religion, ideology and science Flashcards
ideologies as belief systems
-ideologies can be political (marxism) or religious (Islam)
Mannheim
-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
what is the solution to conflicting ideologies?
-create a ‘floating intelligentsia’ above the conflict. They can arrive at a ‘total’ worldview that represents the interests of society
The ideology of nationalism
-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
Functionalism on nationalism
-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’
Marxism on nationalism
-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
Gellner
-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
beliefs in previous eras
-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
beliefs in postmodernity
-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
impact of science
-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
connection/ relationship between science and religion
-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
Dixon (types of belief system)
-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)
Dixon (gathering knowledge)
-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
Dixon (values/ faith)
-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
Popper (science as an open belief system)
-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
Gomm (science as an open belief system)
-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
Merton (science as an open belief system)
-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)
CUDOS
-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
how is religion a closed belief system?
-claims to have special knowledge of the absolute truth, knowledge is scared and can’t be challenged
Evans Pritchard
-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
Polanyi
-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
Science as a closed belief system (case of Dr Velikovsky)
-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
Kuhn
-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
Little Green Men
-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
Lyotard (post-modernism and science)
-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
marxist critiques of scientific knowledge
-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
feminist critiques of scientific knowledge
-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
