12/16/2008
- More on Postmodernism and the Non-Universality of Science
Of all the misguided and negative aspects of postmodernism, the thesis that modern science should not be imposed on (read taught to) Non-Western peoples is perhaps the most dangerous, and also, unwittingly, the most arrogant. More
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12/05/2008
- Postmodernist View of Science as Colonialist Creation
[I]f one were to adopt the prescriptions of some of the newly emerging confused cultural patriots in the non-Western world and their genuine sympathizers in the so-called liberal West, that will ensure returning these nations to the pre-colonial and pre-scientific days when they fell easy victims to the better informed West. More
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11/22/2008
- Feminist Critiques of Science
In a world dominated by the dualities of victors and victims , oppressors and the oppressed, haves and have-nots, the strong and the weak, producers and consumers, creators and beneficiaries, the powerful and the powerless, there will never be a spirit of harmony, even in such a collective and purely intellectual enterprise as science. More
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11/07/2008
- Sociology of Science
As long as universities and research grants give financial support to unproductive ivory tower speculators who contribute little to human understanding of the nature of the universe, and only denigrate the collective successes of thousands in their endeavor, such publications will continue. They do satisfy the cravings of those who take delight in deflating the power and prestige that science has attained. More
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10/17/2008
- Postmodernist Theses
One of the influential writers on this theme was Edward Saïd who described himself as a “Christian wrapped in a Muslim culture." His classic book Orientalism lashes out at Western scholarship of the Non-West. More
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10/03/2008
- Prelude to Post-modernism
Charles Darwin, much adored today for his theory of evolution, regarded what he called the primitive races as lying between the civilized races of man and the gorilla. More
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8/28/2008
- Mathematics and the Dynamic Aspects of the Physical World
The physical world is throbbing with activity. Nothing ever remains the same. Change is the one pervasive feature in the universe. This inescapable fact has been recognized from the most ancient times. The Heraclitan phrase that all is flux and nothing is stationary has its echo in the thoughts and reflections of thinkers in other cultures also. More
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8/20/2008
- Qualitative and Quantitative
The physical world has not only beauty and grandeur but also harmony and interconnectedness. We can not only feel and experience, but also measure and calculate. It would be wrong to think that physicists are uninterested in or insensitive to the aesthetic and qualitative aspects of the world. More
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8/12/2008
- Role and Relevance of Classification and Data
[T]he truths that art and literature, religion and mysticism reveal are of a totally different nature. What we realize from this is not which is truth and which is not, but that scientific truths are of a significantly different category. More
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8/01/2008
- Types of Experiments
Countless experiments have been performed in a variety of contexts and for a variety of reasons in the laboratories of the world. In general, in terms of goals, experiments may be put into three broad categories. More
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7/25/2008
- Experiment in Science
When the scientific investigator is interested in a very specific aspect of a phenomenon she tries to separate it out from other concurrent events in the real world. For example, sunlight heats the air, winds blow, birds fly in the atmosphere, leaves rustle in it, and a hundred other things happen in air. Let us suppose that we are interested in finding out about the effect of heat on air. For this we may fill up a jar with a quantity of air and study its behavior when heated. When we do this, we are performing an experiment. More
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7/03/2008
- Observation
Our sense perceptions include sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, made possible through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and sensitive finger tips and skin. These are undoubtedly among the most remarkable systems that have evolved in the universe. But they are not perfect. More
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6/23/2008
- Two Meanings of Why
One of the key points of divergence between science and religion is precisely on the question of whether there is a universal purpose or not. More
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6/13/2008
- Explanations in Science
What does one mean by the term explanation? This is a very complex question in the philosophy of science. It has been extensively discussed and debated by philosophies. But we shall consider it from a relatively simple point of view. More
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6/06/2008
- The Goal of Science
The goal of science is to understand and explain every aspect of the universe. This is to be accomplished by adopting the scientific methodology. By the universe one means directly or indirectly perceived physical reality. The working scientist seldom thinks in these terms explicitly, but this is what the scientific community as a whole hopes to accomplish in the long run. This is an enormously ambitious program. More
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5/31/2008
- The Internalization of Science and Technology
Science certainly has its local interests, narrow nationalisms, and petty fights over priorities. After all, it is only a human enterprise. More
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5/22/2008
- Toleration of Unorthodox Ideas
The suppression of ideas and doctrinal opponents by flagrant means may not be as common in our own times. But in more subtle and less public ways, governments in many countries still control the thoughts and ideas to which their citizens may be exposed, and subject those who hold unorthodox opinions to more than mild reprimands. More
