Is Science a Religion?

[Sunstone]

Now and then I hear someone claim science is a religion? Do you think that notion has any merit? If so, why? If not, why not?

 

[Acintya_Ash]

Science as i see is a religion, which is ever progressive. I find it similar to Hinduism though Hinduism i feel is Spiritually complete, whereas science has a long way to go as its ways of acquiring knowledge are purely based on empirical evidences.
Just like Hinduism has different schools of Philosophies like Yoga, Nyaya, Vedanta etc. Science too has various departments like Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Biology and each school/department follows an entirely faith-based discipline.

 

[Sunstone]

Science as i see is a religion, which is ever progressive. I find it similar to Hinduism though Hinduism i feel is Spiritually complete, whereas science has a long way to go as its ways of acquiring knowledge are purely based on empirical evidences.
Just like Hinduism has different schools of Philosophies like Yoga, Nyaya, Vedanta etc. Science too has various departments like Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Biology and each school/department follows an entirely faith-based discipline.

I'm curious what your reasoning is. Would you care to elaborate on why you think science is similar to Hinduism?

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

Now and then I hear someone claim science is a religion? Do you think that notion has any merit? If so, why? If not, why not?

No more than classics, mathematics, or philology. Religion is a hard thing to define, but unless any group (social, familial, political, professional, etc.) is a religion, then no. None of the hallmarks of religious thinking (diverse as religion is) are there. There is no doctrine, dogma, nor does it revolve around deeply-rooted and socio-cultural practices that are or are virtually indistinguishable from other components or aspects of society and culture (family, cultural traditions, economics, war, politics, etc.).

 

[Sunstone]

No more than classics, mathematics, or philology. Religion is a hard thing to define, but unless any group (social, familial, political, professional, etc.) is a religion, then no. None of the hallmarks of religious thinking (diverse as religion is) are there. There is no doctrine, dogma, nor does it revolve around deeply-rooted and socio-cultural practices that are or are virtually indistinguishable from other components or aspects of society and culture (family, cultural traditions, economics, war, politics, etc.).

I'd like to point out there's quite a difference in methodologies between the religions (in general) and the sciences (in general). Perhaps most importantly, the principle of intersubjective verifiability seems to be largely absent from many -- or even most -- religions, while it seems to play a quite significant role in the sciences.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

I'd like to point out there's quite a difference in methodologies between the religions (in general) and the sciences (in general). Perhaps most importantly, the principle of intersubjective verifiability seems to be largely absent from many -- or even most -- religions, while it seems to play a quite significant role in the sciences.

True, IMO, and one might say also that while for the sciences intersubjective verifiability of the objective plays a significant role (ideally), in religions often enough intersubjective validation, affirmation, and authentication plays a significant role.
Or, put more simply, scientists try to figure out and explain things, and religion is largely about assuming explanations and then attempting to justify this assumption. But the first version sounds more smerter and intelligenter.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Now and then I hear someone claim science is a religion? Do you think that notion has any merit?

That would greatly depend on what s/he means (and intends) by the claim.

 

[Acintya_Ash]

I'm curious what your reasoning is. Would you care to elaborate on why you think science is similar to Hinduism?

I cannot elaborate as my opinion was only an overview. IMO both are complementary to an extent.
Hinduism: Where Science and Spirituality Intersect | Gadadhara Pandit Dasa

 

[Sunstone]

That would greatly depend on what s/he means (and intends) by the claim.

I was hoping the thread would prompt someone or another person who holds the view to explain what they meant by it. I thought of stating what I think has been meant when I've heard it myself, but I decided that might be leading or that I might get it wrong.

 

[LuisDantas]

Now and then I hear someone claim science is a religion? Do you think that notion has any merit? If so, why? If not, why not?

No merit whatsoever. Science at its core is all about the questioning and testing hypothesis until they can lead to reliable knowledge... and then come back and test that knowledge further yet whenever possible.

The people who make that silly claim that science is a religion are (nearly?) always wanting to present the contrast between science and religion as a dispute for territory between ideologies, which is just grossly uninformed if not entirely dishonest.

 

[Shad]

Now and then I hear someone claim science is a religion? Do you think that notion has any merit? If so, why? If not, why not?

No it is not. People equivocate scientism with science, metaphysical views with religious views. The idea has no merit, it is used as a strawman by many when they can not provide a reason for their own metaphysical and religious views.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Properly done scientific study is not religious in character, because it is driven by observations. Students of scientific disciplines study theory but also the techniques of discovery. They are expected to be able to reproduce the results of previous experimenters. Lab reports must be written in such a way that the results can be duplicated. All experiments are simulations and all approximations and assumptions are written down. Above all everything is public.

The only way in which it is religious in character is that sometimes it is secretive. For example some research is not published or is not available to the public. That research is partly religious in character. Alchemy was religious in character, because it was secretive. When it came out of seclusion it became science. The same goes for medicine. When the anatomy of the human body became an acceptable subject to study, then medicine ceased to be religious and became scientific.

 

[Revoltingest]

Now and then I hear someone claim science is a religion? Do you think that notion has any merit? If so, why? If not, why not?

Looking at the primary (most relevant) definition of "religion" in Dictionary.com.....

a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

Now, looking the top 2 entries for "science"....

1. a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truthssystematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws:
the mathematical sciences.
2. systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained throughobservation and experimentation.

No, science is not religion.

 

[Ultimatum]

n. religion: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. [SOURCE]

So a religion contains a belief system.
Based on these premises, science is certainly not a religion as it is not based on a set of beliefs. I can conduct a scientific experiment and draw factual conclusions over baseless claims.

 

[Quintessence]

Now and then I hear someone claim science is a religion? Do you think that notion has any merit? If so, why? If not, why not?

