Bertran Russell
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One of the oldest and most unresolved debates in the history of mankind is the one which pits religion versus science. In his book Religion and Science, Bertrand Russell provides examples of the historical tussle between religious faith and the pursuit of scientific fact. He provides numerous examples of the historical conflict between the two, including such polarized views as religion’s creationist mythology and Darwin’s scientific theory of evolution. While be does not mock religious viewpoints, Russell obviously sides with science in this debate. His argument that at various points in history religious believers have stood in the way of the progress of the ideas and the technologies produced by science, is timely in modern society (for example, the debate between modern forms of contraception and abortion). Bertrand Russell was a philosopher, mathematician, pacifist and an agnostic. His views on everything from religion to marriage and morality created an enormous amount of controversy during his lifetime from those who opposed his views. Perhaps his views on religion caused him the greatest amount of opposition. At heart, Russell believed the key to the conflict between religion and science sprang from inherently conflicting methodologies adopted by each. Russell believed science was superior to religion and he points out many examples where religious adherents opposed scientific discoveries, discoveries that have be
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dence, or he is unwise according to Russell:
He is not bound to assert that there are causal laws except where he has actually found them; indeed he is unwise if he does so. But he is still more unwise if he asserts positively that he knows of a region where causal laws do not operate. This assertion has an unwisdom at once theoretical and practical: theoretical, because our knowledge can never be sufficient to warrant such an assertion; and practical, because the belief that there are no causal laws in a certain province discourages investigation, and may prevent laws from being discovered. This double unwisdom seems to me to belong both to those who assert that changes in atoms are not completely deterministic, and to those who dogmatically assert free will. Faces with such opposite dogmatisms, science should remain purely empirical, carrying neither assertion nor denial beyond the point warranted by actual evidence.
(Russell 168)
The long-running debate between science and religion has not diminished science’s attraction to millions because it has given mankind power. It has given them a greater measure of power over nature, from helping them travel faster and further to helping them live longer and healthier lives
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Approximate Word count = 2321
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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