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5/17/2008
- Ancient Science and Diseases
Many effective methods for curing diseases were developed in ancient cultures. However, the physical bases of diseases were not as clearly understood in ancient times. More
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5/09/2008
- The Occult
Occult practice was there in all ancient civilizations. The priests of ancient Egypt, the philosophers of China, the rishis of India, the Pythagoreans in Greece, and alchemists everywhere, all indulged in esoteric activities, expressly prohibiting the vast majority of people from their own knowledge and understanding, not unlike the proceedings of secret committees and agencies associated with the governments of the modern world. More
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4/25/2008
- The World of Magic
In everyday usage, magic refers to a trick or a clever illusion. But the term has a more serious connotation in the framework of ancient science. More
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4/10/2008
- Astrology
One of the most universal of ancient beliefs was astrology...After considerable modifications and refinements it continues to thrive to this day in many parts of the world. There are perhaps far more astrologers these days than there are astronomers. More
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4/03/2008
- Worldview shapers: Roots of worldviews and beliefs
We all have our views on the world, on life, and on issues. If we trace their origins we will find that they have resulted, for the most part, from our interactions with others through our personal and cultural environment. These include parents, teachers, and friends, as well as the books and newspapers we read, the programs we watch on TV, the movies we see, the places we visit, etc. The roots of beliefs and worldviews rest on three kinds of factors which may or may not overlap with one another in particular cases. We may call these worldview-shapers. More
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3/28/2008
- Continuing Legacies of Ancient Science
The achievements in thought and deed of ancient peoples were considerable. Indeed, it is fair to say that we are descended, not just from apes, but from thinkers and philosophers, from poets and artists, More
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3/21/2008
- Three Types of Errors
We are apt to fall victims to three kinds of errors in our evaluation of scientific achievements. These may be called temporal error, cultural error, and nostalgic error. More
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3/11/2008
- Science in the Ancient World
When we look at the heavens on a clear moonlit night, the twinkling stars and the silvery moon seem to be staring at us. Some acquaintance with astronomy might make us reflect on the incredible distances that separate us from the celestial bodies. We may have heard, for example, that the Pole Star, which is visible in the northern hemisphere, is some four hundred plus light years away: that is to say, that light from that star reaching us this night began its journey more than four hundred years ago. More
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3/06/2008
- Agnosticism
Though the vast majority of people accept without much reflection or questioning the assertions of traditional religious texts and preachers regarding the transcendental principle, the hereafter, reincarnation, day of judgment, etc., quite a few have often doubted if all this is really true. In other words, people have doubted some of the details in the religious faith. More
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2/25/2008
- Analyzing Believers and Unbelievers
At one level of the religion-science dialogue, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers have analyzed why millions of people believe in a God and in the religion of their family or ancestors[...]The scholarly or scientific analysis of religious inclinations is not as harsh or judgmental in its assessment as the criticisms of religion by atheists. More
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2/18/2008
- On a Typology of Beliefs
Our attitudes and actions are often governed by our personal beliefs and the overall belief system under which we function. There are a great many sources for the beliefs we hold: early indoctrination and instructions received from parents and teachers, subtle influences from books and media, our own reflections, and our cultural, national, and religious affiliations. More
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2/06/2008
- Contextual Relevance of Faith and Doubt
With the spread of education and the refinement of the doubting faculties of the average person, it has become more and more difficult to convince large numbers of people in our own times of the truthfulness of claims that one has actually had a direct encounter with God or one of His deputies. More
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2/01/2008
- Faith in Science and in Religion
It is sometimes said that one cannot or should not compartmentalize religion and science. Thus, physicist-priest John Polkinghorne stated: "… I want to hold together my scientific and my religious insights and experiences. I want to hold them together, as far as I am able, without dishonesty and without compartmentalism.. I don't want to be a priest on Sunday and a physicist on Monday. I want to be both on both days." The practicability of this project depends on what one means by holding together. More
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1/23/2008
- Doubt in Religion
Just as it is simplistic to say that there is no faith component in science, it is not quite true that there is no doubt-component in the religious context. Many deeply religious people experience skeptic’s doubt when they encounter a religious system other than their own. More
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1/11/2008
- Doubt and its Variety
Doubt is a state of mind, some would say an affliction of the mind. It refers to a condition in which one is unable or unwilling to accept, on the face of it, a given statement as true. Like the word faith, the word doubt is also used in a variety of contexts with varying shades of meaning, resulting in some avoidable misunderstandings between science and religion. Here again, controversies tend to arise when one ignores the variety of doubts that might arise in the mind. More
