Philosophy of Religion Research
The 3rd Generation of Science-Religion Theories: New Prospects for the Interactive Approach
Document Type : Original Research
Author
Researcher at the Center of Theology and Science, Institute for Science and Technology Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The science-religion relationship has been investigated more systematically since the middle of the 20th century. Many theories of different kinds were suggested in order to figure out this relation via analyzing the content and history of science and religion. The first generation of these theories presumed a constant determined essence for both science and religion. Thus, they described an inherent relationship of either conflict or coherence between them. While the second-generation theories found these essentialist views too simplistic, they articulated and categorized various possible relations between science and religion in a taxonomic manner. Still, in these theories, the cognitive and propositional dimensions of science and religion were dominant. In the 90s, by prioritizing the sociological and historical approaches in both science and religion studies, some new aspects of these studies emerged. Applied to science-religion relationship debates, these approaches criticized the former theories for denying dynamic, contextual, and non-epistemic aspects of both science and religion. As a response to the critiques, the third-generation theories were developed, in which the contextuality of science-religion relation took a focal place. In this paper, three cases of 3rd generation theories (Stenmark’s, Lee’s, and Cantor’s) are discussed. It is claimed that these recent theories have a better consonance with the relevant facts. Also, due to being grounded on the two principles of “Continuity of Human Experience” and “the Existence of Common Actors in Science and Religion”, these theories provide strong implications in favor of the possibility and importance of the science-religion interactive relationship.
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