Tips to determine if something is a religion (or functions analogously to a religion to the point one might as well call the spade a spade):

Does it create a map of the territory that brings meaningfulness to human lives and acts as a guide for human living?

Does it ask, answer, and address "big questions" of life?

Does it have a social aspect, or some sort of community that connects people through mutually-held beliefs and/or activities?

Does it have stories or narratives - be they oral or literary - that convey truths and values, or are vectors of meaningfulness? ​

Really, I see religious affiliation as boiling down to asking "what is the axis of meaningfulness that informs your way of life?" For some people, sciences are effectively that axis and effectively their religion. For some people, like myself, sciences are a major and essential component of that axis but a component within a larger framework. For others, it is in no way part of that central axis of meaningfulness and could in no way be considered their religion.

Keep in mind none of this represents particularly refined thoughts. Defining religions is hard. Finding the right, meaty, concise words to describe what religion is... is also hard.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

SOURCE

Well, so long as dictionaries seem to be somehow relevant here, I'll offer my services as one who morons provide resources so that idiots like me can waste time on questions nobody cares about:
"religion, n.
1. A state of life bound by religious vows; the condition of belonging to a religious order. Also fig. Cf. to enter into religion at enter v. 8b.
Chiefly in Christian contexts, esp. with reference to the Roman Catholic Church.



a1225 (▸c1200) Vices & Virtues 43 (MED), Ðo ðe ðese swikele woreld habbeð forlaten and seruið ure drihten on religiun, hie folȝið Daniele, ðe hali profiete.

c1230 (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 9 Easkið him..hwer he funde in hali writ religiun openlukest descriueþ & isutelet þen is i sein iames canonial epistel: he seiþ what is Religiun, hwuch is riht ordre.

c1350 (▸a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 63 (MED), Relessed Schel hym nauȝt be religioun, Þaȝ he be nauȝt professed.

▸a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 1265 (MED), In blake clothes thei hem clothe, This lady and the dowhter bothe, And yolde hem to religion..After the reule..Where as Diane is seintefied.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 23049 (MED), Þai..Went þaim in to religiun..For to beserue vr lauerd dright.

▸c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 484 (MED), Oon maner religioun is..a bynding aȝen of a mannys fre wil with certein ordinauncis maad bi God or bi man or with vowis or oothis.

a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 1300 Non orderis had he of Relegioune.

1528 Rede me & be nott Wrothe sig. d viii, Ware thou never in religion? Yes so god helpe me and halydom, A dosen yeres continually.

1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 3673 Mariage, be my opinioun, It is better Religioun, As to be freir or Nun.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. P3, Forsweare thou nothing good..but building of monasteries and entring into religion.

1663 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures (new ed.) xxviii. 111 Those of the country [sc. China] repute him for a Saint, because he ended his dayes in Religion.

1672 in F. O. Blundell Old Catholic Lancs. (1941) III. v. 47 She is called in Religion by the name of Barbary Ignatius.

1764 H. Walpole Castle of Otranto iv. 139 My father..was retired into religion in the kingdom of Naples.

1825 R. Southey in Q. Rev. 32 364 We must enter into religion and be made nuns by will or by force!

1886 H. N. Oxenham Mem. R. de Lisle 6 The two others..are in religion; the former entered the Order of the Good Shepherd in 1863.

1907 A. B. Teetgen Life & Times Empress Pulcheria xxvi. 220 Eutyches, the superior of a populous monastery outside the walls of Constantinople, had spent practically the whole of his life in religion.

1998 M. P. Magray Transforming Power of Nuns iii. 44 Women did not long remain in religion without a sense of spiritual purpose.



2. Christian Church.






a. A particular religious order or denomination; †a religious house. Also fig. Now rare.



?c1225 (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 3 Richten hire & smeðen hire is of vh ordre & of uh religion.

c1300 St. Edward Elder (Laud) 192 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 52 (MED), Seint Edward cam..To an holi man þat þere was neiȝ in an oþur religion.

a1425 (▸?a1400) Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 6352 Somtyme am I Prioresse..And go thurgh all Regiouns Sekyng all religiouns.

1483 Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 426/1 Saynt Rygoberte..ordeyned a relygyon of chanounes and clerkes.

1496 J. Alcock Mons Perfeccionis (de Worde) sig. bv, As hymself for his pryde & enuy was caste oute of the holy relygion of heuen.

1528 T. Cromwell in R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. Cromwell (1902) I. 322 The exchaunge to be made bitwene your colledge in Oxforde and his religion for Saundforde.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxliij, This priest..was receiued into euery Religion with Procession, as though the Legate had been there.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 194 This Religion of Saint Iohns, was greatly preferred, by the fall and suppression of the Templers.

1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 114 If any professed in the said Religion were negligently forgotten.

1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 12 A Dagger, which the King of Spain sent as a Present to the Religion.

1770 Ann. Reg. 1769 147 Some ships of the religion of Malta.

1858 F. W. Faber Foot of Cross i. 67 There were several false and counterfeit religions, which had troubled the Church about that time.

1902 Builder 27 Sept. 265/1 The sudden spread and popularity of the Franciscan religion in North Italy immediately on the death of Francis..was very remarkable.




†b. A member of a religious order, spec. a member of the clergy. Obs.



a1250 (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Nero) (1952) 168 Forto beon so angresful..nis nout god icweme, and ancre ful nomilche uor swuch religiun [c1230 Corpus Cambr. religius] nis nout god icweme.

c1330 Short Metrical Chron. (Royal) 527 in J. Ritson Anc. Eng. Metrical Romanceës (1802) II. 292 (MED), Sethe he delede..To thilke that were povre in londe, That other to povre religiouns.

a1400 (▸c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 7556 (MED), Specyaly þat comandeþ he..to bysshopes and persones, To prestys, and ouþer relygyons [v.r. relygyones].

