Incredible Universe, Complex World: Science, Religion and
Ethics Today
Whenever science and religion come
up in the same sentence, a dispute seems to be inevitable. Jennifer Wiseman is
the Senior Project Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope and Director of the
AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Dialogue on Science,
Ethics, and Religion. She facilitates open dialogue on the often controversial intersection
of science and religion. However, the controversy is not always there. Sometimes
a science can give way to new, even perhaps revisited, religious or spiritual thought.
Sometimes a science can question and seek to change current scientific and
social practices.
Ecology
is the study of interactions between organisms and their environments. In our incredibly
complex world, ecologists have revealed vast interconnectedness. Further, the
findings from ecology have bred a new “ecosophy”, where these amazing
interconnections connect us on a transcendental level and will hopefully lead
to a less destructive path for human beings.
The
science of ecology directly questions our unsustainable resource (fossil fuels,
species, nutrients, minerals) extraction. The expedience and efficiency of our
resource extraction is undeniably a result in scientific advances, especially
in the field of technology. Ecologists question this and instead urge humans to
be stewards of the land, taking only what is needed and giving back as much as
they took. Thus ecology questions some of our technological advances and urges
a more precautionary approach.
Additionally, ecology questions
some of Western religion which gives man domain over nature. People take this
to mean domination over nature, and it has clearly gotten humans into some
issues with this domination leading to massive extinctions and global warming. In
the midst of this new science conflicting with certain science and Western
religion, a Deep ecology or ecosophy defined by Arne Naess as “a philosophy of
ecological harmony or equilibrium”, has been born or revisited. Jennifer
Wiseman appears to see and be appreciative of this interconnectedness, “As
astronomers would say, we all come from star dust”. This emerging ideology is
much more like Eastern religions and has quotes from the Bhagavad Gita,
suggesting that the science of ecology is steering humans towards yoga and a
harmonious life with nature.
The ethics that emerge from the
thought of Deep Ecology are intense and quite radical. Some speculate that such
a view would require massive human die back, or argue that it is focusing too
much on nature when societal problems are much more serious. It is difficult to
predict whether this ecosophy will lead to any real changes, however its
presence does seem to be up and coming in grass movements and increase
ecological awareness.
