Religion and Science: Alfred North Whitehead

 

Unit Three: Science and Environment

Essay: Religion and Science by Alfred North Whitehead

About the Essayist

Alfred North Whitehead

        Alfred North Whitehead, born on February 15, 1861, in Ramsgate, Kent, England, and passing away on December 30, 1947, was a prominent English mathematician and philosopher. He made significant contributions to both fields and left a lasting impact on them.

Whitehead is counted among the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. His philosophy of organisms is recognized as an outstanding contribution to Western thought. Whitehead's most complete statement of this systematic speculative philosophy appears in his Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (1929), which describes the universe as an endless series of interrelated events. In several of his works, particularly Science and the Modern World (1925), Whitehead studied the history of science and criticized the fundamental assumptions of scientific materialism.

What is religion?

Religion is a collection of beliefs, customs, and traditions. It is also referred to as worship of a controlling power. Religion cannot always be centered on God. It can be the devotion to any kind of force. Like science, the term religion " did not have a proper meaning during medieval times. It attained its current purpose through the literary works of anthropologist EB Taylor. He is said to be the one who used this term worldwide to represent religion. Religion contributes significantly to the actions of a society and a person. It also influences one’s physical as well as mental health. 

What is science?

        Science is defined as the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding the world through experiments, observations, and proper evidence. The meaning of science in the olden period was natural philosophy or experimental philosophy. Its exact reference came and was used in the nineteenth century. William Whewell standardized the term scientist as those who are practitioners of science. In short, science can be considered a curiosity about the world and its behavior. Science is always a mystery. Every examination and discovery leads to more questions in science. 

Difference between Science and Religion

The role of religion and science in society is impactful. One of the crucial differences between science and religion is that the former is concerned with the natural world, while the latter is concerned with both natural and supernatural entities. Science explains facts with proper evidence and proof. It always presents logical explanations to answer the questions. Religion makes people depend on power, and this power can either be natural or supernatural. It is always dependent upon beliefs and faith. According to religion, everything happens due to the influence of unknown powers. Whereas science always depends on logical facts and proofs. When religion paved the way for different cultures and traditions, science paved the way for discoveries. 

The main idea of the Essay

This essay deals with the conflict between religion and science that came to be a great debate after the 19^th century. Earlier, people believed in religion more than science, but after the scientific theories of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Darwin, science developed a lot, and religion was challenged. A great turmoil of thought and discussion was held all around the world on religion and science. Some said religion is greater than science, and some claimed just the opposite.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published his well-known book 'Origin of Species', which brought a revolt that human beings are not created by God, but they were developed gradually from microorganisms to reptiles, and the reptiles to monkeys, and the monkeys to human beings. This thought challenged the religious thought that human beings were created by God. In the same context, this article was written by Whitehead to be delivered at Harvard University in 1925. Here, he wants to say that religion and science are not hostile to each other, but they can develop together. Still, he observes that religion is fading away and science is getting more powerful in the modern world.

Summary of the Essay

The writer expresses his views on religion and science in four sections. At first, he says we need to understand the relationship between religion and science. As people think, it is not so much related to each other. Neither are they closely related, nor are they enemies of each other. They are different fields of study. But many people believe that religion and science are straight opposites. These two subjects seem to be in open and frank disagreement with each other. Here, his opinion is that they are not so much related to each other, and both of them can develop in their own ways. When we look back at history, both religion and science have come through continual development. There were many misconceptions about religion and science. In both fields, we find additions, deletions, and modifications of ideas. 

In the second section, he says that a 'clash of doctrines is not a disaster but an opportunity. Here, he says that when these matters came into discussion, both religion and science were highlighted, and both of them have their logic. Both of them gained new ideas to establish their foundations. Such a clash of ideas made it clear that religion is the contemplation of the spiritual inner thought, but science is concerned with the external physical phenomena. It is best to allow both of them to flourish and develop if they can. He gives some examples of developments both in religion and science, and he explains the geocentric and heliocentric worldviews. 

In the third section, he says that religion is on the defense, a rather weak defense, but science is on the attack. Both are free to present their logic, but one seems to have overruled the other very soon. Religion will not get its old power back until it can justify its ideas like science. If religion accepts the help of scientific ideas, it will be good for religion. However, the problem is that most of the religious ideas cannot be justified. For example, in the Middle Ages, people thought that heaven was in the sky, hell was underground, and volcanoes were the fires from hell. However, such beliefs are not justified by science, and religion has become weak. 

In the last section, the writer says that there are some causes for the fading of religion in the public. Religion is just the reaction of human beings in the search for God and his worship, which is beyond reach. Some people say that religion is valuable for the ordering of life and its right conduct. This idea is also fading since there is morality to guide us in the right conduct. Religion is something real but not yet realized, something final good but not reached; it is a search for God but a hopeless result. Human life is a flash of occasional enjoyments lighting up a bagatelle of transient experience. The power of God is the worship he inspires in such a transient life. In the end, he says that the death of religion comes with the repression of the high hopes in it.

 

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