March 3, 2024
Continuing the series of Essays dealing with the choice between worldviews we each must make, it is important to consider how science might impact this choice.
Science is central to the modern world, so it is critical to examine how, or if, it might help us decide if we live in a moral world, and whether we should choose to live by the worldview of Materialism or that of the wisdom traditions.
The fascinating answer is that science does not have a position on either of these questions, and does not even provide much guidance on them. Since the dawn of modern science over 400 years ago, however, most scientists have overwhelmingly chosen for their own lives the belief that we live in a moral world, and that the worldview of the wisdom traditions is more likely to be true than that of Materialism.
The reason is simple: Although science is the cornerstone of everything we know about the material world, many of the most important things in life are outside the realm of the material. Since they cannot be measured or calculated, they cannot be dealt with using any scientific methods.
What Science Can and Cannot Do
We have learned many important things through science. In cooperation with its close ally, technology, wonderful inventions, marvelous tools, and useful objects have been developed — including medicines, airplanes, lasers, computers, agricultural innovations, magnificent buildings, rockets that travel into space, and so much more.
Science has incredible tools for accomplishing plans, goals, and ambitions. If you decide to go to the moon, science is indispensable. But it is not much help in deciding what is important in your personal life. In the public domain, when making decisions, science has little to say about which priorities should be funded among all those that require funds: Should the available money be used for going to the moon, improving highways, providing increased support for the military, or feeding those who are hungry? Continue reading “Science and a Moral World”