First published in Global Politician on 06/09/2007
Social progress in modern society seems to be completely based on two platforms – science and technological advancement which includes everything from our sense of gravity to the internet to space travel; and religion which has largely shaped modern political and social systems and formed a broader cultural ethos. Even though many countries separate religion from the state and that is necessary at this time, we cannot deny that religions continue to remain the very basis of all political thought. In fact a close analysis of major religious texts of the world shows that all religious texts proposed certain social rules, laws, customs, akin to the political constitutions of our time. In the absence of highly evolved political systems, religions came into being to bring about certain social order and to influence people to follow similar rules and customs. With a clear distinction of ‘good and evil’ in religions it was easier to establish social rules which kings and noblemen could compel their subjects to follow. No developed social or political system would have been possible without the moral bases provided by world religions. Marxism has focused on the religion-science divide but that is baseless simply because there is no divide, one has emerged from the other but again Marxism was a political philosophy of the 19th century when science and religion were in the process of getting divorced. Now we are obviously moving in a different direction.
Religion –
Religions represented the first organized form of knowledge followed by philosophy, politics, literature, sciences and so on and this pattern of evolution of thought has shaped modern society.
The beginning of religions could be traced back to the worship of nature as the forces of nature seem to have triggered man’s imagination and fear and acknowledging a higher power largely established the platform for religions. Recognition of a higher power naturally led to issues related to morality as being morally correct would be essential for pleasing or appeasing this higher power. This was the basis for the formation of modern religions and the oldest extant religion would be Hinduism although Judaism came close. The Vedas of Hinduism and the Jewish Torah were the oldest texts in religion and established the first organized systems of knowledge. The Vedas generally laid down the rules of a social system and could be largely considered as the first sociopolitical document. The higher ideals of the Vedas and the essence of the religious teachings could be found in the Vedanta or the knowledge of the Upanishads. Torah also laid the rules of a social system apart from providing an exposition on the process of creation. So, organized religion was established and this formed the basis of social and political systems of ancient times. Religions began by providing an explanation for creation and the forces of nature and then related these with principles of morality and established moral rules for the society. Buddhism completely avoided the controversial issue of God and focused on the rules of a righteous life. Even later religions like Christianity and Islam emphasized on the moral principles and focused on practice of these moral principles via social rules. Religions could thus be considered as the basic foundation of all knowledge and established philosophies, political systems, social systems and moral systems. With the progress of human civilization, religions and its established systems of knowledge slowly and unknowingly led to the quest for rational explanation of natural laws and this marked the beginning of science.
Science -
I would say science is simply an extension of religion, although scientific methods would be completely different from religious methods, science is still based on the platform of religions. The scientific revolution that established science in the modern world could be traced back to Ptolemy, Copernicus and Galileo who again wanted to understand the laws of nature and the planetary movements. So the beginning of science would be akin to the beginning of religion and both science and religion began with the similar goals of seeking the laws of nature and understanding how the Universe works. But these laws were actually established by Newton who could be considered as a modern day Spiritual leader if science is considered as a new religion. Newton was however deeply religious and his system of thought never went against the basic teachings of Christianity. The notion of a personal God is some of the religions was still intact and Newtonian philosophy would be compatible with the idea of God as the initial cause of the Universe. Darwinism definitely changed the way we understood the Bible and sort of paved the way for a new kind of thought, but since the notion of matter remained purely classical and the concept of cause was intact, Darwinism could not do much to challenge basic religious ideas. However, in came Einstein and the concept of relativity and when Planck showed that light energy could be quantized, in contradiction to the proven wave nature of light, the very foundations of the concept of matter were shaken. Descartes a 16th century philosopher proposed what is considered a Cartesian dualism in which he separated mind and matter distinctly and this formed the basis of the sciences. However with quantum mechanics, this distinction became blurred, the very basis of matter started posing several questions which are still not answered. According to me, this would have major implications for our social systems and would also be capable of reshaping our moral and political systems. How?
Social Progress –
Social progress is based on our moral values as in religions and the knowledge systems that we seem to have derived from the sciences and also from the religions. Considering the fact that religions have been the very basis of all knowledge, and the sciences have tried to justify this knowledge using a rational method to suit our modern approach to reality, the changes within science could have a deeper impact on religions with the progress of human civilization. If we use a term by Thomas Kuhn, then a ‘paradigm shift’ in the sciences bringing about changes in the concept of matter and causality would in turn affect the concept of God as the first cause. So if there is a change in the concept of God, I can see all religions based on the personal concept of God being incompatible with the changes in the sciences. Considering this, all religious philosophies that seem to have an impersonal concept of God would become more and more acceptable in the future. This in turn would be the very basis of social progress. Of course, this will take time as all ideas of sciences take years and decades to percolate down to the masses to actually bring changes in social, religious or political ways of thinking but ultimately this is inevitable. Also, science could also pave the way for accepting both the personal and impersonal concepts of God and in this case, all religions will have a role to play in society albeit in a unified manner. As far as I can see, in the future, all religions and sciences could work more closely and Newton and Einstein will be considered as prophets of the new religion called science and possibly 100 years from now we will have a single religion for the world which will also recognize the contribution of the sciences and humans in general will become more spiritually evolved to understand that science and religion are just two ways of understanding the same rules that ultimately define the universe.
Copyright: Saberi Roy 2007