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) 22001 (MED), Quatkin man sum euer it es..Or laued or religiun, Clerk, monk, or canun.

▸c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 17 (MED), Herbore þe pore pur charyte, And ȝef mete and dreng to þe nede, And cumford hom þat woful be, Ellis be ȝe no relegyon.

a1500 (▸?a1400) T. Chestre Sir Launfal (1930) 427 (MED), Fyfty rewardede relygyons; Fyfty delyuerede pouere prysouns.












†c. Collectively: people devoted to a religious life. Obs.



1487 (▸a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xx. 162 Till religioune of seir statis, For heill of his saull, gaf he Siluir in-to gret quantite.

a1525 (▸c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 190 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 100 Alkyn chennonis eik of vyer ordouris All maner of religioun ye less & ye maire.

1568 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. f. 80, All religioun levis in holines.






3.






a. Action or conduct indicating belief in, obedience to, and reverence for a god, gods, or similar superhuman power; the performance of religious rites or observances. Also in pl.: religious rites. Now rare except as merged with sense 5a.



?c1225 (▸?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 8 Clene religiun..Iseon & helpen widewen..& from þe world witen him clene & vnwemmed.

c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 217 (MED), Þos faten of watere..ware i clepede baþieres wer þo gius hem wesse for clenesse and for religiun.

▸a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Lev. vii. 36 Þei sholden vsen presthod & þe þynges þat þe lord comaundede..þour perpetuel religion [L. religione].

c1425 Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 366 (MED), Sche ladde hir lyf..After þe ritys and þe religioun Of paganysme vsed in þo dawes.

c1475 Advice to Lovers in J. O. Halliwell Select. Minor Poems J. Lydgate (1840) 41 A man of sadde religioun.

1553 R. Eden tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India sig. Gijv, They eate that fleshe with great religion.

1577 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians (new ed.) f. 151, They that trust in theyr owne righteousnes, thinke to pacifie the wrath of God by their..voluntarie religion.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iii. i. 191 They vsed yet some religion in gathering of their Cinamon,..sacrificing before they began [etc.].

1667 Milton Paradise Lost i. 372 The Image of a Brute, adorn'd With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold.

1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Archit. II. 21/2 The Ancients used to found the Walls of their Cities with the greatest religion, dedicating them to some God who was to be their guardian.

1788 Gibbon Decline & Fall V. xlix. 89 The public religion of the Catholics was uniformly simple and spiritual.

1900 R. W. Dixon Hist. Church Eng. (1902) VI. xxxvi. 5 The religions of the religious orders..were swept away under the condemnation of superstition and abuse.

1913 M. C. Burbridge Twentieth Cent. Musings i. 42 Love may not increase with much religion, but it will increase many-fold with wisdom.


†b. A religious duty or obligation. Obs.



1537 in State Papers Henry VIII (1830) I. ii. 557 Thei thoght a religion to kepe secret, betwene God and them, certayn thinges.

1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 5th Serm. sig. Oviiiv, The dutye betwene man and wife, which is a holy religyon, but not religiously kepte.

1659 H. L'Estrange Alliance Divine Offices i. 14 Christs Gospel is not a ceremonial law..but it is a religion to serve God, not in bondage of the figure or shadow, but in the freedom of the spirit.




4.
a. A particular system of faith and worship.
class, mystery, natural religion, etc.: see first element.



c1325 (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 2812 (MED), Þanne þe religion & holi chirche worþ ef sone ybroȝt al adoun.

▸a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 192, It is worthi to trowe sawes & writynges of poetes and of writers ȝif here religioun and feþ is nouȝt aȝens gode þewes and maners.

a1400 (▸a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 18944 (MED), In þat siquar was in þat tun Men of alkin religioun, Of al maner of nacioun.

c1450 (▸?c1400) tr. Honorius Augustodunensis Elucidarium (1909) 32 (MED), Leef maister, which is þe beste religioun?

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xcijv, They neyther allure nor compelle any man vnto their Religion.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iv. xi. 189 The Church of Rome, they say,..did almost out of all religions take whatsoeuer had any faire & gorgeous shew.

1631 B. Jonson Staple of Newes ii. iv. 55 in Wks. II I wonder what religion hee's of.

1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. vi. §15 Whereby we plainly see what clear evidence is given to the truth of that religion which is attested with a power of miracles.

1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. iv. xxv. 263 The Christian Religion, which pretends to teach Men the Knowledge and Worship of God.

1791 T. Paine Rights of Man i. 75 If they are to judge of each others religion, there is no such thing as a religion that is right.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 65 All religions were the same to him.

1862 F. Max Müller in Edinb. Rev. Apr. 381 All important religions have sprung up in the East.

1918 A. W. Fortune Conception of Authority in Pauline Writings ii. 67 Christianity was not intended to be a Jewish religion.

1925 San Antonio (Texas) Light 11 July 1/1 More primitive religions..represent their gods as liars, cheats and destroyers of earth women.

1968 A. Storr Human Aggression (1976) vi. 81 The history, both of religions and political ideologies, clearly shows that beliefs are bound to become modified in the course of time.

1991 A. Hourani Hist. Arab Peoples ii. v. 96 In northern Iraq there were Yazidis, followers of a religion which had elements derived from both Christianity and Islam.



b. fig. A pursuit, interest, or movement, followed with great devotion.



1576 G. Whetstone Ortchard of Repentance 100 in Rocke of Regard The religion of wanton louers like the papistes.

1593 M. Drayton Idea ii. sig. C2, Then Orphane thoughts with sorrow be you waind, When loues Religion shalbe thus prophayn'd.

