Friday, November 04, 2005
Class 11/3/05
A few comments about class yesterday:
Towards the end of class yesterday we heard a quote talking about how Newton's scientific theories and religious beliefs could not be separated and if you believed one of his scientific theories you believed in his religious beliefs as well. Our whole class except for one person disagreed with this statement, including myself. I can see the speaker's point of view and how he might think that Newton's religious beliefs influenced his scientific theories. However, I do not see how this is possible. All of Newton laws are backed by physical evidence and do not use religion or a supernatural being as part of the explanation. It is true that he believed God created these laws because they were so perfect and beautiful, but Newton did not use God as part of how things worked. I think many people who do not share Newton's opinions about religion, especially trinitarianism, still use his laws when calculating physics problems. If you do believe in the Trinity you can still use Newton's laws and not have conflicting interests. In fact, I would guess that many physicists who use Newton's laws, but have not studied Newton himself, would never know he had radical religious viewpoints. I do not see how the speaker could say Newton's religion affected his science.
Towards the end of class yesterday we heard a quote talking about how Newton's scientific theories and religious beliefs could not be separated and if you believed one of his scientific theories you believed in his religious beliefs as well. Our whole class except for one person disagreed with this statement, including myself. I can see the speaker's point of view and how he might think that Newton's religious beliefs influenced his scientific theories. However, I do not see how this is possible. All of Newton laws are backed by physical evidence and do not use religion or a supernatural being as part of the explanation. It is true that he believed God created these laws because they were so perfect and beautiful, but Newton did not use God as part of how things worked. I think many people who do not share Newton's opinions about religion, especially trinitarianism, still use his laws when calculating physics problems. If you do believe in the Trinity you can still use Newton's laws and not have conflicting interests. In fact, I would guess that many physicists who use Newton's laws, but have not studied Newton himself, would never know he had radical religious viewpoints. I do not see how the speaker could say Newton's religion affected his science.
