Features of scientific and religious consciousness: is it possible to combine the incompatible?
G.V. Baranova
Abyss 2025 DOI: 10.33979/2587-7534-2025-2-41-47 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that religious consciousness accepts direct experience of a connection between the ordinary and higher worlds and can allow deviations from natural laws, while scientific consciousness either rejects religion or treats it as a parallel, non-scientific mode of perception. The authors contend that science, viewed by some as a closed system of processes, sets limits on understanding "nature," and they raise whether a choice between religious and scientific worldviews is necessary, noting that many great scientists held both. |
Abstract
The article is devoted to the analysis of common features and specific features of scientific and religious consciousness. It is shown that religious consciousness is associated with the acceptance and direct experience of the connection between the ordinary and higher worlds, allowing in certain situations deviations from the scientifically based laws of nature. Scientific consciousness either rejects religion or assigns it a place, like the philosophy of unscientific knowledge, a special perception of the world that exists in parallel with reliable knowledge. It is associated with cognition and is presented as a product of people's thinking based on the analysis and synthesis of existing knowledge. At the same time, it is noted that according to a number of scientists, science considers the world as a closed set of processes, phenomena, and relationships between them. It (science) creates certain limits that do not allow humanity to master «nature.» Raising the question of whether one has to choose between a religious and a scientific view of life, it shows how many of the greatest scientists were and.