1666 C. Molloy Hollands Ingratitude sig. E3v, No way is indirect for wealth to a Dutch-man, whether of fraud or violence; gain is his Religion.

1702 T. Brown in tr. Select Epist. Cicero 351 Money is a Whore's Religion, Love is down-right Superstition.

1849 H. W. Longfellow Kavanagh xvi. 78 The memory of that mother had become almost a religion to her.

1872 H. P. Liddon Some Elements Relig. i. 23 We hear men speak of a religion of art, of a religion of work, of a religion of civilization.

1929 T. Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel v. 52 Not merely to possess property, but to draw income from it was part of the religion of her family.

1961 Western Polit. Q. 14 408 Marxian Socialism has become a religion of history.

2003 Jrnl. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 22 May 56 There is no place to hide in a city where football is a religion and United's players are instantly recognisable.



†c. With the and capital initial. Chiefly in French contexts: Protestantism. Obs. (hist. in later use).



1577 tr. ‘F. de L'Isle’ Legendarie sig. Gviij, There was a noise raised that the Admiral had endeuoured to expel the Masse, and to plant the Religion in France.

1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 106 They againe are deuided into 13 Cantons, 8 whereof are catholike, the residue of the religion.

1642 J. Howell Instr. Forreine Travell ix. 116 They of the Religion, are now Town-lesse, and Arme-lesse.

1656 in J. A. Clyde Hope's Major Practicks (1938) II. 162 That no persone excomunicat for not conformeing themselfes to the religion shall enjoy..their lands, rents, and revenues.

1704 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion III. xv. 508 Those of the Religion possessed themselves with many arm'd Men of the Town-House.

1848 Hist. Protestantism in France (Relig. Tract Soc.) iii. 56 The singular name by which Protestantism in France was distinguished was that of ‘The Religion’; an emphatic appellation.

1883 Catholic Presbyterian Aug. 121 They became not merely pastors, but statesmen—head of the Religion, as Protestantism was called.






5.



a. Belief in or acknowledgement of some superhuman power or powers (esp. a god or gods) which is typically manifested in obedience, reverence, and worship; such a belief as part of a system defining a code of living, esp. as a means of achieving spiritual or material improvement.
organized religion: see the first element.



▸?a1439 Lydgate tr. Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) v. l. 2757 Lik as he wolde haue luyed ther in pes..Withynne the temple of myhti Hercules Vnder a shadwe of religioun.

1533 tr. Erasmus Enchiridion Militis Christiani Pref. sig. b.viiv, He dothe not strayte condempne their maner of lyuyng whiche dothe shewe & admonysshe them in what thynges most true religyon doth stande or rest.

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xlvjv, Amonges the Suyces encreased dayly contention for Religion.

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxv. 165 The tribe of Ruben..were..accused of backwardnes in religion.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage i. iv. 16 True Religion is the right way of reconciling and reuniting man to God.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. xii. 52 There are no signes..of Religion, but in Man onely.

1704 R. Nelson Compan. Festivals & Fasts ii. ix. 475 It keeps a lively Sense of Religion upon our Minds.

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 474 So very slender a security as the probity and religion of the inferior officers of revenue.

1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley iii. 45 The best part of religion is to imitate the benevolence of God to man.

1877 W. Sparrow Serm. vii. 90 True religion, in its essence and in kind, is the same everywhere.

1905 Westm. Gaz. 14 Apr. 2/2 Religion is the great divider of mankind.

1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day iii. 49 Religion..formed a natural part of my life.

1963 R. N. Frye Heritage of Persia v. 190 Religion dominated the lives of the ancients far more than of contemporary man.

2004 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 27 May 14/1 He wasn't calling for the overthrow of religion by rock and roll.


b. Chiefly poet. and literary. Religion personified.



a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) i. v. 112 Ancyant faith and valiant knychthed, With chaste religioune, sal than the lawys led.

1609 Shakespeare Louers Complaint in Sonnets sig. Lv, Religious loue put out religions eye.

a1616 Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iii. ii. 77 Religion grones at it.

1662 Milton To Sir H. Vane in G. Sykes Life & Death Sir H. Vane 94 Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leanes In peace, and reckons thee her eldest Son.

1717 Pope Eloisa to Abelard in Wks. 419 There stern religion quench'd th' unwilling flame.

1781 W. Cowper Expostulation 492 Religion, if in heavenly truths attired, Needs only to be seen to be admired.

1844 A. B. Welby Poems (1867) 72 'Tis then that sweet Religion's holy wing Broods o'er the spirit.

1851 Freethinker's Mag. 1 Jan. 225 Religion..is a many-headed monster that there is no killing.

1908 F. W. Bourdillon Preludes & Romances 43 Throned Religion quails, Sick in her heart lest haply in the end Her good God cannot His own name defend.

1931 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ First Hymn Lenin 28 This is the kirk o' my faithers And I..am stricken aghast For here, ready for the road, Religion was biddin' goodbye.












†c. Awe, dread. Obs. rare.



a1642 W. Bedell in T. Fuller Abel Redevivus (1651) 65 He took a generall view of most parts of Itale as far as Cumæ, where (not without some Religion and horror)..he beheld the Cave of Sibilla.












†6. The religious sanction or obligation of an oath or similar bond. Obs.



1578 T. Rogers tr. P. Cæsar Gen. Disc. Damnable Sect Vsurers ix. f. 28, These common rules should bee well remembred of all men..lest beyng deceaued through the religion of an oth..; they compell their subiectes to the obseruing of vnlawfull othes.

1593 R. Cosin Apol. for Sundrie Proc. (rev. ed.) ii. ix. 85 A witnesse is vrged by the religion of an oath, and is not entended to thrust himselfe into the matter willingly.

