[Air-L] Religious Dimension of Sustainable Development

[tom abeles]

Denise Rall posts:

> This might help someone. Interestingly, he takes an
> epistemological approach. Here is a quote I recorded
> from his preface:
> 
>  "Lyotard distinguished between narrative and
> scientific knowledge as two distinct species of
> discourse which can both fufil legitimate functions"
> (1984: 29f.) He then goes on to evaluate theology for
> its discursive value.
> 
> van Huyssteen, J. W. (1998). Duet or duel? Theology
> and science in a postmodern world. London, SCM Press.

This complements Christian who  raises a critical issue,
one that would be applauded by most who work in the arena of futures,
futures studies and similarly labeled disciplines within The Academy
and outside. This is not the area of projecting the future, as you,
also, suggest; but it includes thinking about possible futures and
their consequences as well as paths that might realize or prevent
attainment. To that point, the invention of the WWW transcended its
original purpose and intent giving us the opportunity for this
exchange. Thus we must be open to serendipity .

Also, to the
point, one must realize that the Enlightenment, while in part a
reaction to religious hegemony, also took a very wrong turn when its
members accepted the idea that the tools and practices of science could
create a similar "science of humans". Perhaps two of its failures, as
identified by the political philosopher, John Gray, in the most
mathematical of the social arena, economics, has been Marxism and
Capitalism. Thus we must take care that we do not, in the beginning,
accept the revisionist versions, such as neo-marxism, which by fiat rejects, out of hand,
ideas based on "faith" which, in its formality might manifest itself as
religion and, perhaps even "science".

Science is simultaneously
inductive, developing models from empirical data, and deductive,
building of mathematical models which can be the basis of experimental
verification. Research, by fiat, evokes the disciplines that have
broken from philosophy by such practices. And it is validated by its
seeming successes in the natural world. 

So, Lyotard is right- science and philosophy or religion can be separated, as Pope Urban did for Galileo, science deals with cause and philosophy and religion deal with purpose. Where social studies falls depends. . .

With the rise of virtual worlds and
multiple or connected "metaverses" the questions get more interesting
and cross disciplinary boundaries. Where this takes AIR is an
interesting question.

tom

dr. tom p abeles, editor
On the Horizon


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