NDLI: Skepticism, truth as coherence, and constructivist epistemology: grounds for resolving the discord between science and religion?

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Staver, John R.
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Science and religion exhibit multiple relationships as ways of knowing. These connections have been characterized as cousinly, mutually respectful, non-overlapping, competitive, proximate-ultimate, dominant-subordinate, and opposing-conflicting. Some of these ties create stress, and tension between science and religion represents a significant chapter in humans’ cultural heritage before and since the Enlightenment. Truth, knowledge, and their relation are central to science and religion as ways of knowing, as social institutions, and to their interaction. In religion, truth is revealed through God’s word. In science, truth is sought after via empirical methods. Discord can be viewed as a competition for social legitimization between two social institutions whose goals are explaining the world and how it works. Under this view, the root of the discord is truth as correspondence. In this concept of truth, knowledge corresponds to the facts of reality, and conflict is inevitable for many because humans want to ask which one—science or religion—gets the facts correct. But, the root paradox, also known as the problem of the criterion, suggests that seeking to know nature as it is represents a fruitless endeavor. The discord can be set on new ground and resolved by taking a moderately skeptical line of thought, one which employs truth as coherence and a moderate form of constructivist epistemology. Quantum mechanics and evolution as scientific theories and scientific research on human consciousness and vision provide support for this line of argument. Within a constructivist perspective, scientists would relinquish only the pursuit of knowing reality as it is. Scientists would retain everything else. Believers who hold that religion explains reality would come to understand that God never revealed His truth of nature; rather, He revealed His truth in how we are to conduct our lives.
Starting Page	19
Ending Page	39
Page Count	21
File Format	PDF
ISSN	18711502
Journal	Cultural Studies of Science Education
Volume Number	5
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	18711510
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2009-05-28
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Epistemology Constructivism Realism Skepticism Science & religion Truth Sociology of Education Science Education Education (general)
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Cultural Studies

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