1619 E. Herbert Let. 16 May in Coll. Hist. & Archæol. Montgomeryshire (1886) XX. cxlix. 215 Being under ye religion of a promise to yo'r Sacred Ma'tie yt I would be in france before ye Sunday followinge.

1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 236 According to the rules and religion of friendship.

a1694 J. Tillotson Serm. (1742) II. xxii. 65 If the religion of an oath will not oblige men to speak truth, nothing will.

1704 J. Blair in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Colonial Church: Virginia (1870) I. 107, I shall under the same religion of an oath acquaint your Lordships with..what I remember.

1788 V. Knox Winter Evenings II. v. vi. 146 An apprehension has been expressed by good and wise men that the religion of an oath is, in the present age, less and less regarded.

1880 G. S. Godkin tr. V. Emanuele II in Life Victor Emmanuel II (new ed.) vi. 74, I signed a peace with Austria... The honour of the country and the religion of my oath demanded that it should be faithfully followed out.



†7. fig. Strict fidelity or faithfulness; conscientiousness; devotion to some principle. Also: an instance of this. Obs.



1597 Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. ii. 90 When the deuout religion of mine eye Maintaines such falshood, then turne teares to fire.

a1616 Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iv. i. 187 Ros... Keep your promise. Orl. With no lesse religion, then if thou wert indeed my Rosalind.

1631 B. Jonson New Inne i. vi. 156 Out of a religion to my charge, And debt profess'd, I ha'made a selfe-decree.

1640 W. Habington Hist. Edward IV 182 The ancient league observ'd with so much Religion betweene England and the Low Countries.

1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. Pref., An old Word is retain'd by an Antiquary with as much Religion as a Relick.







Phrases







P1. man (woman, etc.) of religion : a person bound by religious vows, as a monk or nun; a member of the clergy. Now hist.
[After Anglo-Norman home de religiun, Anglo-Norman and Old French home de religion (c1227; Middle French, French homme de religion), Anglo-Norman gent de religiun, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French gent de religion (1275 or earlier in Anglo-Norman; French gent de religion) respectively. With woman of religion compare Middle French dame de religion nun (1364 or earlier), and also Anglo-Norman dame de religiun abbess, prioress (1328 or earlier).]



a1225 (▸?a1200) MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 49 (MED), Ac þis loc [sc. of perfection] ne haueð non to offren bute þese lif holie men of religiun.

c1325 (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 5735 (MED), King edgar & seint aþelwold..An oþer hous..hii rerde of seinte marie, Of womman of religyon & made a nonnerye.

c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 8 (MED), By his heued ben bitokned gode prelates of holy chirche. By þe heer þe Men of Religioun [Fr. la gent de religiun] þat shullen ben white þorouȝ holynesse.

c1400 (▸?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 7 (MED), Renkez of relygioun þat reden and syngen And aprochen to hys presens and prestez arn called..Þay hondel þer [sc. at the altar] his aune body and usen hit boþe.

▸1440 Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 360 Nune, womann of relygione, monialis, monacha.

a1475 (▸?a1430) Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 3192 (MED), The cheff vyker..Haue set..Somme folkys of relygyon Hys offys to excersyce.

a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 310 This bischope and the lordis of reliegieoun..gaif sentance against this innocent man.

1670 J. Evelyn tr. Moral Pract. Jesuites 296 The Iesuites..might practise on him the Doctrine of their Father Amy, who allows a man of Religion to kill him who publishes things scandalous of his Order.

a1707 W. Petyt Jus Parliamentarium (1739) i. v. 57 Others which had Offices perpetual, should be as perpetual as People of Religion.

1809 Amer. Law Jrnl. Jan. 57 The whole of this statute is in force, except those parts which relate to Prelates, men of Religion, and writs of attaint.

1878 ‘Ouida’ Friendship III. xxxi. 46 As women of religion, with the red cross on their breasts, bend over the wide war-wounds of naked men, so she beheld corruption.

1911 G. Hodges Saints & Heroes 239 The principal business of a man of religion,—a priest, a monk, or a friar,—was to say prayers.

1996 L. M. Bitel Land of Women viii. 168 Their stories of lustfully wayward women of religion.












P2. house (also †abbey) of religion : a religious house, esp. a monastery or nunnery; (in later use also) a place of worship, as a church, mosque, or synagogue.
[After Anglo-Norman maisun de religiun, Old French, Middle French maison de religion (1265).]



a1325 St. Thomas Becket (Corpus Cambr.) l. 561 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 628 (MED), He grantede ek þat a churche of þe kynges fe..ne ssolde iȝiue be As to hous of religion wiþoute þe kynges leue.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 41 (MED), Sacrilege is..huanne me bernþ oþer brekþ cherches..oþer hous of relygioun.

c1425 (▸?a1400) Arthur 488 (MED), He buryed Bedewere Hys frend..And so he dude other Echon In Abbeys of Relygyon.

?1449 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) V. 157/2 Temporaltees of Bisshuprichez, Abbathiez, Prioriez, and of all othir Housez of Religion.

c1536 in J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. (1611) ix. xxi. 773/1 Spoiled in like maner..as the housys of Religion hath bene.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 144 Many houses of relygion within the Citie..were searched for goodes of aliauntes.

1603 G. Downame Treat. Antichrist ii. 27 Vpon them there doe yet remaine, besides some of the Popes palaces and courts, diuers churches and houses of religion and other buildings of note.

1679 Bp. J. Gordon Reformed Bishop ii. 27 Monasteries..might have been still Houses of Religion, without having any dependance upon Rome.

