The Problem of the Correlation Between Religious and Scientific Knowledge

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleПроблема соотношения религиозного и научного знания
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category Integration - Co-existence - Key thinkers - History and philosophy of science - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning
6. Publication date 18-10-2018
7. lemma work Яковенко, Ирина Александровна [Author]. Проблема соотношения религиозного и научного знания
8. lemma manifestations Вестник Адыгейского государственного университета. Серия 1: Регионоведение: философия, история, социология, юриспруденция, политология, культурология
9. Keywords religious consciousness - correlation of faith and knowledge - Anthropic principle - order and chaos - scientific knowledge - Scientific method - Planck, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Яковенко, Ирина Александровна (2011). Проблема соотношения религиозного и научного знания. <em>Вестник Адыгейского государственного университета. Серия 1: Регионоведение: философия, история, социология, юриспруденция, политология, культурология</em>, (3), 20-28.</p>
12. Lemma body

    1. The author argues that Enlightenment ideas, which view rational thinking as an absolute value, are presently in decline. Modern science changes so quickly that laws previously considered to be universal become relative very fast. Technical progress which was once believed to be able to solve problems has become the cause of major crises. This is why humanity currently needs a dialogue between science and religion to avoid the destructive consequences of uncontrolled self-centred scientific progress.

       Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948), a Russian political and also Christian religious philosopher, thought that rationalism looked convincing only because it did not seek to question the basic questions: it only explained limited, partial truths. Ultimate divine order, according to the philosopher, does not reject science, it includes scientific truths. Semen Frank (1877-1950), a Russian philosopher, thought that both science and religion explained the same reality, although they focused on different subjects.

       The author poses the question of whether the modern scientist can allow divine intervention as an explanation of a phenomenon. According to the materialist point of view, there cannot be any mysterious, divine intervention in life; everything follows the laws of nature. The author agrees with Gaydenko (Gaydenko, P., Khristianstvo i genesis estestvoznaniya. Filosofsko-religioznye istoki nauki, Martis Moscow, 1997, p. 81) who posited that in Europe, protestant theology influenced scientific epistemology of the 16^th-17^th centuries.

       The author also maintains that Christian faith can be interpreted as probable knowledge that has not yet been proven by science. German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947) thought that both science and religion come from the human perception of reality: both seek to deduct the final order of things. Russian physicist Gennady Shipov argues that today there is a fusion of religion and science: the new development of Einstein’s theory of relativity suggests in fact the existence of reality synonymous to God in religion. Academician Aleksey Akimov also supports the idea that a physical vacuum is capable to produce matter. Vladimir Azhazha calls materialism an intellectual barrier. For him, matter is the consequence of the activity of the universal mind. All these ideas find support in the anthropic principle that sees the laws of nature as purposely constructed to make human life possible. Academician Vitaly Ginsburg argues that the anthropic principle is not convincing as it cannot explain the existence of other universes without life. The theory of synergy, creation of the whole out of simple objects, does not require the existence of God either.

       The author concludes by stating that modern science has limits and cannot explain who or what launched processes in the universe in the first place.