Taking what is often an unpopular stance, Associate Professor of Philosophy Steven Horst argued in his lecture last Thursday that science and religion can coexist.
“One can be an Orthodox or Catholic Christian and embrace the sciences without backpedaling on the underpinnings of Christian theology,” Horst said.
Titled “Why the Sciences do not Threaten Consciousness, Free Will, or Miracles,” Horst’s lecture was sponsored by the Wesleyan Christian Fellowship. He argued against the common understanding of science, that anything can be understood by examining its simplest parts and that every event is an inevitable result of universal laws.
“I’m going to pick apart the idea that sciences imply reductionism and determinism,” Horst said. “I think they are philosophical interpretations of science, and inherently wrong ones at that.”
Horst also addressed issues of mind, brain, and consciousness, including a brief discussion of the possible implications of a “God” section of the brain.
“Consciousness is not reducible to facts about the brain,” he said. “That was the orthodox view in the past, during the heyday of empiricism years ago, but is largely rejected today.”
After the lecture, Horst explained his motive.
“I think what I wanted to get across is that the widespread assumption that there’s a conflict between science and religion is an illusion,” Horst said. “Sometimes it’s an illusion of religion and sometimes it’s a misunderstanding of science, as I tried to show today.”
A brief question-and-answer session followed the lecture.
“I really liked how he framed his arguments,” said Noah Hutton ’09. “It’s a particularly important time to have a discussion like this, with all these attacks on evolution occurring.”
The reaction of the 30-person audience was overwhelmingly positive.
“It’s a discussion we needed to have,” said Muslim Chaplain Mahan Mirza. “It was refreshing to see someone show that science was not incompatible with religion, and for a university campus to have a discussion like this is definitely worthwhile. I hope there’s more on it.”
Wesleyan Christian Fellowship Staff Advisor Greg Hendrickson said that the group asked to Horst to explore the intersection between faith and philosophy.
“Students here in the University think a lot about the academic inquiry and about spiritual enrichment,” Hendrickson said. “It’s important to provide a forum to bring these things together.”
Horst has been a philosophy professor for 15 years and is currently chair of the philosophy department. According to Horst, his book “Laws, Mind, and Freedom” reflects much of the work he’s been doing over the past ten years.
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