Concept
Conflict thesis
Overview
The conflict thesis is a historiographical approach in the history of science that originated in the 19th century with John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. It maintains that there is an intrinsic intellectual conflict between religion and science, and that it inevitably leads to hostility. The consensus among historians of science is that the thesis has long been discredited, which explains the rejection of the thesis by contemporary scholars. Into the 21st century, historians of science widely accept a complexity thesis. The lack of engagement with the advancements in the history of science perpetuates belief in the thesis.
Global studies on scientists show that most scientists do not see religion and science in conflict and studies on the views of the general public indicate that the conflict perspective is not prevalent either.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Related ideas
- De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
- Historiography
- Philosophy
- History of science
- Kepler's laws of planetary motion
- Sidereus Nuncius
- Metaphysics
- Anti-intellectualism
- Birth control
- Stephen Hawking
- University of Chicago Press
- Heresy
- Heliocentrism
- Protestantism
- Scientific method
- Stephen Jay Gould
- Relationship between science and religion
- Galileo Galilei
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Theology
- Nicolaus Copernicus
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Scholasticism
- Astronomy
Place in the tradition
Part of Philosophy of religion.