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1/04/2008
- More on the Scientist’s Faith
This idea that scientists have finally awakened to the truth as against the clouded visions of their ancestors does not explain why Max Planck and Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg and John Polkinghorne still were and are among the faithful. More
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12/27/2007
- More on Religious Faith
It has been observed that there is this important distinction between science and religion: In science, one believes what one sees, whereas in religion one sees what one believes in. As St. Augustine asked rhetorically, "What is faith if not believing in what thou seest not?" More
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12/18/2007
- Three Types of Faith
Faith may be looked upon as the implicit trust one places in a person, thing, or idea, often without asking for or requiring any proof of its validity. In this sense, as I will discuss presently, it is not quite true that the scientific enterprise does not rest on any faith. Instead of the lines from Browning quoted above, we must rather say: "It must be averred, That a faithless science is absurd." More
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12/14/2007
- Doubt in Philosophy and in Science
Doubt has philosophical and as well as scientific relevance. Since ancient times, keen minds have argued for a skeptical evaluation of any proposition that is presented as true. Skepticism generally entertains doubt about knowledge that appears to be, or is presented as, absolutely correct. More
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12/04/2007
- The Criterion of Simplicity
One of the principles governing the scientific description of the world is this—of different possible explanations of a phenomenon, the simpler one is to be preferred. This rests on the belief that there is an element of intrinsic simplicity in the behavior of nature. More
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11/27/2007
- Source of Theories
Murray Gell-Mann noted that "A successful new theoretical idea typically alters and extends the existing body of theory to allow for observational facts that could not previously be understood or incorporated. It also makes possible new predictions that can some day be tested." Often in science, any significant contribution uncovers some serious flaw in a long-accepted and respected idea. There are no hard and fast rules by which a theory is constructed in science. The formulation of a scientific theory is a supremely creative act, constrained only by the condition that its ultimate results must be in accordance with observed facts. More
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11/13/2007
- The Doctrines and Dogmas of Science
There is no logically valid reason for rejecting as untrue even the most fantastic speculations about what may be happening beyond our ranges of perceptions. But...it is never easy to discriminate the truly original mark of genius from the ridiculous fantasies of crackpots which are sometimes presented as revolutionary insights or discoveries. This does make matters difficult for the scientific community. More
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11/06/2007
- Hypothesis and the So-What Criterion in Science
There is much truth in the quip, attributed to Edward Teller: “A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. “ More
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10/26/2007
- Theories in Science
In scientific literature, and especially in physics, theory has a clear meaning and function. Yet, here too there are philosophical debates and disagreements as to what constitutes a theory. More
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10/19/2007
- Logical Limitations of Physical Laws
We must be clear about two aspects of the scientific enterprise. It does not aim at, nor pretend to, absolutely certain knowledge. But science does offer proofs for whatever tentative knowledge it proclaims. In religious doctrines, on the other hand, while one is assured of the eternal veracity of the views, one is not always given logical or evidential supports. Hence the statement that science is proof without certainty, whereas religion is certainly without proof. More
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10/05/2007
- Empirical and Theoretical Laws
Empirical laws may be explained by concept driven laws, but how are we to explain concept-derived laws? Why, one may ask, do bodies attract each other, as stated in the law of gravitation? If told that this is the property of all masses, one may ask, why is this is a property of all masses? Clearly, one can continue asking such questions at every step. More
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9/20/2007
- Laws of Nature: modern science
Some philosophers of science have declared that the laws of nature as formulated by science are mere conventions. However, it is important not to trivialize something whose role and significance are far greater than conventions. Such criticisms generally come from those who have not practiced science themselves or from thinkers who recognize the limits of human knowledge at a profounder level. Most scientists are quite aware of the tentative nature of scientific knowledge. They don't regard it as science's weakness, but rather as its strength. More
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9/11/2007
- Laws: Ancient Science and Religion
Laws, as we understand the term in everyday parlance, are constraints to which all the members of a group or nation are subject. Restrictions on individual actions and behavior have existed in all cultures and societies, if not always with rigidity, at least as custom. Laws, in the sense of injunctions and rules prescribing good and proscribing hurtful behavior constitute what may be called moral laws. Moral laws have been there in all religious traditions and cultural settings. The question that arises is: Are there also laws to which the phenomenal world is subject? Yes, says science, and also ancient wisdom. More
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9/09/2007
- Hypercomplexity and Omniscience
