Have you ever wondered: Why two diametrically opposite explanations of ourselves -- Religion and Science -- coexist? As this book explains, the reason is, one explanation began before the other. The first explanations development began thousands of years ago when our gradually evolving brains and minds awoke to an unknown, possibly threatening environment. Unfortunately, attempts to explain this strange environment were frustrated by illusions such as the apparent motion of the sun, moon and stars around the earth, which clouded our limited observational capability, such as our inability detect constant motion, thwarting the developing human minds ability to correctly explain observations. These limitations ultimately led to a totally incorrect explanation: we reside in a very small, young, unchanging universe revolving about us, created by a supernatural being - God -- a belief system termed Religion. About 500 years ago, the formulation of the second explanation was initiated when astute investigators such as Copernicus and Galileo, using improved new observation instruments such as the telescope and microscope, began to realize the existing illusion based religious explanations could not possibly be correct. Author Lawrence Wood introduces the brilliant investigators who resolved the illusions by developing radically new explanations of the illusions, an explanation system termed Science, many still cannot accept hence, the coexistence of religion and science. If you are one of those, trying to bridge the gulf between your religious beliefs which have become increasingly difficult to accept and the strange new world of science, this book will help you immeasurably!

An account of the Copernican Revolution, focusing on the significance of the plurality of the revolution which encompassed not only mathematical astronomy, but also conceptual changes in cosmology, physics, philosophy, and religion.

Controversial at the time, Copernicus's discoveries led to the scientific revolution, and a greater understanding of our place in the universe. An accessible, abridged edition with a new introduction. Renaissance Natural philosopher Nicolaus Copernicus's pioneering discovery of the heliocentric nature of the solar system is one of the few identifiable moments in history that define the understanding of the nature of all things. His great work was the consequence of long observation and resulted in the first stage of the Scientific Revolution by correctly positing that the earth and other planets of the solar system revolved around the sun. Not only did this promote further study to understand the place of humanity in the world and the universe, it questioned the authority of the organised Christian Church in the West to be the keeper of fundamental truths. Ultimately this would lead to the Enlightenment, and the separation of religion, government and science. The FLAME TREE Foundations series features core publications which together have shaped the cultural landscape of the modern world, with cutting-edge research distilled into pocket guides designed to be both accessible and informative.

A comprehensive and accessible survey of the major issues at the biology-religion interface.

The book is written for active learners – those keen on cutting their own path through the complex and at times hardly comprehensible world of THEORY in International Relations. To aid this process as much as possible, this book employs the didactical and methodical concept of integrating teaching and self-study. The criteria for structured learning about IR theory will be derived from an extensive discussion of the questions and problems of philosophy of science (Part 1). Theory of IR refers to the scientific study of IR and covers all of the following subtopics: the role and status of theory in the academic discipline of IR; the understanding of IR as a science and what a ""scientific"" theory is; the different assumptions upon which theory building in IR is based; the different types of theoretical constructions and models of explanations found at the heart of particular theories; and the different approaches taken on how theory and the practice of international relations are linked to each other. The criteria for the structured learning process will be applied in Part 2 of the book during the presentation of five selected theories of International Relations. The concept is based on ""learning through example"" – that is, the five theories have been chosen because, when applying the criteria developed in Part 1 of the book, each single theory serves as an example for something deeply important to learn about THEORY of IR more generally.

This book explores historical and contemporary relations between science and religion, providing new perspectives on familiar topics.

This scholarly and accessible study presents “a provocative new reading” of the late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century advances in scientific inquiry (Kirkus Reviews). In The Scientific Revolution, historian Steven Shapin challenges the very idea that any such a “revolution” ever took place. Rejecting the narrative that a new and unifying paradigm suddenly took hold, he demonstrates how the conduct of science emerged from a wide array of early modern philosophical agendas, political commitments, and religious beliefs. In this analysis, early modern science is shown not as a set of disembodied ideas, but as historically situated ways of knowing and doing. Shapin shows that every principle identified as the modernizing essence of science—whether it’s experimentalism, mathematical methodology, or a mechanical conception of nature—was in fact contested by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century practitioners with equal claims to modernity. Shapin argues that this contested legacy is nevertheless rightly understood as the origin of modern science, its problems as well as its acknowledged achievements. This updated edition includes a new bibliographic essay featuring the latest scholarship. “An excellent book.” —Anthony Gottlieb, New York Times Book Review