Premium
THEOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES—DISCIPLINE AND ANTIDISCIPLINE
Author(s) -
Murphy Nancy
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1990.tb00794.x
Subject(s) - epistemology , interpretation (philosophy) , natural science , impossibility , theism , sociology , hierarchy , natural theology , philosophy , social science , political science , law , linguistics
. In this review of papers by E. O. Wilson, Philip Gorski, and Robert Segal, I apply Wilson's description of the relations between a discipline and its antidiscipline (the science just below it in the hierarchy of sciences) to the relations between theology and the social sciences. I claim ( contra Gorski) that a common methodology is applicable to natural science, social science, and theology. However, despite the fact that a discipline cannot ordinarily be reduced to its antidiscipline, I claim (with Segal) that it remains to be shown that a theistic interpretation of religious phenomena is superior to a social‐scientific explanation. I see this as work to be done rather than an impossibility. Insofar as it is shown that theology cannot be reduced to social‐scientific explanations, support is provided for the hypothesis of the existence of God.