religion, ideology and science

Question 1

ideologies as belief systems

Answer 1

-ideologies can be political (marxism) or religious (Islam)

Question 2

Mannheim

Answer 2

-sees all belief systems as a partial view
-2 main types of belief system:
>ideological thought: reflects position of privileged groups who benefit from the status quo so their belief systems are conservative
>utopian thought: justifies social change, reflects underprivileged and offers a vision of how society could be organised diff

Question 3

what is the solution to conflicting ideologies?

Answer 3

-create a ‘floating intelligentsia’ above the conflict. They can arrive at a ‘total’ worldview that represents the interests of society

Question 4

The ideology of nationalism

Answer 4

-nationalism is an important political ideology
-Nations and national loyalty comes before other characteristics e.g. religion
-Anderson= nation is an ‘imagined community’. We identify with it but we’ll never know most of its members. it bind millions of ppl together and creates a sense of common purpose

Question 5

Functionalism on nationalism

Answer 5

-it’s a secular civil religion
-integrates people into larger political/ social groups
-in multi-faith societies where religion can cause tension, nationalism unites everyone
-education helps with this social solidarity by including ‘fundamental british values’

Question 6

Marxism on nationalism

Answer 6

-nationalism is a form of false class consciousness that prevents a communist revolution by dividing the international working class
-encourages workers to think they have more in common w/ capitalists from their country
-enables rc of each country to persuade the wc to fight for them

Question 7

Gellner

Answer 7

-nationalism is a false consciousness/ a modern phenomenon
-post-modern societies didn’t require nationalism as societies were held together by small communities
-industrialisation created large-scale societies where citizens are of equal status
-in modern society, nationalism means communications can occur, mass education imposes a single national culture
-elites used nationalism to motivate workers to endure hardships so the state could modernise

Question 8

beliefs in previous eras

Answer 8

-scientific= science was accepted as the objective truth
-political= ideologies like communism has a powerful influence
-religious= religion was dominant in pre-modern societies and most people believed in one of the dominant religions

Question 9

beliefs in postmodernity

Answer 9

-scientific= science is seen as just one amongst many possible truths e.g. alternative therapies
-political= people reject single political metanarratives but may be interested in single- issue politics e.g. human rights
-religion= no longer follow a single religion but pick and choose from a variety of beliefs in new age movements etc

Question 10

impact of science

Answer 10

-growing faith in science
-acknowledgement of fact that science can cause problems
-good (tech)/ adverse (pollution) effects of science, therefore it is different than other belief systems
-allows us to explain, predict, control the world

Question 11

connection/ relationship between science and religion

Answer 11

-science used to be dominated by religious thinkers- purpose of science to document god
-18th century= became separate belief systems
-science characterised by rational/ logical thinking, underpinned by facts (enlightenment)
-science raised ppl’s standards of living so widespread faith in science

Question 12

Dixon (types of belief system)

Answer 12

-science= open belief system, data open to rational scrutiny, scientific knowledge is cumulative
-religion= closed belief system, religious knowledge is sacred/ can’t be challenged (absolute truth- heresy to challenge it e.g. Gallileo)

Question 13

Dixon (gathering knowledge)

Answer 13

-science= observing the natural world & formulating logical hypothesis, ideas etc are based on existing scientific knowledge
-religion= cannot be proven- makes claims that can’t be successfully overturned- religious truths come from God

Question 14

Dixon (values/ faith)

Answer 14

-science= objective truth, ignore personal feelings. Truth or falsity of scientific knowledge is judged by universal testing
-religion= depends on faith- subjective-personal, exclusive, can’t be generalised, circular- if they don’t follow beliefs they’re damned

Question 15

Popper (science as an open belief system)

Answer 15

-all scientific theories are open to scrutiny
-principle of falsification allows theories to be discarded and search for new explanation
-deductive approach, aim of science is to falsify
-falsification distinguishes between science and religion

Question 16

Gomm (science as an open belief system)

Answer 16

-science should be viewed in its social context and scientists try to prove theories e.g. Theory of Evolution couldn’t be falsified and this was ideological, not scientific
-idea of survival of the fittest slotted neatly into Victorian ideas of free market economy and the minimalist approach to welfare. Science can be socially constructed

Question 17

Merton (science as an open belief system)

Answer 17

-science only thrives if it is supported by other values
-e.g. Puritans= study of nature= appreciate God’s work= experimentation encouraged
-scientists need a set of norms that makes them act to increase scientific knowledge (CUDOS)

Question 18

CUDOS

Answer 18

-Communism= scientific knowledge must be shared
-Universalism= truth of scientific knowledge is based on universal judgement
-Disinterestedness= discovering knowledge for its own sake
-Organised Scepticism= every idea is open to questioning

Question 19

how is religion a closed belief system?

Answer 19

-claims to have special knowledge of the absolute truth, knowledge is scared and can’t be challenged

Question 20

Evans Pritchard

Answer 20

-study of the Azande people of Sudan
-their closed belief system performs social functions- social control ensuring conformity/cooperation
-prevents grudges, neighbours act considerately to avoid accusations of witchcraft. Kids kept parents in line due to belief that witchcraft was hereditary
-Azande are trapped in their belief system- any evidence against it is seen as witchcraft

Question 21

Polanyi

Answer 21

-Azande type belief systems have 3 devices to sustain themselves against contradictory evidence:
-1)Circularity= each idea is explained by another e.g. Bible is God’s word bc Bible says so
-2)Subsidiary evidence= can be used to explain away challenges
-3) denial of legitimacy to rivals= alternative worldviews are refused legitimacy e.g. creationism outright rejects evolution

Question 22

Science as a closed belief system (case of Dr Velikovsky)

Answer 22

-Polanyi= all belief systems reject fundamental challenges to their knowledge claims
-case of Dr Velikovsky= challenged fundamental assumptions of geology, evolution etc. Scientists out right rejected it. They boycotted the publisher and some people lost their jobs

Question 23

Kuhn

Answer 23

-science is based on paradigms
-paradigms gives broad outlines & scientists fill these
-scientific education is the process of being socialised into faith in the truth of the paradigm
-any scientist who challenges the paradigm are ridiculed- the only excpetions are during a scientific revolution where scientists become open to new ideas

Question 24

Little Green Men

Answer 24

-astronomy student thought she saw an alien signal in her microscope but was not aliens, instead was the first pulsar
-the astronomers knew not to publish their findings as aliens as it would’ve ruined their careers

Question 25

Lyotard (post-modernism and science)

Answer 25

-science is just another meta-narrative/ no diff than other belief systems and there is no superior belief system
-science has a metanarrative of progress , suggesting that humans can control the world
-in modernity, the metanarratives of progress dominated western thought
-postmodernity= science has become discredited as fails to solve problems e.g. cancer and creates new problems
-science consists of denotative lang games which have been replaced by tech lang games

Question 26

marxist critiques of scientific knowledge

Answer 26

-science serves the rc
-scientific knowledge is driven by need of the capitalists for more power/ profit
-science/ tech are foundations of capitalism- made it easier to exploit wc and led to global capitalism
-science allowed imperial powers to colonise developing world for raw materials
-science is ideological as it’s presented positively and distracts wc that the wealthy use science at their expense
-HOWEVER= science can be critical of capitalism e.g. Wikileaks

Question 27

feminist critiques of scientific knowledge

Answer 27

-science has excluded women
-ideology based on science has justified the exclusion of women e.g. sport
-Oakley= psychological theory of material deprivation= scientific ideology that justified men dominating paid work
-women fail to climb scientific hierarchy, suggested sex-linked differences in talent
-HOWEVER= discrimination is mainly cause for gender inequalities