Culture of science is cold, calculating, self-assured and arrogant. Science supporters think that to be scientific, is to be authoritative and controverted to the existence of God. But science is about being inquisitive and discovering the possibilities. Science recognizes the limits of our logic, methods and evidence when understanding the world around us without lapsing into irresponsible cynicism and skepticism about the Creator of our world. Science acknowledges that human knowledge and experience is tentative, it can be expanded or falsified when exposed to new information. This reality resonates an acute awareness of our ignorance not enlightenment.
The "law of nature" is foremost only our "assumption" of how the universe functions, the theory is neither definitive nor does it address the question of Who operates the universe and Why. For example, understanding the stages of embryonic development from 0.6 mm leech like blood clot that obtains nourishment from the blood of its mother, suspended in the uterus during the first stages of conception into a 4 mm chewed up gum-like substance with a mandibular and hyoid arch, prominent forebrain and tail is just a detailed observation of an occurrence but not the real cause of the occurrence. Illustrating what exists is not the same as anwering why it exists? and Who brings it into existence?
Modern scientific technology sure increases precision with which events are observed but it does not clarify why events take place and continue to happen systematically in sophisticated configurations. For example, science tells us that the colour of blood is red because blood contains millions of red discs called red corpuscles. Corpuscles are made in the spleen; they contain hemoglobin which absorbs oxygen from the lungs, giving a scarlet colour in arteries. As it flows through the body, the blood gives up its oxygen to organs of the body and the hemoglobin becomes brownish colour in the veins. Why do red discs, red corpuscles, the spleen, hemoglobin and lungs and oxygen organize coherently to create a living, breathing human person, or a flying bird or a fish that swims? Who interplays the physical and chemical forces that create and sustain intelligent life and order on Earth?
Quantum of science actually leaves us in awe of a supreme and sublime Creator who vested profound planning and meaning in wonderfully balancing and directing all activities on Earth. We take science for granted, becoming adrift in the design and detail of nature and miss the whole point that every design is devised by a genius inventor, all details are engineered by a brilliant and insightful maker. So the rational and high-order in this universe is scientific proof for God.
The "law of nature" is foremost only our "assumption" of how the universe functions, the theory is neither definitive nor does it address the question of Who operates the universe and Why. For example, understanding the stages of embryonic development from 0.6 mm leech like blood clot that obtains nourishment from the blood of its mother, suspended in the uterus during the first stages of conception into a 4 mm chewed up gum-like substance with a mandibular and hyoid arch, prominent forebrain and tail is just a detailed observation of an occurrence but not the real cause of the occurrence. Illustrating what exists is not the same as anwering why it exists? and Who brings it into existence?
Modern scientific technology sure increases precision with which events are observed but it does not clarify why events take place and continue to happen systematically in sophisticated configurations. For example, science tells us that the colour of blood is red because blood contains millions of red discs called red corpuscles. Corpuscles are made in the spleen; they contain hemoglobin which absorbs oxygen from the lungs, giving a scarlet colour in arteries. As it flows through the body, the blood gives up its oxygen to organs of the body and the hemoglobin becomes brownish colour in the veins. Why do red discs, red corpuscles, the spleen, hemoglobin and lungs and oxygen organize coherently to create a living, breathing human person, or a flying bird or a fish that swims? Who interplays the physical and chemical forces that create and sustain intelligent life and order on Earth?
Quantum of science actually leaves us in awe of a supreme and sublime Creator who vested profound planning and meaning in wonderfully balancing and directing all activities on Earth. We take science for granted, becoming adrift in the design and detail of nature and miss the whole point that every design is devised by a genius inventor, all details are engineered by a brilliant and insightful maker. So the rational and high-order in this universe is scientific proof for God.
Hamza Andreas Tzortzis...
ReplyDeleteScientism claims that science alone can render truth about the world and reality. It is important to note that Islamic scholarship does not adhere to the view that science is the only method to discover truths about man, life and the universe. In fact, Islamic scholarship views s...cience as a useful method of study which has a limited scope, and should not be solely relied upon when assessing the truth of our existence. This philosophical position is based on various arguments, for example:
1. Science, or more specifically scientism, which is the view that we should believe only what can be proven scientifically, is self-defeating. Scientism claims that a proposition is not true if it cannot be scientifically proven. However, the above claim itself cannot be scientifically proven. Therefore, according to this claim, the claim itself is not true, hence scientism self-defeating.
2. Scientism cannot prove necessary truths like mathematics and logic. For example, "if p implies q, and p, then q" and "3 + 3 = 6" are necessary truths and not merely empirical generalisations. In fact, scientism requires these necessary truths, but it cannot prove them, and any attempt to do so would be tantamount to arguing in a circle.
3. Scientism has a limited scope as it cannot provide a basis for moral truths. For instance, biology or evolution cannot provide rational explanations for the meaningfulness of good and bad. This is because evolution implies that we are just by products of a lengthy biological process, our morals have developed like our ears or teeth. Since evolutionary changes are inventible, moral truths will also change. From this perspective morality has no meaning, as the philosopher of science Michael Ruse aptly states:
"The position of the modern evolutionist . . . is that humans have an awareness of morality . . . because such an awareness is of biological worth. Morality is a biological adaptation no less than are hands and feet and teeth . . . . Considered as a rationally justifiable set of claims about an objective something, ethics is illusory. I appreciate that when somebody says 'Love they neighbor as thyself,' they think they are referring above and beyond themselves . . . . Nevertheless, . . . such reference is truly without foundation. Morality is just an aid to survival and reproduction, . . . and any deeper meaning is illusory . . ." [Michael Ruse. Evolutionary Theory and Christian Ethics in The Darwinian Paradigm. Routledge. 1989, pages 262, 268 - 9.]