Pojęcie natury ludzkiej w nauce i teologii
The Concept of Human Nature in Science and Theology

Summary/Abstract: Many Christians separate religion and science for fear that changes in scientific understanding of nature will force changes in religious belief. To alleviate this fear, many Christians define interaction out of existence by reducing its complexity. For instance, science is often reduced to a logical domain of knowledge characterized by its propositions. Religion is taken to be a non-logical way of human functioning known as trusting characterized by feelings. According to the doctrine of logical types there can be logical relations only between logical domains of knowledge. Therefore, there can be no logical relations between religion and science if religion is taken to be a non-logical way of human functioning known as trusting, and science as a logical way of functioning. Yet one logical relation has been identified, and religion and science have affected each other’s content in other ways. These ways can be accounted for, I propose, by replacing one-dimensional logical conceptions of knowing such as the syntactic and semantic views of theory with a multi-dimensional conception of knowing. I begin my alternative account of the interaction between religion and science by grounding it in human nature because only people stand in relation to both God and nature. Next, I distinguish a range of irreducible ways of human functioning which correspond with dimensions of a person’s relation with God and with nature. Using two of these dimensions as an example — trusting and knowing — I show that interaction between religion and science is seen to be between (a) trust in God (faith) and beliefs about God (theology), (b) trust in God (faith) and beliefs about the world (science) and (c) beliefs about God (theology) and beliefs about the world (science). I argue that there can be interaction between each and every way of human functioning by means of the metaphoric transfer of meaning, for instance, between each of the pairs of functioning just listed.

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