Science Cannot have Creeds

Religious creeds are a great obstacle to any full sympathy between the outlook of the scientist and the outlook which religion is so often supposed to require ... The spirit of seeking which animates us refuses to regard any kind of creed as its goal. It would be a shock to come across a university where it was the practice of the students to recite adherence to Newton's laws of motion, to Maxwell's equations and to the electromagnetic theory of light. We should not deplore it the less if our own pet theory happened to be included, or if the list were brought up to date every few years. We should say that the students cannot possibly realise the intention of scientific training if they are taught to look on these results as things to be recited and subscribed to. Science may fall short of its ideal, and although the peril scarcely takes this extreme form, it is not always easy, particularly in popular science, to maintain our stand against creed and dogma.

Notes:

We should not force students to blindly recite laws and theorems because that would reduce it to religion.

Folksonomies: science religion

Taxonomies:
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/science/physics/electromagnetism (0.418644)
/science (0.263476)

Keywords:
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Entities:
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Science And The Unseen World

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Eddington , A. S. (2004-05-30), Science And The Unseen World, Retrieved on 2012-04-26

Source Material [books.google.com]

Folksonomies: religion

Triples

23 MAR 2013

Science Must Learn from Chinese History

Science Cannot have Creeds > Example/Illustration > Chinese Cultural Innovations Turned to Ritual
The Chinese were an incredibly advanced civilization, with writing, printing presses, and medicinal knowledge, but their discoveries turned to rituals without understanding or new growth. If science education becomes ritual, through rote memorization, it will suffer the same fate. Science is a process, not a body of knowledge.

Folksonomies: science culture growth dogma ritual stagnation

Schemas

05 JUN 2011

Raising Enlightened Children

Memes about raising children as a spiritual naturalist, with a sense of awe for the Universe and reverence for the laws of nature.

Folksonomies: spiritual naturalism wonder atheism