SCIENTIFIC TEMPER & RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

SCIENTIFIC TEMPER &
RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND
RELIGION
SEMINAR ON
BY;
ASWATH K
ARUN A S
BTECH ME
GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING KANNUR

aswathkolaron@gmail.com
Our age is essentially an age of transition where
all things are changing, and changing so rapidly
that many feel somewhat lost. There is much of
confusion, a feeling of insecurity, and a sense of
fear and anxiety, and these make for
restlessness. This need not be so if we
understand what it is all about, and if we retain a
true sense of direction. Old forms must die to
make room for better ones. Progress means
change and we all need greater flexibility of
mind and preparedness to face all changes, while
retaining our faith in that which changes not.
Adaptability is essential to meet the challenge of
our era, the era of science and technology, with
both wisdom and courage.
INTRODUCTION

We are in the middle of a race between
human skills as to means and human folly
as to ends....Unless men increase in
wisdom as much as in knowledge,
increase of knowledge will be increase in
sorrow.

Science has dominated the Western world and everyone there
pays tribute to it, and yet the West is still far from having
developed the real temper of science. It has still to bring the spirit
and the flesh into creative harmony. In India, in many obvious
ways we have a greater distance to travel.
Its our responsibility to look into these obstructions and their
solutions.

SCIENTIFIC TEMPER
Scientific temper is a way of life - an individual and social
process of thinking and acting - which uses a scientific
method, which may include questioning, observing physical
reality, testing, hypothesizing, analyzing, and communicating
(not necessarily in that order). Scientific temper
describes an attitude which involves the application of
logic. Discussion, argument and analysis are vital parts
of scientific temper. Elements of fairness, equality and
democracy are built into it. [1] Jawaharlal Nehru was the
first to use the phrase in 1946.

"[What is needed] is the scientific approach,
the adventurous and yet critical temper
of science, the search for truth and new
knowledge, the refusal to accept anything without
testing and trial, the capacity to change previous
conclusions in the face of new evidence,
the reliance on observed fact and not on preconceived
theory, the hard discipline of the
mind—all this is necessary, not merely for the
application of science but for life itself and the
solutio of its a y pro le s.” —Jawaharlal
Nehru (1946) The Discovery of India, p. 512
MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS ARE KEY TO SCIENTIFIC
TEMPER

Jawaharlal Nehru strongly believed in two wonderful concepts;
freedom of speech, and a concept he had coined, a nation with a
“scientific temper”.
That term, a “scientific temper” is a wonderfully succinct way to
describe a broad concept. By speaking of a nation with a
“scientific temper”, he wanted to speak of the people of a nation
who would be able to think independently, understand and
practice the scientific method in their daily lives, analyse and
not take statements at their face value, and avoid simplistic
reasoning.
Of course, it has been easier said than done to create
that atmosphere in a nation where superstition, religion,
rumor, myth and innumerable beliefs abound

WHY DO WE NEED SCIENTIFIC TEMPER?
BECAUSE MY SELF EVALUATION SAYS THAT
TODAY WE ARE
IN GENERAL -WE AS AN
INDIVIDUAL &NATION
•LOST NATIONALISM
•BECAME MACHINE CENTRIC
•LOST ORIGINALITY
•LOST SELF CONFIDENCE
•LOOK FOR EXTERNAL RECOGNITION
•FOLLOWERS THAN SELF
ORGANISERS
• ENCAPSULATED IN SOCIAL EVILS

Youth Problems National Problems
Laziness &
postponement
Low productivity
leads to Poverty;
INEFFICIENCY
Desires beyond
needs
Greed and
corruption
SOCIETAL
INJUSTICE
Attractions and
romance
HEALTH &MENTAL
UNREST
Groups based on
Caste, religion,
region
Disunity
Correlation of National & Youth Problems

RESULTING IN Natures revenge—
spot and future health challenges

EXPLOSION
HAS IT BROUGHT
HUMAN
EXPANSION?

ALL SCIENTISTS MAY NOT HAVE
SCIENTIFIC TEMPER
So we should remember that:
FOLLOWING SCIENTIFIC WAY
DOES NOT GIVE SCIENTIFIC
TEMPER
TRUE SCIENTIFIC TEMPER IS THE NEED OF THE DAY

SO…..as per
Its our responsibility to obey this.
TRUE SCIENTIFIC TEMPER IS THE NEED OF THE DAY

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

DO SCIENCE AND RELIGION
NEED EACH OTHER?

