On the Need for Science to be Human
"Science needs to remain human in that sense, to be self-aware of itself as human science, aware of incompleteness, aware of the joy of non-fulfilment. And at that level at least, science is bound to be operating with an image of humanity itself as a life form attuned to truth and to growth. Metaphysics, perhaps, or even worse, faith; and yet it is hard to see how the real life of the scientific enterprise can be sustained without that image of what is properly and joyfully and fulfillingly human. Recognised or not, the resonance of this with the life of faith is worth noting. Faith, our Christian faith, presupposes that we are indeed as human beings attuned to truth and to growth, made by a God whose love has designed us for joy, and discovering that this directedness towards joy mysteriously comes alive when we look into the living truth, the living wisdom, of the face of a Christ who drives us back again and again to question ourselves so that we stay alive."
- Rowan Williams, A Homily for the 350th Anniversary of the Royal Society.
4 comments:
Great quote. And very timely.
Why timely?
Amongst other things, because of all the debates about climate science (which have been highlighted again this week with two more vindications coming from different investigations and a new Dutch report on the IPCC 4th report). One of the reasons people are hesitant to accept climate science is fear of scientism, in which science is seen as exhaustive and exclusive in its access to knowledge and so becomes conflated with ethics and government policy. Placing science within a human context as a human activity with human goals on a human scale, then science becomes a great servant rather than a scary master.
Science is like alcohol, power tools and the Tree of Judicial Knowledge: given by God for use by wise, godly men, and deadly in the hands of the godless and unwise.
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