Beyond the various shades of determinism in physical phenomena, there is another level that governs our lives and also affects the physical world in subtle ways. This is the world of thoughts and ideas which have their origins in the human brain. This is very different from the world of atoms and molecules, of quarks and leptons from which it has emerged, even as a painting by a master artist is very different from the paints and brushes from which it arose. Thoughts are as different in their essence from the neurons that give rise to them, as a sonnet is from the alphabetical letters whose permutations lead to it. More
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9/05/2007
- Shades of Determinism and Levels of Reality
Determinism refers to a particular feature of the world by which every event that occurs is the inevitable outcome of precisely operating physical laws on simple and complex systems. Many arguments and misunderstandings arise from not recognizing that there are different shades of determinism which are applicable to different levels of physical reality. More
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8/07/2007
- Prediction in physics
Whereas predictions in non-science are qualitative and related to human events, those in science are quantitative and invariably refer to phenomena in the physical world which are generally indifferent to human concerns. More
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8/02/2007
- Prophesy: Religious and otherwise
Another technical meaning of revelation is the unveiling of a momentous event or events to occur in the future. It is in this sense that the term is used in the Christian Book of Revelation. Here it is declared that there will come a time when people of evil nature "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone…" But it also assures us that God will wipe away all tears from the eyes of the good, and that "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain…." This very unhappy prospect for the evil ones as well as the hope of eventually finding ourselves in a better world, both have their echoes in other religions as well. More
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7/26/2007
- Fatalism: Practical aspects
It is important to make a distinction between looking at the past and looking into the future in fatalistic terms. In the first instance, the fatalistic view is an analytic statement: it does not say anything significant about the world. Nor does it circumscribe in any way our capacity for action. On the other hand, fatalistic view about the future is quite different. For here, we are affirming that the future is (already) cast in concrete. There is nothing we can do about it. Even if we think we are doing something to alter the future, even such actions have been pre-ordained, and we are merely acting within the fatalistic groove. More
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7/06/2007
- Knowing the Future
Knowledge with some specificity what is going to happen is called precognition. It is easy to imagine an all-knowing God who, by definition, knows the future also. But do or can human beings have precognition? Even if there is predestination, normally, in the phrase of a popular song, the future's not ours to see. While we have footprints on the sands of elapsed time, there is no trace of events yet unborn, especially of events in the world of human beings. More
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6/27/2007
- Predetermination
Astronomers tell us with great precision when the next eclipse will occur, on which day and year the next planetary conjunction will come about, etc. It would appear that in the astronomical realm, the world is functioning in such a way that the course of events are well determined. The question that arises is: Is this true of every aspect of the world. Is the course of events on our earth thus strictly determined? This is not an easy question to answer. More
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6/12/2007
- The Chosen Few
Another important aspect of revelation is that it occurs only to select individuals, and conveyed only in a few chosen languages. Moses, Vedic Rishis, the Buddha, Nammazvar, and Mohammed are among the few historical personages who are believed to have been so gifted. Because in each of these instances God is said have communicated to the recipients directly, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic and Tamil are regarded as sacred languages by members of the respective traditions. Over the ages, other individuals have felt that they too have been beneficiaries of divine revelation. Thus Joseph Smith (the founder of the Mormon faith) announced that God had communicated with him. Over the centuries, a number of other human beings have reported similar experiences. However, not all have been equally successful in convincing a sufficiently large number of people of God's direct contact with them. More
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5/30/2007
- Poetry and the Reality of Sacred History
Epic poetry often created a rich and lofty history for its people. Through strong and noble heroes in times glorious and places grand and abundant, epics conjure up a past that makes the heart swell with pride. In the depression of current turmoil and the helplessness in overwhelming obstacles, it is relieving to think of a splendid past when mighty men arose to subdue the agents of mischief, fighting valiant battles for truth and honor and standing tall after virtuous victories, even as escapist movies make us forget the troubles of the present and float in a world where all is Technicolor and musical number. But in ancient cultures, the mind's eye and the heart's throb perceived epic characters as historical figures, and the accomplishments of the heroes were taken to reflect the intrinsic greatness of the nation. More
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5/22/2007
- Poetry Transmission and Vision of Reality
Deeds of bravery and revenge, acts of glory and heroism; beings strange and powerful, often superhuman; gods and godlings, the recall of events of a distant past: such are the ingredients of the great epics of humankind. The world they created, the personages they fashioned, the beings they conceived, all with the poetic clay, lived on for ages, and some live to this day, as part of what many thinking and feeling mortals regarded and regard as aspects of reality. More
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5/10/2007
- Poetry as Revelation of Human Nature
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