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This is an adaptation of a set of questions prepared for another purpose. Here they constitute a questioning way to present one of the central ideas on this site - that is that science, religion and the arts are the cultural embodiment of the three main voices of the human spirit - the IT voice of objectivity, the I voice of subjectivity and the WE voice of morality.
SEE the summary versions of the model at http://www.sunwalk.org.uk/_sgt/m7_1.htm
Science, the Mystical and the Moral: noun or verb – stuff or activity – process or product? Q 1. If you were answering a young sister or brother - who had asked, “What is science?” – what would you tell them? Q 2. One view of science is that it is simply ‘systematized information’ – how far can you agree with that? Q3 . Can science be better defined by pointing to what scientists’ do? Q4. What do you think – is science ‘stuff’ or ‘an activity’? Q5 . What are some of the characteristics of what scientists do, that help define science? Q6 . Is science a moral activity? Q7. Can science be morally neutral – or does it always happen in a moral context? Q8. Is scientific thinking the same as, or different to, creative thinking? Q9. Is every person a scientist? If so how and in what ways, can that be true? Q10. Are ‘scientific thinking’, ‘creative thinking’ and ‘moral thinking’ simply the three voices in which we communicate? Q11. One writer suggest that the scientist, even more than the artist needs To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour. William Blake (1757-1827), Auguries of Innocence
Q12. What does it mean, ‘To see a world in a grain of sand’? Q13. What does it mean to see, ‘heaven in a wild flower’? Q14. What does it mean to hold, ‘eternity in an hour’? Q15. What’s the difference between a person who can’t ‘see a world in a grain of sand’ as compared to one who can? Q16. Aren’t these mystical questions more than scientific questions? Q17. Is there something strange about the way that people speak about ‘science’ – as though it is an independent force, or a god even? Why is this do you think? Q18. What other questions about science are important to discuss?
If you would like to follow up the ideas in & around these questions here are some places to start http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/nature/IIcharacteristics.shtml http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/feb98/887809688.Sh.r.html
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