- 15/11/2012
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Free essays
Since ancient times people had different opinions as to the natural world creation and human nature. The development of theoretical thinking and philosophy represent a long process, the conditions of which can be found at early stages of human society. Ancient philosophical systems, trying to find the answer as to the origin, the essence of the world and man’s place in it, had long prehistory; they appeared at a relatively advanced stage of class relations.
Religion, science and philosophy explore and cover different aspects of human life, the existence of our universe and human being. Religion is a special form of awareness of the world; the belief in gods or a set of beliefs concerning the origin and purpose of the universe.
The religious system of representation of the world (worldview) is based on faith or mystical experience, and linked with the attitude to the unknowable and intangible entities. The particular importance of religion is presented by concepts, such as good and evil, morality, ethics, religious laws, purpose and meaning of life, etc.
Science is a special kind of cognitive activity aimed at obtaining, refining and production of objective, systematic, organized and well-grounded knowledge about nature, society and thinking. The basis of this activity is the collection of scientific evidence of their continuous updating and systematization, critical analysis, and on this basis, the synthesis of new scientific knowledge or generalizations, which not only describe the observable natural or social phenomena, but also allow us to construct cause-effect connections (causation) and to predict. Those scientific theories and hypotheses, which are supported by facts or experience, are formulated as laws of nature or society.
As to the philosophy, so it is a discipline that studies the most common essential characteristics and fundamental principles of reality (being) and cognition, human existence, relations between man and the world. Philosophy is usually described as a theory or a science, a form of ideology, a form of human activity, a special way of cognition.
The relationship between religion, philosophy and science in approaching questions regarding the natural world and human nature is a subject of various discussions. It is believed that the statements about the world made by science and religion may rely on different methodologies. Religion often relies on revelation and faith. At the same time, the methods of science are elaborate.
The religion and science contradict one another, especially in the issues as to the creation of the world, the nature of man and the natural world.
Religion is sure that our world, a human being and everything the rest was created by God, so religion believes in the divine creation of the world and man. He created: atoms, chemical elements, the universe, ordinary matter and complex proteins, life, and with it, and man, as the best and highest crown of this creation, breathing into it His spirit.
At the same time, science doesn’t agree with region as to the way our world was created. Science has a lot of theories of the world creation. The main theory of evolution tells that our planet was created with the help of space, universe and that people descended from apes.
So, science and religion have different point of views on some questions. At the same time, philosophy works together with both, science and religion.
Science exists as a process of nomination and the refutation of hypotheses, and the role of philosophy in this case is to study the criteria of science and rationality. At the same time, the philosophy interprets scientific discoveries, including them in the context of the generated knowledge, and thus determining their value and meaning.
Discussing the relation of philosophy and religion, it is worth mentioning that, the same as philosophy, religion also explores the root causes of the conceivable (God, Brahman). The difference is that religion focuses on faith, worship, revelation, and philosophy focuses on the intellectual comprehension. Thus, the philosophy provides an additional opportunity to comprehend the meaning and interpretation of wisdom that is present in religion. The basis of religion is the faith and the basis of philosophy is the thought and knowledge. Religion is dogmatic and philosophy is antidogmatic. Religion has a cult that is not present in philosophy, so there are a lot of contradictions between religion and philosophy.
There is a Western Dilemma that sounds like: God or Nature. Not so many facts known about this dilemma, but in his work, Oliver Simon is sure that the nowadays culture-nature divide is going to collapse, due to the ruthless expansion of technology into nature and culture. Such breakdown could lead to a better appreciation of both, nature and culture, but only in the case if the divide is substituted by a really transcendental theology. In other situation, culture and nature will be still understood as subjects and objects.
As it was mentioned above, there are some contradictions between science, religion and philosophy in approaching questions regarding the natural world and human nature, but all of them study our world, so every person decides himself what theory, fact, supposition or belief to take as a basis for him.
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