This wonder is different in quality from contemplative wonder, which does not undo but lets be. It involves a conception of science that extends knowledge but admits its limits. Some things are beyond its comprehension and remain intrinsically mysterious. Consciousness, morality and existence itself are obvious candidates - the things that the artistic, religious and moral imagination are so well equipped to ponder.

This difference between intrinsic and contemplative wonder echoes a great divide in the history of science. When the pre-Socratic natural philosophers speculated about the nature of the world, they were contemplating the nature of the gods too: when Pythagoras discovered his theorem it seemed obvious to him to find an altar and sacrifice an ox.

This changed with Francis Bacon, the author of the modern scientific method. He believed that science has the empirical world at its fingertips. Moreover, he thought God had given man the right to unpick and exploit it. "The secrets of nature are better revealed under the torture of experiments than when they follow their natural course," he wrote.

However, he also knew that this magisterium of experiment did not overlap with the magisterium of religion, which "extends over questions of ultimate meaning and moral value", in Stephen Jay Gould's famous formulation.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Science & Technology

1. Bob from Boone wrote: I can comprehend the process that creates thunderstorms and lightning bolts. I also have the experience of it, having been struck by a bolt of lightning that nearly killed me. Yet, when I experience a massive thunderstorm now, I cannot but view it with awe and a profound sense of the mystery of it. I believe that the mystery lies in the depths of creation, and this wonder science will never be able to explain or explain away. I love science and am glad with every new discovery and understanding about nature, but science can never take away from me the mystery of creation and the mystery of its beauty. In those mysteries dwells the God who makes the thunder to resound and the lightning to blaze. To Him be the glory! October 27, 9:41 pm | [comment link]

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