternative accidental death “insurance” Cloning Cons organ harvesting military application discrimination
26	IS SCIENCE THE ENEMY? science as evil scientists as untrustworthy science and cultural relevance
27	MEANINGLESSNESS = OPPORTUNITY “Every other culture in history has invented or ‘received’ a creation myth whose express purpose was to rationalize human existence--to tell us who we are, how we got here, and what our value and purpose are. Indeed, it is the job of creation myths to tell us the meaning of life.
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