Science and Empiricism

So, I've just finished a science class entitled "Scientific Discoveries and Paradigm Shifts." In this class we studied a lot about scientific truth and religion, specifically Christianity. Approaching science from a Christian perspective is a difficult concept for most people to envision, but we managed to do so.

One of the books that we read was Thomas Kuhn's classic The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which essentially argued that science progresses by "revolutions" that function much the same as political revolutions with different sides, times of confusion and conflict, and a clear winner. But this approach seems to me to limit science's defining characteristic: its empiricism.

Empiricism is basically the tenet that the senses are used to formulate theories. Science works within a realm of empiricism. It must observe and interpret the data taken in with the five senses. To say that science must overcome deception of the senses and interpret the truth regardless of what is perceived is asking it to do more than it can do. The realm beyond the empirical is the realm for the humanities, philosophy, religion, arts, etc.

Kuhn's model seems to be an undue placement of the assumptions of philosophical process onto an empirically based system of thought. No wonder so many scientists are uneasy with Kuhn's ideas. While his understanding of revolutionary, argumentative revolutions holds true in philosophy, religion, etc., it is not well-suited to the environment of science, where empirical observation is the basis for accuracy.

So if we accept this understanding of science, then we can easily see that there is no threat to Christian belief from science, no matter how far it goes. They work within differing realms of proof and truth. It simply is beyond the scope of science to prove the existence of God one way or the other, much as it is beyond the scope of religion to describe the physical structure of the universe. As theologians, that is not our purpose; our purpose is to understand God. I am willing to, as a student of religion, allow scientists to examine their realm of inquiry as long as I am free to examine mine.