First Writing Assignment - SAMPLE

Philosophy of Science -- FALL, 1997 -- Dr. Essay

We have begun to examine the emergence of what will eventually be identified as natural philosophy (Newton, 17th ct.) and then the natural sciences (19th ct.) by

1. developing an initial contrast between "science" and "religion" as ways of knowing, including some discussion of contemporary scientific methodology (the "hypothetical-deductive" method of science; the importance of falsifiability, etc.) [Pine, ch. 2], and
   
2. going back to the earliest identifiable roots of the various elements and traditions which will feed into natural philosophy/natural science -- so as to examine
   

• how religious story ("myth") contributes to fundamental assumptions of science (the world as a kosmos; the structure of explanation -- i.e., the hidden, underlying "causes" [= gods/ goddesses] of surface appearance as "effects" [the world of sense experience], etc.);
  
• how religious beliefs (in non-material realities as underlying material experience) and goals ("salvation" in the form of experiential unity with the divine) supports important elements of what will become natural philosophy/science -- first of all, in the (argued) assumption that mathematical entities (numbers, relationships, "laws," etc.) are somehow fundamental elements in a proper explanation; and
  
• how philosophical logic and argumentation, beginning with the PreSocratic philosophers, both involve and lead to what become assumptions basic to natural science/philosophy, e.g.
  
• the view that human reason (logos) can develop a rational account (logos) of the basic order or pattern (logos) of the world, relying on both evidence and argument (thought) -- ignoring (and, occasionally in conflict with) possible "religious" or poetic forms of explanation;
  
• further refinements regarding what counts as acceptable explanation (reducing the plurality of diverse elements of experience to the simplest number of fundamental "roots" -- but avoiding the circularity of Anaxagoras "infinite seeds"; the shift from qualitative to quantitative bases for explanation, etc.)
  
• the importance of mathematics (especially in response to the relativistic crisis of Sophism) in establishing a kind of truth which transcends culturally-relative truths;
  
• the nature or kinds of "reality" (material, non-material?) and truth (instrumental; realist) available to human beings, and thus what domain(s) of reality and what sort(s) of truth one may appropriately expect from a rational (if not "scientific" account); and
  
• (in the Pythagoreans, Plato, and Aristotle) the goal of such knowledge as "contemplative," as valued for its own sake -- and/or as it satisfies a putatively "natural" human interest in knowing how the world is put together (in contrast with a modern emphasis on the value of science as a source for technology which provides humans the power to manipulate and control the natural order).
  

In most general terms, then, we are examining primarily how, in the early stages of what becomes natural philosophy/science, this emergent tradition draws from and is fundamentally shaped by both religious and philosophical views. This emphasis on the connection, interrelationship, and only occasional conflict between these ways of knowing (e.g., in the development of an "evolutionary" theory, the materialism of atomism, the heliocentric hypothesis, etc.) thus contrasts with our contemporary understanding of science and especially religion as sharply different and often conflicting modes of knowledge.

To help you clarify these complex relationships, I would like you to write a formal essay of ca. 5 - 7 pages (wordprocessed, double-spaced, etc.) in which you

1. summarize with some care Pine's contemporary view of the contrast between science and religion as two different modes of knowing, and
   
2. summarize with some care at least three elements we've examined which illustrate the largely benign and supportive interrelationship between religion and natural philosophy/science in its early stages.
   
   

This essay will be due on Thursday, Sept. 17, 1997 @ 5:00 p.m. It will be graded according to both content and the formal writing requirements as set out in the departmental standards on writing evaluation.