People ask questions
 Why does the sun rise and set?
 When will it rain?
 Why isn’t it raining?
 How can we make it rain?
 Why is there a universe?
 Why do people suffer?
“Happy is he who gets to know
the reasons for things.” (Virgil)

Trying to make sense of the world
 Religion, science,
philosophy developed to
answer such questions
 Originally they were not
divided
 The first astronomers were
priests
 Medicine men were also
prophets and physicians
Stonehenge

relationship - cooperation
and interaction
 Scientists were supported by the Church
 Many great scientists were also believers -
Galileo, Kelper, Newton and Maxwell

Quotes of great scientists
 “Mathematics is the language in which God
has written the universe.” (Galileo)
 "Science brings men nearer to God.” (Louis
Pasteur)
 "It is evident that an acquaintance with
natural laws means no less than an
acquaintance with the mind of God therein
expressed.” (Joule)

What is science?
 Human endeavour to discover the structure
of the world and the laws that govern its
working
 Science is a spiritual adventure
 “The joy of discovery is certainly the liveliest that
the mind of man can ever feel.” Claude Bernard
(1813-78) French physiologist.
 Science is a communal enterprise
 Peer review

What makes scientists tick?
“I want to know how God
created this world.”
Albert Einstein
“Science is an imaginative
adventure of the mind
seeking truth in a world of
mystery.”
Sir Cyril Hinshelwood
Nobel prize Chemistry 1956

Limitations of science
Which of the following questions can be
answered by the natural sciences?
 How are atom bombs made?
 Should we make atom bombs?
 How does the human organism function?
 What is the meaning of human existence?
 Why are the laws of nature mathematical?
 Why do the laws of nature exist?

What is religion?
 Quest to understand life’s mysteries and
discover the true way of life
 What is the purpose of life?
 What is right and wrong?
 Spiritual adventure into the heart of God
 Prayer, meditation
 A communal activity
 Church, ummah, sangha, councils

What are religious practices?
 Religious knowledge based on experience
and reason
 Revelations - Insights from profound
encounters with the Divine
 Reflections on life’s experiences
 At the heart of reality is mystery
 Use metaphors and similies to describe it

Science and religion are different
"The goal of science is understanding
lawful relations among natural
phenomena. Religion is a way of life
within a larger framework of meaning.”
Ian Barbour (Professor of Physics and Professor of
Religion)

Different areas of competence
 Science focuses on
explaining physical
dimension of
reality: How?
 Religion focuses on
explaining spiritual
dimension: Why?

Science and religion
complementary
“Science and religion
are two windows
that people look
through, trying to
understand the big
universe outside,
trying to understand
why we are
here.”Freeman Dyson

What’s the problem then?
“Trouble arises when either science or
religion claims universal jurisdiction,
when either religious dogma or scientific
dogma claims to be infallible. Religious
creationists and scientific materialists are
equally dogmatic and insensitive.”
Freeman Dyson

Conflicts between science and
religion
 Religious imperialism
 Galileo affair - Church rejected facts that
conflicted with theology and tried to supress
scientific theories
 Scientific imperialism
 Neo-Darwinism - Some people claim that
evolution disproves the existence of God

Need for cooperation
“Science can purify religion from error and
superstition, and religion can purify science
from idolatry and false absolutes.”
Pope John Paul II
"Science without religion is lame, religion
without science is blind."
Albert Einstein

Unification view
For humanity to completely overcome the
two aspects of ignorance . . . There must
emerge a new truth which can reconcile
religion and science and resolve their
problems in an integrated understanding.
EDP, 6-7

Science and values
“Science can only ascertain what is, but not
what should be, and outside of its domain
value judgments of all kinds remain
necessary.”Albert Einstein
 Religion and philosophy necessary to
provide ethical framework for science and
its application.

God is only immanent
 God is the universe; the universe is God
 Einstein was a pantheist (some thing divine)
 Spinoza was a pantheist
 Naturalist poets (Coleridge, Wordsworth)
 Evolution is the natural process through
which development occurs
 There is no soul or spiritual world

SO AS INDIVIDUALS WE SHOULD LOOK AT THINGS
IN OUR OWN VIEWS NOT WITH THAT THOUGHT BY
OTHERS .

CONCLUSION:
INDIA IS SECOND TO NONE
NOT ONLY WE CAN DO WHAT OTHERS CAN ;
BUT ALSO WHAT OTHERS CAN‘T DO
I S R O
EXCELLENCE WITH
HUMAN TOUCH

Inculcate ideas early in a child’s life, so that it would
enable the child to understand the scientific method
better, better enable the child to question simplistic
statements or “theories” (thereby differentiating
scientific theories from popular “theories”), and
would help the child grow up into someone more
rational and someone less likely to be swayed purely
by emotion or passion.
SO OUR AIM IS TO;

So, o i g a k to Nehru’s s ie tifi te per, I
think these are the type of initiatives that we
need, starting with kids at a very young age. There
certainly are small efforts here and there, by
wonderful NGOs or other organizations, but most
of the efforts are few and far between. With
education in India itself, most of the effort
appears to be for better colleges or research
institutes or more IITs, but the biggest hole lies in
our schools. It is a white elephant no one wants to
touch. But only when that hole is plugged will
terms like a nation with a scientific temper mean
anything.

EXPERIENCED
ONENESS IN
RELIGION
POSTULATED & VINDICTED
ONENESS IN SCIENCE
This can only be achieved through…..

SO TOGETHER WE CAN WORK FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF OUR NATION

THANKS
FOR Queries please contact:

SCIENTIFIC TEMPER & RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

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