beliefs: ideology and science Flashcards
(40 cards)
What are the two belief systems that attempt to explain how the world works?
Religion and science
What was the prime purpose of science before it became distinct from religion?
To document the glory of God > This reflects the historical intertwining of science and religious thought.
What significant religious event is associated with the shift towards science as a major source of truth?
The Protestant Reformation (16th century)
List areas where science has changed the world over the last 400 years.
- Transport
- Communication
- Medicine
- Leisure
- Work
AO2: How might medicine increase public faith in science?
By eradicating diseases and increasing life expectancy
define open belief systems
All knowledge is open to scrutiny. Theories are open to criticism and testing by others: this is the principle of falsification. Scientists set out to falsify existing theories and deliberately seek evidence that would disprove them.
define closed belief systems
Religion claims to have special, perfect knowledge of the absolute truth. It cannot be challenged – and those who do so may be punished for their heresy (belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine)
What is the difference between an open belief system and a closed belief system?
Open belief system allows scrutiny and criticism; closed belief system claims absolute truth that cannot be challenged
This distinction is crucial in understanding how science and religion operate.
What are the core principles of science? List them.
- Pursuit of facts supported by evidence
- Objectivity (not biased)
- Study of cause and effect relationships based on reliable data
Who argues that science can only thrive with support from other institutions and values?
Merton
What are the CUDOS norms identified by Robert K Merton?
he argues science needs an ethos and identified this through these norms
* Communism
* Universalism
* Disinterestedness
* Organised Scepticism
What does ‘Communism’ in the CUDOS norms refer to?
Scientists must share their knowledge > This is essential for the growth of scientific knowledge.
What does ‘Universalism’ in the CUDOS norms refer to?
Science is examined by objective criteria
What does ‘Disinteredness’ in the CUDOS norms refer to?
Being committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake. It is difficult to commit fraud with a host of scientists criticizing the claims.
What does ‘Organised Scepticism’ imply in scientific practice?
No knowledge claim is sacred and every idea is open to questioning
who studied the Azande tribe
Pritchard (functionalist)
AO2: outline the beliefs customs of the Azande tribe
- a closed belief system.
- The Azande believe that individuals have no control over the witchcraft that exists within their stomachs. . This could be problematic and lead to conflict within the community.
- as a result, the elders would create a potion made
of natural ingredients to be used as a form of oracle (benge) - They will administer a posion (the benge) to a chicken, at the same time asking the benge whether the accused is the source of the witchcraft and telling it to kill the chicken if the answer is ‘yes’.
- If the chicken dies, the sufferer can go and publicly demand the witchcraft to stop
- The Azande are resistant to challenge, for instance, Non-believers may argue that if the benge killed the chicken without the diviner first addressing the potion, this would show that it did not work – however, such an outcome would just prove it was not a ‘good’ benge (reinforcing the belief).
- Unlike science, the beliefs of the Azande are a closed system – the ‘test’ does not disprove the belief system in the eyes of the believers, instead it reinforces it. This does not follow the CUDOS norm of organised scepticism: **the ‘knowledge claim’ of the benge is sacred and cannot be falsified. **
what did Polanyi state about self-sustaining beliefs
in order to protect themselves from challenge, closed belief systems, such as religions, tend to have specific tendencies to help to sustain themselves in the face of criticism.
For example:
* denial of legitimacy
* subsidiary explanations
explain denial of legitimacy
- rejecting other belief systems’ assumptions, they can
convince their followers they are the only answer
eg: Religions that believe in creationism demand the total obedience of their followers by rejecting all evidence attached to evolution
explain subsidiary explanations
closed belief systems have a series of ‘get out
clauses’. If a religious leader is directly challenged, they then have a way of deflecting the focus of the argument
eg: ‘ God works in mysterious ways’- in response to people who question why natural disasters occur
AO3: internal secularisation
Herberg suggested that religions must undergo internal secularisation ( the process where some religions dilute their core beliefs) in order to maintain relevancy
eg: churches have female bishops
AO3: What do sociologists and philosophers question about science?
How far science is an open system. > suggests scientific knowledge is not that trustworthy
AO3: science as an open belief system
-
Herberg (1960) notes that some religions have also had to dilute some of their core beliefs in order to
maintain their relevancy in the modern world. This process is called internal secularisation. E.g. The
Church of England have female bishops. - Sociologist and Philosophers now question how far science is an open system. This implies that scientific
knowledge may not be as trustworthy as is usually assumed. - Kuhn saw science as a closed system of ideas and argued that progress in science is not immediate or gradual.
- Science is committed to a particular scientific paradigm (A paradigm is a set of norms, or a kind of culture) or a set of beliefs shared by a group of scientists.
- Kuhn argues that scientist are not completely objective, so when new theories/finding’s are proposed they may be rejected due to subjective reasons
explain the social construction of science
interpretivists suggest that Scientific “facts” are
actually just a product of shared theories or paradigms that tell them what they should expect to see, and of the particular instruments they use (e.g. microscopes, the LHC)
