Non-Overlapping Magisteria

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Non-Overlapping Magisteria is the view advocated by Stephen Jay Gould that "science and religion do not glower at each other...[but] interdigitate in patterns of complex fingering, and at every fractal scale of self-similarity."[1] He suggests, with examples, that "NOMA enjoys strong and fully explicit support, even from the primary cultural stereotypes of hard-line traditionalism" and that it is "a sound position of general consensus, established by long struggle among people of goodwill in both magisteria."[1]

Contents

[edit] Gould's separate magisteria

In his book Rocks of Ages (1999), Gould put forward what he described as "a blessedly simple and entirely conventional resolution to ... the supposed conflict between science and religion."[1] He defines the term magisterium as "a domain where one form of teaching holds the appropriate tools for meaningful discourse and resolution"[1] and the NOMA principle is "the magisterium of science covers the empirical realm: what the Universe is made of (fact) and why does it work in this way (theory). The magisterium of religion extends over questions of ultimate meaning and moral value. These two magisteria do not overlap, nor do they encompass all inquiry (consider, for example, the magisterium of art and the meaning of beauty)."[1]

In a speech before the American Institute of Biological Sciences Gould also stressed the political reasons for adopting NOMA as well, stating "the reason why we support that position is that it happens to be right, logically. But we should also be aware that it is very practical as well if we want to prevail." Gould argued that if indeed the polling data was correct—and that 80 to 90% of Americans believe in a supreme being, and such a belief is misunderstood to be at odds with evolution—then "we have to keep stressing that religion is a different matter, and science is not in any sense opposed to it," otherwise "we're not going to get very far."[2]

[edit] National Academy of Sciences

Also in 1999, the National Academy of Sciences adopted a similar stance. Its publication Science and Creationism stated that "Scientists, like many others, are touched with awe at the order and complexity of nature. Indeed, many scientists are deeply religious. But science and religion occupy two separate realms of human experience. Demanding that they be combined detracts from the glory of each."[3]

[edit] Humani Generis

Gould later wrote that he had read the 1950 encyclical Humani Generis and had found that Pope Pius XII generally accepts the NOMA principle of nonoverlapping magisteria in permitting Catholics to entertain the hypothesis of evolution for the human body so long as they accept the divine infusion of the soul. [4]

[edit] Criticisms

Richard Dawkins has criticized the NOMA principle on the grounds that religion does not, and cannot, steer clear of the material scientific matters that Gould considers outside religion's scope.

Dawkins argues that "[a] universe with a supernatural presence would be a fundamentally and qualitatively different kind of universe from one without. [...] Religions make existence claims, and this means scientific claims." These "existence claims" include miracles such as the Catholic Assumption of Mary: whether Mary's body decayed when she died or was physically lifted to Heaven is a material fact, and thus outside the moral magisterium to which NOMA would limit religion. [5]

Although a fervant supporter of Gould's works, Francis Collins also criticised the limits of NOMA, believing that science, religion, and other spheres have "partially overlapped," though agrees with Gould that morals, spirituality, and ethics cannot be determined from naturalistic interpretation. [6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gould, Stephen Jay (2002). Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 034545040X. 
  2. ^ S. J. Gould (2000). "Evolution and the 21st Century." Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. March 2000.
  3. ^ Steering Committee on Science and Creationism (1999). "Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences". NAS Press. http://newton.nap.edu/openbook/0309064066/html/R9.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-16. 
  4. ^ Gould, S. J. (1997). "Nonoverlapping Magisteria." Natural History 106 (March): 16-22.
  5. ^ Dawkins, Richard (1998). "When Religion Steps on Science's Turf". Free Inquiry. http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/dawkins_18_2.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-13. 
  6. ^ Collins, Francis. The Language of God. Simon and Schuster, 2007. pg 95, 165

[edit] External Links

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