2024 Author: Adelina Croftoon | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 02:07
Science versus religion: This is the hardest "battle" between two largely opposite worldviews, which has been going on for several centuries.
The clash between the canons of faith and scientific facts in explaining the world around us goes back centuries and is most manifested today in the disputes between two theories: evolution and creationism. The roots of a rather protracted conflict lie in the structure of our brain, scientists from Case Western Reserve University are sure.
Previous scientific work using functional magnetic resonance imaging has shown that the brain has an analytical neural network that allows you to think critically and an empathic network that helps a person to have compassion for others. The idea that there is a "contradiction" between two regions in the brain is known as the "opposite domain hypothesis."
According to scientists, the two networks play a kind of tug-of-war when a person is faced with a problem. When critical thinking is needed, the work of the empathic part is suppressed. But when reasoning about morality is needed, the analytical network is muted.
Belief in higher powers seeks to make the more "sensitive" network of the brain work, while shutting down the more analytical area. And analytical thinking about the physical, material world produces the opposite effect, according to the authors of the new study.
For their scientific work, specialists from the university and Babson College (Babson College) conducted a series of eight experiments, which involved from 159 to 527 people.
"Research in cognitive psychology has shown that believers, whether in religion or in spiritual practices, are not as smart as others. People could actually claim they were less intelligent," says Professor Richard Boyatzis.
"Our research, on the one hand, confirmed this statistical relationship, but at the same time showed that believers are more pro-social and empathetic," he adds.
In a series of eight experiments, scientists found that more empathetic people tend to be religious.
The findings offer a new explanation for previous research showing that women are more inclined towards a religious explanation of the world than men. This may be because women tend to be more empathetic than men.
But atheists, the researchers found, exhibit traits that are characteristic of psychopaths. The vast majority of psychopaths are classified as such due to their lack of empathy for others.
But why did the conflict between science and religion become so intense over time?
“Because networks suppress each other. They can create two extremes. By recognizing that this is how our brains work, perhaps we can bring more balance to national discourse with the involvement of science and religion,” says Boyattsis.
The researchers add that humans are "designed" to use both "sides" of their brains. This means that everyone can reconcile in themselves two worldviews.
"Not everything and always conflicts with science, and under certain circumstances, religious beliefs can positively contribute to scientific creativity and understanding. Many famous scientists were religious. And, of course, they were intellectually developed enough to see that there was no reason for conflict." - says the lead researcher of the new work Tony Jack (Tony Jack).
He cites Baruch Aba Shalev's book 100 Years of the Nobel Prizes, which notes that from 1901 to 2000, 654 Nobel laureates, or nearly 90 percent, belonged to one of the world's 28 religions. The remaining 10 percent were atheists, agnostics, or free-thinkers.
"You can be both religious and a very good scientist," Jack concludes.
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