Unit 3: Science as a Belief System & Its Difference Between Religion (Summary)

Impact of science: Many sociologists see modern science as a product of the rationalization that began with the Protestant Reformation (beginning of C.16th)

- Many argued that this process undermined religion because it changed the way we think/feel/behave

- Science has had an enormous impact on society:

:) Positive examples: Darwin & the theory of Evolution <- revolutionary in thinking. new ideas- new knowledge: society- humans/animals, Medical advances, Industrialization, Technological advances/ innovations: electricity, transport etc.

X Negative examples: Pollution , Global Warming, Mass Destruction, Illnesses

- Postmodernists argue that these are "manufactured risks"

Science has a key feature which distinguishes itself from other belief systems

- Its knowledge claims can be subjected to empirical testing (verification/falsification).

- Sociologists believe that science has great cognitive (proof; to intellectualise fact, theories and understanding, empirical evidence) power than other belief systems.

Science therefore can explain/predict/control the world in a way that non-scientific/pre-scientific belief…