1733 Capt. Downes All Vows Kept iii. ii. 33, I am retir'd into a House of Religion; not vowed, but for Probation.

1819 Scott Ivanhoe (1820) III. vi. 139 Albert had received within a house of religion the Jewish captive, and..the paramour of a brother of the Order.

1861 R. C. Jenkins Last Crusader vii. 373 He dismissed accordingly all the brothers that were there,..and formed the house anew into a house of religion.

1910 Eng. Hist. Rev. 25 607 The committee..expects important results from the excavation of early monastic localities... The sites of these ancient houses of religion should be carefully examined.

1993 Toronto Star (Nexis) 31 Dec. a16 Our governments, schools, hospitals and houses of religion are virtually bankrupt.

2008 D. Wilson Out of Storm i. ii. 37 To the nineteen houses of religion already in existence was added the Convent of St Mary Magdalene.

P3. to make (a) religion of , to make (it) (a) religion to .

a. To make a point of; to be scrupulously careful to.
In later use with indefinite article in forms to make a religion of and to make it a religion to.



1561 Bible (Geneva) Gen. xxxix. 4 (note) Because God prospered him: and so he made religion to serue his profite.

a1616 Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) v. ii. 195 By your command (Which my loue makes Religion to obey) I tell you this.

1742 R. North & M. North Life F. North 167 The factious Party made it Religion to propagate the Faith of the Plot..as far as they could carry it by their Correspondences.

1869 W. M. Baker New Timothy 199 Its acidity sharpens Mr. Wall's teeth.., yet, under the circumstances, he makes a religion of eating it.

1916 ‘W. D. Bank’ Average Woman xiv. 177 He had resumed his visits to the club, but did not make it a religion to go there every night.

1980 S. Fish Is there Text in this Class? ix. 219 Had he not made a religion of keeping to his word, then his breaking of it could not have been cited by Aufidius as a capital crime.









†b. To make a point of not; to be scrupulously careful not to. Obs.



1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love v. xi. 23 Let Mortalls learne To make Religion of offending Heauen.

1617 J. Hales Serm. 29 The ancients seeme to haue made a religion to meddle with it [sc. the book of Revelation], and thought it much better to admire it with silence, then to adventure to expound it.

1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman vi. 44 Nor bee so foolish precise as a number are, who make it Religion to speake otherwise then this or that Author.












P4. orig. U.S. to get religion : to be converted; (in extended use) to take matters seriously, to give proper attention to an issue.



1772 A. Hunter Let. 18 Mar. in P. V. Fithian Jrnl. & Lett. (1900) 22 We have had a considerable stir of religion in college since you went away, Lewis Willson is thought to have got religion.

1802 Methodist New Connexion Mag. Nov. 432 A number, too, are wrought upon in the usual way, and hopefully get religion without any of these extraordinary appearances.

1857 C. W. Elliott New Eng. Hist. I. 460 Capt. Underhill killed his neighbor's wife, and ‘got his religion on a pipe of tobacco’.

1908 ‘E. C. Hall’ Aunt Jane of Kentucky (1909) i. 24 We went home feelin' like we'd been through a big protracted meetin' and got religion over again.

1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 9 Oct. 7 It is sad news for his publishers that he has got religion.

1993 N.Y. Times 26 Mar. a 28/1 The White House spokesman said the formal plan may not be ready for another few weeks, so it's still possible his boss may get religion.

2001 Time 22 Oct. 73/1 The Bush Administration..has suddenly got religion about tracking down terrorists' assets..and an array of other tools on law enforcement's wish list.






P5.






religion of nature n. (a) = natural religion n.; (b) a religion involving the worship of natural objects and phenomena in place of a more formal system of religious belief.



1622 G. Goodman Creatures praysing God 32 If you consider the Creatures, betweene God and God, in stead of a naturall discourse, here you haue a religion of nature.

1730 M. Tindal (title) Christianity as old as Creation, a republication of the Religion of Nature.

1827 F. A. Walter tr. B. G. Niebuhr Rom. Hist. I. xxii. 265 The early religion of the Latins was a religion of nature [Ger. Naturdienst].

1895 J. Kidd Morality & Relig. v. 191 Vedism..was a religion of nature. The objects of its worship..were the powers of nature.

1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience iv. 91 In that ‘theory of evolution’ which..has within the past twenty-five years swept so rapidly over Europe and America, we see the ground laid for a new sort of religion of Nature, which has entirely displaced Christianity from the thought of a large part of our generation.

1954 R. N. Stromberg Relig. Liberalism 18th-Cent. Eng. iii. 31 Committed to a religion of nature, they [sc. deists] suspected that the whole Christian revelation was no more than a tissue of lies and fables.

1961 D. G. James Matthew Arnold i. 22 The essay itself is given up chiefly to a warm exposition of her religion of nature.

1997 N. Walter Humanism 49 Ernst Haeckel, the German advocate of Darwinism (and inventor of Ecology in 1866), advocated a religion of nature called Monism.










P6. religion of the book: a religion entailing adherence to a book of divine revelation; spec. Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. Cf. People of the Book n. at people n. Phrases 1b.



1830 Q. Rev. Oct. 560 Mahommedanism has been received by negro nations with more confidence, because it is the religion of the Book,—a written, and, as they believe, an attested religion, of the truth of which the koran is the record and the proof.

1888 B. Manly Bible Doctr. of Inspiration, explained & Vindicated i. i. 13 Christianity is the Religion of the Book.

1941 Amer. Jrnl. Semitic Lang. & Lit. 58 23 Mohammed considers himself not the founder of a new religion but rather a protagonist of the age-old religion of the Book.

1991 R. Oliver Afr. Experience (1993) vii. 85 When Islam eventually became a religion of the book, other ‘people of the book’, Christians and Jews, were specifically excluded from the operations of the holy war.

