John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White on the war between science and religion.The role of historiographic metaphor

• Authors: Werner W.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Until the middle of the 19th century the relationship between science and religion had been perceived by both scientists and theologians as very good.However, in the second half of that century, that coherent world view was split into 'the world of religion' and 'the world of science', governed by different and contradictory laws. The paper deals with the role of historical writing in the emergence and the grounding of the metaphor of 'war' between science and religion in the public mind. The special focus is on the studies in the history of science by John W. Draper and Andrew D. White, which have been selected due to their popularity in Great Britain and the United States at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The works of those two authors present science and religion as antagonistic from the very beginning of their existence. In the minds of the majority of the readers of those works, the origin of the relationship between science and religion was identified with its essence. While presenting the conflict between science and religion, the two authors claimed that the conflict had been present since the beginning of the coexistence of science and religion. In this way the metaphor of 'warfare' used by Draper and White contributed to the belief that science and religion are phenomena that stand in a relation of essential antagonism.

Keywords

EN

SCIENCE VS. RELIGION (19TH CENTURY)

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Instytut Historii Nauki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 43-27
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Werner W.

• W. Werner, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Instytut Historii, ul. Sw. Marcin 78, 61-809 Poznan, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

04PLAAAA0027594