Religion and Scientific Method

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-VII

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 1-6

3. The Problem of Evil

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

      PDF

   2. Stating the Problem of Evil

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 9-13

   3. The Irrelevance of the Amount of Evil

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 14-17

   4. The Standard by which Divine Acts are Appraised

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 18-21

   5. Suffering as Punishment

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 22-26

   6. The Question of an Afterlife

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 27-41

   7. The ‘Soul Making’ Theodicy

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 42-46

   8. The Question of Moral Evil

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 47-51

   9. The Justification for Creating Opportunities for Virtuous Response

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 52-58

   10. A New Solution

       • George Schlesinger

       Pages 59-63

   11. The Removal of Objections to the Last Solution

       • George Schlesinger

       Pages 64-79

4. Free Will, Men and Machines

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81

      PDF

   2. A Conflict between Religion and Science

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 83-84

   3. Newcomb’s Problem of Choice

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 85-90

   4. The Unpredictability of Some Human Choices

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 91-98

   5. Some Queries Concerning the Absolute Incompetence of Predictors

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 99-103

   6. The Predictor as a Diagnostician

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 104-118

   7. α-Machines and β-Machines

      • George Schlesinger

      Pages 119-124

I With the immense success of modem science it has generally become accepted that the only way to acquire knowledge is by the use of the method uniformly practiced by working scientists. Consequently, the credibility of the claims of religion, which seem to be based on belief in revelation, tradition, authority and the like, have been considerably shaken. In the face of the serious threat provided by the ascendancy of modem scientific method­ ology, religious thinkers have adopted various defensive attitudes. Some have retreated into an extreme position where Theism is completely safe from any attack on it by the use of empirical methods of inquiry, maintaining that contrary to appearances, religion makes no factual claims whatsoever. To be religious, they say, is to subscribe to a certain value system; it is to adopt a set of practices and a given attitude to the meaning and purpose of life without making any assertions about this or that empirical feature of the universe. Others wishing to remain more faithful to what religion traditionally meant throughout the ages, agree that Theism does make factual claims but that these are so radically different from the kind of claims made by science that it is only right that they should be established by a separate method on its own. In matters of faith reliance on widely entrenched tradition and sacred authority is not objectionable according to some.

• free will
• knowledge
• morality
• science
• theodicy
• tradition
• will

• The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

  George Schlesinger

Policies and ethics