To look at the potential conflict between religion and science, Mr Alonzo Fyfe imagines two hospitals: One hospital is the Institute for Scientific Medicine which is scientifically-based, and its cross-town rival is Faith Hospital which relies on scripture and prayer rather than science. Given the choice, how many Christians would select this hospital over the scientifically-based hospital if given the choice?
Atheist Ethicist
A view of right and wrong, good and evil, in a universe without gods.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Faith Hospital
I have been asked about what I consider the possibilities to be for a reconciliation between faith and science – specifically, with respect to religious claims that have a scientific component. This would apply to religious claims about the age of the Earth and the origins of Man.
I would also argue that this distinction between religion and science has to do with moral facts as well. Moral facts have to do with whether malleable desires will tend to fulfill or thwart other desires. The relationships that exist between desires (as they are understood within desire utilitarianism) can be potential matter for scientific study.
To look at the potential conflict between religion and science, I would like to imagine two hospitals.
The first hospital is the Institute for Scientific Medicine. Its cross-town rival is Faith Hospital.
At the Institute, the staff spend a great deal of time taking a number of different measurements of every patient who comes to them. They record symptoms and duration. They also conduct tests, which are designed to collect more observations, that also go into their data. The check blood pressure, temperature, chemicals in the blood, chemicals in the urine, blemishes in the skin, they look at different pieces of tissue under a microscope and the graph changes in this data over time.
All the while, they are searching for regularities.
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