• Question: what came first science or religion

    Asked by morrisdougal to Ben, Clare, Ezzy, Mario, Sam on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Mario Campanelli

      Mario Campanelli answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      what do you mean, what is more important?
      I think (but it is just a personal reflection) that the main difference between the two is the method. The scientific method is one of continuous investigation, and always being ready to change your mind if new evidence comes. Religion has dogmas, truth that cannot by definition change.

    • Photo: Elizabeth Pearson

      Elizabeth Pearson answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      Interesting question. I’d say science. Religion was a way of explaining what they couldn’t rationally, but to want that you first have to ask the question and try to come up with an answer. That’s science.

    • Photo: Sam Vinko

      Sam Vinko answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Historically it had to be religion, a collection of myths and superstitions. Then came philosophy, where people wanted to gain a more objective knowledge of the world around them. Then as we started questioning even more, developed the concept of the necessity of predictability (you can foretell what the future outcome of a process will be) and fallibility (you can test a statement to check if it’s wrong) science emerged as the most advanced framework within which we can try to understand nature.

    • Photo: Clare Burrage

      Clare Burrage answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I think in some sense science and religion are similar. They are both ways of trying to understand and explain the world we live in, and I think a long time ago there wasn’t really a distinction between them.
      Now of course science and religion are quite different. In religion there are somethings that you have to take on faith, whereas in science we question everything!

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