Abstract
What are the ethics of the modern debates between science and religion? In this chapter I suggest that there are actually a range of different ways that the debate between religion and science might be described as ethical. I note several ways that science and religion are brought into relationship in professional scientific ethics and suggest that within the space of professional scientific ethics there has been a tendency to sideline or absorb religious ethical perspectives. I then turn to more constructive "big issue" ethics and examine two specific cases: embryonic stem cell research and climate change in order to highlight ways that science and religion can sometimes be reduced to stereotypes: that scientists work with the real world and religion deals with ideas (and not reality!). I argue that looking more closely at the range of perspectives represented by scientists and religious leaders in both cases presents a much more complex case and that this in turn commends a kind of ethics which should be jointly pursued by both science and religion.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Philosophy, Science and Religion for Everyone |
Editors | Duncan Pritchard, Mark Harris |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 149-159 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781315102474 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781138234215, 9781138234154 |
Publication status | Published - 28 Jul 2018 |