BHA: Can science solve every mystery?
Can science solve every mystery?
Conway Hall, London, Saturday June 8th, 2013
Presented and chaired by Stephen Law (Philosophy, Heythrop and Provost of CFI UK)
Can science answer every question? Should scientists show a little humility and acknowledge there are questions that only religion can answer? Are science and religion “non-overlapping magisteria”, as the scientist Stephen Jay Gould claimed, or is science capable of showing that religion is false, as Richard Dawkins believes? And what, exactly, do philosophers do?
Join us as our speakers discuss the often uneasy relationship between science and religion, and the conundrum it poses for philosophers.
Further details can be found at http://humanism.org.uk/events/?page=CiviCRM&q=civicrm/event/info&id=22&reset=1
ENDS
Notes:
Tickets
General: £7.00
Members and students: £4.00
Friends of CFI UK: Free
Tickets can be booked here – http://humanism.org.uk/events/?page=CiviCRM&q=civicrm/event/register&id=22&reset=1
Date: Saturday June 8th, 2013
Timings: 10.30am registration. 11am-2.30pm
Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London, WC1R 4RL
Speakers:
Professor Peter Atkins (Univ. of Oxford). Chemist, atheist and author of many books including Galileo’s Finger and Four Laws That Drive the Universe.
“Religion closes off the central questions of existence by attempting to dissuade us from further enquiry by asserting that we cannot ever hope to comprehend. We are, religion asserts, simply too puny.”
“Sitting around thinking about the world … [that] is philosophy. And we know where that leads to in understanding. My argument is – nowhere.”
Peter S. Williams (Damaris Trust). Philosopher and leading British Christian. Author of C.S. Lewis vs. the New Atheists and A Faithful Guide to Philosophy:
“The existence of scientific laws is inexplicable unless we move beyond science into the realm of metaphysics, postulating a God who intends those laws for a reason.”
Professor David Papineau (KCL). One of Britain’s leading philosophers and humanists and author of Philosophical Devices:
“Philosophical problems are characterized by a special kind of difficulty, a difficulty which means that they cannot be solved, as scientific problems normally are, simply by the uncovering of further empirical evidence. Rather they require some conceptual unravelling; a careful unpicking of implicit ideas, often culminating in the rejection of assumptions we didn't realize we had.”
About the British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.
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