Horton's Comparison B/w Science And African Religion

Question 1

What does Horton say the similarities are b/w traditional thought & modern scientific thought?

Answer 1

-Both explaining reality through theoretical entities
- In science: simple elementary particles like atoms
- traditional thought: Spirits, like God, God’s, and the ancestors
Theoretical entities help to explain realities in the natural and social worlds through explaining what happened in the past and predicting what happens in the future.

Question 2

What does he say are the differences?

Answer 2

Related to their predicaments (closed in traditional & open in scientific)

• Open in science: cuz there’s a presence of alternatives and it allows for an absence of anxieties towards established theories
• Closed in traditional: cuz there is an absence in seeing alternatives and there’s anxiety towards established theories cuz of the belief of certain taboos and other modes of explanation that have nothing to do with already established theories.