The Enlightenment, Science and Progress.
Lets think back to the past. How did people live? How did they explain things?
Let’s have a look at this Video (alternatively search for natural disasters in your own time on You Tube).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg-6whkbZXs
Imagine that you were living in 14th century England? How would you see a natural disaster- like Hurricane Katrina? What would you think caused the hurricane.
Homework/ Extra Knowledge Task:
Take a look at some Greek myths. Perhaps research the Roman Gods and / or consider the Pre-Christian era. There is plenty of stuff online. Alternatively, research other folk cultures (Punjabi cultural forms for example - many of which still survive today). Think about the stories and tales that were/ are told about the world and how we understand the world. How do these stories and cultures explain worldly phenomena and our culture. How believable are these assertions?
Do you consider these tales as the ‘truth’? If not why not?
The ENLIGHTENMENT
In the 17th Century there was a scientific revolution, a new way of thinking about man and society emerged. Great thinkers used scientific concepts and methods in their work. This led to the creation of a small group of ‘moral sciences’, David Hume coined the word ‘moral sciences’ — Sociology was a part of these moral sciences.
Sociology as a word did not appear until the 19th century, this is largely irrelevant as `sociological concerns’ are written about from the middle of the 18th century by some famous philosophers . An example of a famous philosopher, that wrote around this time is Voltaire (1694-1778). The ‘scientific’ revolution that occurred during the 17th century is also known as THE ENLIGHTENMENT. The ideas that emerged during this era were carried in to philosophical and ‘academic’ thought in the 18th and 19th centuries. This shows that the ideas were very influential.
During the Enlightenment and beyond, science became the epitome of enlightened reason. The intellectual community during this era believed that Scientific approaches would move human society onwards and upwards to a more enlightened and progressive state.
Think about the word Enlightenment —where does this word come from? To ‘enlighten’ means to suddenly become aware of something, previously unexplainable things become clear. That’s what happened during this period of time. Superstition and religion were a laughable and almost pathetic way of explaining things. Science was the be all and end all; some thinkers thought even social phenomena could be approached scientifically. Scientific methods were truly respected.
During the Enlightenment era, the predominant thinkers created a new reality where religious thoughts were put firmly away within the ‘thinking’ community. The concepts that were given centre stage were the following: Reason, Rationality, Empiricism (empiricism means facts/ numerical/statistical facts).
Science (as we know it).
Universalism (This concept of universalism refers to the belief that reason and science can be applied to any potential social situation that man may find himself in. Science is seen as having very general laws that govern the entire universe – without exception.
Progress: Progress was another buzzword during this era. Using science and the application of reason and rationality, the human condition could be improved. Therefore, in conclusion, science and reason are the only ways (according to Enlightenment thinkers) that human beings could improve their well being. Thus Science was the path to progress.
Toleration: during this era was the notion that all people were actually the ‘same’. It was thought that all men and women – regardless of their religious and moral convictions and beliefs they held, were not necessarily inferior to those who were European Christians. Although, personally, I am not sure that this is actually correct. Colonialism, The British Empire, American slavery – all marched forward with the view that Christianity and Western thought was superior. Philosophers during the Enlightenment may don’t have accepted this, but, this view was difficult to accept by the political elite and the layman. The supposed ‘superiority’ of the White European has been an integral part of our world for centuries.
A2 Thinking Point: What do YOU think of this? What is happening in the news today that confirms this assertion? Outline your opinions on this matter.
Now, as we are all focusing on religion, the most applicable concept and thought form to arise from the Enlightenment was secularisation/ secularism. Philosophers were very opposed to traditional religious authority and they stressed the need for people to be free of religious thought/doctrine and orthodoxy. They saw religion (in any form) as rather oppressive. The intellectuals during the Enlightenment challenged the clergy and the authority of the Church. At this time, such thinking against the established order of the Church, was a very bold step. This was because the Church held the authority over almost every sphere of life.
One of the major conflicts between the Christian Church and the Scientific community occurred in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Copernicus (a polish mathematician and Astronomer 1473 –1543) and Galileo (1564 – 1642) claimed that the sun was at the centre of the universe, rather than the Earth, as people had previously believed. The notion that the sun is at the centre and the other planets move around the sun is known as heliocentrism. These opinions were very problematic with the accepted Christian views that the Earth was at the centre.
And, as we know, Darwin then brought further problems to the religious table. We all know Darwin to be the ‘main man’ who brought the theory of evolution to the world. This view still continues to cause controversy amongst the religious folk today. It is well worth a read. Darwin has some interesting points to make! Here is his famous work:
This Enlightenment was responsible for huge changes in our world. Many Church Ministers now accept that Biblical tales should be taken allegorically (allegory means symbolic/ not factual/ figurative) rather than literally. Today, the Christian Church is ‘the’ authority on issues concerning morals and values, whilst at the same time science and scientific analysis of the world is largely left alone to deal with factual matters.
Some of you reading this, may well be students of science, namely Biology, Chemistry and Physics. You may well be aware of the huge differences between these subjects and the Social Sciences. But, at least Social Science attempts to be like the sciences! Social Science research is inherently based around the importance of objectivity and this is scientific. However, religion, has never even ever attempted to be ‘objective’ in anyway. It can be unashamedly subjective! It is as though science and religion can never really meet in the middle. But, there are scientists who are believers in a ‘God’ or spirit or universe…but overall we tend to see Science and Religion as two very separate disciplines and paradigms.
If one thinks about science, we can see that, as a subject it is very different to conventional religious perspectives and thoughts. The term ‘science’ refers both to a method of enquiry (how we research the world around us and the questions that we ask) and to a particular body of knowledge, such as chemistry or physics.
Science tries to make links between different ‘variables’. Science tries to create patterns from the world we live in, and discover relationships of one thing with another. Science does this by using a rigorous system of observation, educated ‘guesses’, hypothesis formation and controlled testing. The aim of science is to create or identify theories (confirmed hypotheses) and eventually to create scientific laws. The goal is to understand the natural world in order to make predictions and, where possible, to control it.
As we can see in my explanations of what a science is, we can see that religion and science are very disparate entities. So very different from one another.