1992 M. E. Marty & R. S. Appleby Glory & Power i. 21 It is relatively easy to locate the fundamentalist groundings in the three faiths called the Religions of the Book.









P7. religion of humanity: the humanistic religion founded by Auguste Comte; see positivism n. 2.
[After French réligion de l'Humanité (1844 or earlier in Comte).]



1852 Westminister Rev. New Ser. 1 347 Comte presents himself as the founder of the religion of humanity, as the systematic upholder of the supremacy of moral life.

1925 G. K. Chesterton Everlasting Man i. iv. 89 The Religion of Humanity was a term commonly applied to Comtism, the theory of certain rationalists who worshipped corporate mankind as a Supreme Being.

2000 P. A. Mellor in A. Hastings et al. Oxf. Compan. Christian Thought 678/2 Comte..sought to develop his own ‘religion of humanity’ complete with sociologist-priests, altars, a calendar of feast days, and modes of worship.



P8. religion is the opium of the people and variants: see opium n. 2b.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

science, n.

1.
a. The state or fact of knowing; knowledge or cognizance of something; knowledge as a personal attribute. Now arch. and rare.
In later use chiefly Scholastic Theol. with reference to knowledge as an attribute of God, and occas. Philos. in the sense ‘knowledge, as opposed to belief or opinion’.



c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 134 (MED), Þat þe seuenþe aungel shad his phiole in þe ayre bitokneþ þe dampnacioun of þe fendes in þe air þere þai wonen & for þat þai ben of svtile science.

?c1400 (▸c1380) Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. vii. l. 1606 Þe soule whiche þat haþ[e] in it self science of goode werkes [L. sibi mens bene conscia].

?c1400 (▸c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Sidney Sussex) Cant. Hannah 5 Old thinges depart fro ȝour mouthe, for god of sciens is lord & to hym are redied þe thoghtes.

a1475 (▸?a1430) Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 2697 (MED), Ye trewly ber the name Cherubin, fful of scyence And off dyvyne sapyence.

1511 in J. G. Mackay Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1891) XIII. 444 We decerne thaim irritant cassant and annullant of oure awin propir motive and certane science.

1532 T. More Confut. Tyndales Answere p. ix, Wherof saynt Paule cryeth hymself, O altitudo diuitiarum sapientiæ & scientiæ dei, O ye heyth and depenes of the ryches of the wysedome & science of god.

a1616 Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) v. iii. 104 Plutus himselfe,..Hath not in natures mysterie more science, Then I haue in this Ring.

1667 Milton Paradise Lost ix. 680 O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant, Mother of Science.

1678 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iii. 36 Some of our Opponents resolve Gods certain prescience of sin into the infinitude of his science.

1697 tr. F. Burgersdijck Monitio Logica ii. xx. 99 The Word Science is either taken largely to signifie any Cognition or true Assent; or strictly, a firm and infallible one; or lastly, an Assent of Propositions made known by the Cause or Effect.

1701 N. Rowe Ambitious Step-mother ii. ii. 25 What makes Gods divine, But Power and Science infinite?

1725 W. Broome in Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. ii. 198 For lo! my words no fancy'd woes relate: I speak from science, and the voice is Fate.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word), Divines suppose three Kinds of Science in God: The first, Science of mere Knowledge... The second, a Science of Vision... The third an intermediate Science.

1753 Johnson Adventurer No. 107. ⁋18 Life is not the object of Science: we see a little, very little; and what is beyond we only can conjecture.

1882 J. R. Seeley Nat. Relig. 260 Though we have not science of it [sc. supernaturalism] yet we have probabilities or powerful presentiments.

2010 J. Taylor tr. G. Vico On Most Anc. Wisdom of Italians 21 God has science of all things because He contains within Himself the elements out of which He composes all things.










†b. Theoretical or intellectual understanding, as distinct from moral conviction. Paired or contrasted with conscience. Obs.



1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 355, I do sende it you corrected with my conscience, and consulted with my science.

1623 T. Scott High-waies of God 84 This my Sermon,..is perhaps tost by censure and science for a while, but scarce touched by conscience, or drawne into practise.

1637 W. Laud Speech in Starr-chamber 62 The Author is clearely conceived..to have written this Book wholly..against both his science and his conscience.

1654 J. Owen Doctr. Saints Perseverance xi. 249 A wilfull perverting of it, contrary to his owne science & conscience.

1700 D. Irish Levamen Infirmi Ep. Ded. sig. A3v, Persons both of much Science and Conscience, who understand and consider the Cause of Diseases.










†2. Knowledge or understanding acquired by study; acquaintance with or mastery of any branch of learning. Also in pl.: (a person's) various kinds of knowledge. Obs.

▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 11 (MED), Þe ordre of monkes was þrifty þat tyme, for it hadde religious rulers, cleer of sciens and of clergy [L. scientia claros].

▸a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2413 And Heredot in his science Of metre, of rime and of cadence The ferste was of which men note.

c1400 (▸c1378) Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xii. l. 135 Ac þorugh her science sothely was neuere no soule ysaued, Ne brouȝte by her bokes to blisse ne to ioye.

c1485 (▸1456) G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 14 Clerkis of hye science, the quhilkis had the grete digniteis jn haly kirk.

a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) Prol. l. 107 (MED), As rose is aboue al floures most fine, So is science most digne of worthynesse.

c1540 (▸?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 86, A discrete man of dedis dryuen into age And a sad mon of sciens in the seuyn artis.

1557 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Diall Princes ii. xxx. f. 129v, The auncient women were more estemed for their sciences, then for their beauties.

1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 16 Giue Johne Knox and ze affirmis zour selfis lauchful be ressoun of zour science [etc.].

a1563 J. Bale Brefe Comedy Iohan Baptystes in Harleian Misc. (1744) I. 109 You boast your selues moch, of ryghteousnesse and scyence.

