"What is the relation between science and the humanities, and how is it important for human welfare?"
He says every college student should be able to answer this, every politician should be able to answer this, every public thinker should be able to answer this.
So what is your take on the relation between science and humanities and how important it is for human welfare?
That really depends on defining some principles, I would say. So many wonderfully beneficial things have come about to serve all of humanity by way of science. The problem is that incalculably inhumane atrocities have also come about by way of science.
There is a trend going on these days where people are beginning to almost anthropomorphize "science" in such a way as if to a God. "Science" has replaced demigods and demagogues because the absence of God leaves an unfilled and unfulfilled vacuum. That empty space needs to be filled with something meaningful to humans. Be that as it may, science is not a trophy we place on a mantle, or an idol to be worshiped, it is simply a way of explaining various physical phenomena.
On this side we have nuclear energy which provides countless human beings with an indispensable product, helping the longevity of mankind. And on the other end of that same discovery we have something that will destroy all of humanity in the blink of an eye, rendering that longevity moot.
So that tells me that we should not applauding science itself, but human beings who appropriately use science benevolently, and holding accountable those who use it malevolently. Science is a tool that we utilize. It's not like science does anything without the mind and hand of man
harnessing what it dispenses. And it, as it is with nature, is certainly indifferent to our joys or suffering.
So then my answer to his question is that science and humanities can go together quite well. If they don't, it is only because man has manipulated it.
Edited by Hyroglyphx, : No reason given.
Edited by Hyroglyphx, : typos
"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. " Thomas Paine
™ Version 4.2
