The Monk Of Science

Vivekananda believed that Religion should be subjected to scientific methods of investigation. The third and concluding part of our series on the Swami and his views on science.

- Makarand R Paranjape

WHEN IT COMES to the relationship between science and spirituality, the prevalent view among most sceptical and materialistic scientists regards spiritual wisdom and religious scriptures not just as non-science, but as essentially nonsense. Naturally, Swami Vivekananda’s or any other religious figure’s views on science would be suspect, unless and until they are corroborated by “hard” data. For a typical proponent of such an “anti”-view, we might turn to Richard Dawkins who considers religion as delusion made up of a “fixed false belief”.

A tempting, but arguably disappointing “middle ground” seemed to be offered by the celebrated evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002). To avoid conflict between science and religion, he proposed a clear demarcation of each domain, labeling them both with the impressive sounding term “magesteria” to legitimate their separate but apparently equal spheres. These magesteria, separate fields of authority, do not overlap, as indicated by the principle commonly known as NOMA, or “non-overlapping magisteria.” In the essay that popularised the expression, “Non Overlapping Magisteria”, Gould writes:

“The net of science covers the empirical universe: what is it made of (fact) and why does it work this way (theory). The net of religion extends over questions of moral meaning and value. These two magisteria do not overlap, nor do they encompass all inquiry (consider, for starters, the magisterium of art and the meaning of beauty). To cite the arch cliches, we get the age of rocks, and religion retains the rock of ages; we study how the heavens go, and they determine how to go to heaven.”