The stories of the struggles of famous scientists can be very dramatic and inspiring. When we learn about Andreas Vesalius enduring the stench of decaying corpses in order to study the most miniscule details of human anatomy — when we learn about Galileo Galilei courageously standing up to the Church to defend his view of the universe — when we learn about the temperamentally timid Charles Darwin coming to reevaluate the whole issue of man's origins — then we are inspired by human greatness.
The biographies of countless scientists show us people who were driven by an intense curiosity about the world around them — a curiosity about reality — and who took action to satisfy their curiosity. Of course, not all scientists led equally heroic lives. But they did contribute (to a greater or lesser extent) to what is arguably the greatest achievement of the human race: the modern scientific understanding of the universe and our place in it.
The progression of science through history has largely been a cumulative progression. Yesterday's discoveries were used as the foundation for today's discoveries, which in turn will be the foundation for those of tomorrow. To be sure, the progression hasn't always been continuously upwards. There have been wrong turns and dead ends, but these have been footnotes to the main story. The history of science is, in essence, the story of a dramatic upwards progression, leading to the modern scientific understanding of the universe and all of the wonders of modern technology. Moreover, these achievements will undoubtably be far surpassed in the future, as science continues its amazing story.
Ayn Rand identified two opposite principles of metaphysics which she called the "primacy of existence" and the "primacy of consciousness." Science embodies the primacy of existence, whereas religion embodies the primacy of consciousness. This is the deepest philosophical root of the conflict. But the events of history tell an incredibly complex story, and show science and religion interacting in a number of different ways. My goal is to make sense of this complexity.
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