Science, religion and the need for a world-view

Abstract

This article maintains that humankind is in need of a world-view and that traditionally, this need was fulfilled by myth and religion. The mechanistic world-view was created as a result of the breakthrough in science in the 17th century. Early Christianity reacted to science by including the new scientific knowledge as part of religious knowledge. This reaction was formulated within Natural Theology and the Design Argument. After Darwin, when the Design Argument became implausible, science and religion were defined as two different realms or jurisdictions. Today, the new physics has created new scientific knowledge which undermines the mechanistic world-view. Despite this fact, a new world-view has not emerged and this can be attributed to the status of science having changed, rather than to a new content in science.