6: Religion and the Future of Science
Professor Peter Harrison lectures on the growing public disillusionment with the scientific enterprise and the opportunities this presents to reconnect the study of nature with its formerly prominent moral and religious values
Lecture abstract
The last few decades have witnessed a growing public disillusionment with a scientific enterprise that for much of the twentieth century had enjoyed unparalleled prestige.
The narrative of progress without limit now also looks a little threadbare. This final lecture considers whether the new ‘flight from science’ represents a regrettable defection from reason and ‘Enlightenment values’, or whether it presents an opportunity to reconnect the study of nature with the kinds of moral and religious values that once played a prominent role in its genesis and development.