Key Considerations
- Mechanistic Worldview in Science
- Much of mainstream science, especially since the Scientific Revolution, has historically adopted a mechanistic or Newtonian worldview. This perspective views the universe as a complex machine governed by natural laws and reducible to interactions of its parts[1][2][3].
- Mechanism emphasizes materialism, reductionism, and determinism—treating phenomena as resulting from predictable laws, not mysterious or supernatural events[1][2].
- Science vs. Religion: Differences and Overlaps
- Science is based on empirical evidence, testability, and falsifiability. Its purpose is to explain the how of natural phenomena through observation and experimentation[4][5].
- Religion, by contrast, deals with questions of meaning, purpose, and moral guidance, often resting on faith and tradition rather than empirical proof[4][5].
- The Question of 'Religion-like' Features
- Some critics argue that certain forms of scientism (the view that science is the exclusive route to knowledge) behave a bit like religion: they may show dogmatic tendencies, treat certain scientific paradigms as beyond challenge, and dismiss alternative viewpoints as heretical[6][7].
- However, mainstream science as an institution rarely requires faith in the supernatural, ritual observance, or claims of ultimate meaning—defining features of most religions[4][5].
- The term scientific fundamentalism has been used to describe strict adherence to scientific orthodoxy, but even its proponents usually invite revision if evidence demands it[8].
Mechanistic Worldview and Its Limits
- The mechanistic approach defined classical science, but modern science recognizes complexity, probability, and emergent phenomena (as in quantum physics, chaos theory, and systems biology), which cannot all be explained by strict mechanism[1][3][9].
- Debates on whether science’s mechanistic worldview is incompatible with religious perspectives continue, but most scholars and practitioners see their aims as distinct[10][4][11].
Is Science a "Religion"?
- While science and religion share similarities in offering worldviews and justifying values among adherents, their foundations and methods are fundamentally different.
- Science can become “religion-like” in its institutional forms—especially when elevated to an unchallengeable ideology (scientism)—but it lacks core religious elements such as worship, the divine, or a code of metaphysical meaning[6][7][12].
- Most mainstream scientists do not treat science as a religion, but as a powerful method for understanding the world which remains open to revision and challenge[4][13].
In summary:
Mainstream science is not a form of mechanistic religion, although some philosophical critics believe a strictly mechanistic version of science can take on dogmatic features reminiscent of religious certainty. Nonetheless, by its ideals and methods, science remains fundamentally different from religion in its worldview, focus, and approach to knowledge[6][4][7].
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- http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/NEWTONWV.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)
- https://library.fiveable.me/history-science/unit-4/cartesian-philosophy-mechanical-worldview/study-guide/JQ3Zts4wjjskHe0E
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_between_religion_and_science
- https://www.ineos.com/inch-magazine/articles/issue-7/debate/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism
- https://www.hoover.org/research/dangerous-rise-scientism
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03080188.2022.2152246
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/science-mechanisms/
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/religion-science/
- https://journal.iscast.org/cposat-volume-2/an-unnecessary-war-the-tragedy-and-wasted-effort-of-the-conflict-between-science-and-religion
- https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:449784aa-d0da-42c6-833f-adffb0260791/files/r73666591n
- https://www.nationalacademies.org/evolution/science-and-religion
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