1665 J. Sergeant Sure-footing in Christianity 6 The Knowledge of the Rule of Faith's Existence must not need any skill or Science acquir'd by Study.

a1771 T. Gray Imit. Propertius in Wks. (1814) II. 87 Be love my youth's pursuit, and science crown my age.

1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 213 As alphabets in ivory employ Hour after hour the yet unletter'd boy, Sorting and puzzling with a deal of glee Those seeds of science called his A B C.

1829 G. Jones Sketches Naval Life II. 83 You must bear with me, in my humble descriptions; for I have no science on the subject; and, until lately, had no opportunity of coming into contact with it.






3.
a. A particular area of knowledge or study; a recognized branch of learning; spec. (in the Middle Ages) each of the seven subjects forming the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). Cf. art n.1 9a(a). Now arch.




▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 205 (MED), Þis Caton made a grete sciens of vertues and of þewes [?a1475 anon. tr. science moralle; L. scientiam moralem] þat is i-cleped Ethica Catonis.

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm. 1396) 7 Therfore he þat wole knowe what siurgie is, he moot vndirstonde, þat it is a medicinal science.

1421 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) IV. 158/1 Thre Sciences, that ben Divinite, Fisyk, and Lawe.

a1425 (▸?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) l. 48 (MED), I wil þat ȝe teche him euyn Þe sutelte of sience seuyn.

1486 Blasyng of Armys sig. eiiijv, in Bk. St. Albans Bott i thes borduris ther is a grete differens emong men pretendyng theym experte and wyse in thys sciens.

1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) ii. sig. A*.iii, It is they the whiche ben ye leest experte in scyences, as in lawe.

1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 61, A philosophier of Athenes excellyng in all the mathematical sciencies.

1553 R. Eden in tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India Ded. sig. aaiij, The good affeccion, whyche I haue euer borne to the science of Cosmographie.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage viii. x. 665 Mexico is now an Vniuersitie, and therein are taught those Sciences which are read in our Vniuersities of Europe.

a1616 Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) ii. i. 57, I do present you with a man of mine Cunning in Musicke, and the Mathematickes, To instruct her fully in those sciences.

1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. vi. 181 The right understanding of the principles of a science, is the ground why all things belonging to that science are understood.

1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. ii. 61 And thus you have an honest System of the Science called Magick.

1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams I. i. 3, I was taught the rudiments of no science, except reading, writing, and arithmetic.

1864 Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 73 So Leolin went; and..toil'd Mastering the lawless science of our law.

1892 B. F. Westcott Gospel of Life 89 Theology is the crown of all the sciences, and Religion the synthesis of all.

1961 S. Toulmin & J. Goodfield Fabric Heavens vi. 153 In late antiquity the intellectuals of Alexandria became interested in theology and the occult sciences.

2002 M. Peltonen in M. van Gelderen & Q. Skinner Republicanism I. ii. v. 97 This is not to say that the educational requirements of the liberal sciences were limited to the nobility; of course, they formed the basis even for humbler grammar schools.












b. In extended use, denoting a game, sport, or other activity conceived as being similarly organized. Freq. somewhat humorous. Now rare except in noble science n.
N.E.D. (1910) notes the science as a contemporary slang term for boxing or fencing; cf. sense 8 and noble science n. 2.



1474 Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iv. viii. 185 And than the phylosopher began tenseigne and teche the kynge the science of the playe & the draughtes.

1658 Prophecy St. Hildegard 22 in Further Discov. Myst. of Jesuitism They are indeed very eminent Masters in the science of Adulation.

1729 B. Wilson tr. J. A. de Thou Hist. Own Time I. vi. 296 Fencing Masters, who, when they fight at Blunts, observe the Rules of the Science, and often come off Conquerors.

1752 Adventurer No. 9. ⁋10 Give us..that master of the science the celebrated Hoyle, who has composed an elaborate treatise on every fashionable game.

1796 W. Godwin Caleb Williams (ed. 2) I. iii. 54 Unpardonably deficient in the sciences of anecdote and match-making.

1837 Dickens Pickwick Papers xlviii. 527 Up to that time he had never been aware that he had the least notion of the science [sc. fencing].

1860 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 700/1 Few people imagine that the ideal soul of the nation finds a voice in this popular science of complaint.

1904 N.Z. Parl. Deb. 129 596/2 He..chased him round the stage under a shower of blows—very lightly put in, very gently, of course, but very effectually, as you might expect from a master of the science.






4.

a. Paired or contrasted with art. A discipline, field of study, or activity concerned with theory rather than method, or requiring the knowledge and systematic application of principles, rather than relying on traditional rules, acquired skill, or intuition.

▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 69 (MED), He..fliȝ into..Spayne, forto lerne curious and sotil artes and sciens þere.

▸a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 158 (MED), Algorismes Abece, Be which multiplicacioun Is mad and diminucioun Of sommes, be thexperience Of this Art and of this science.

c1475 (▸?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 51 (MED), Þe parentis of swilk a clerk..helping him to ani artis or sciens, prelats promouing or secular lordis procuring þat þat clerk lord in þat maner, þei synnun deadly.

a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 106 We schold have in every arte syence & craft more excellent men then we have now.

1606 T. Palmer Ess. Meanes ii. 93 To make powerfull any weake thing..may be contained vnder the arte or science of Engining.

1678 J. Moxon Mech. Dyalling 4 Though we may justly account Dyalling originally a Science, yet..it is now become to many of the Ingenious no more difficult than an Art.

1683 in Colonial Rec. Pennsylvania (1852) I. 93 To Witt: a scool of Arts and Siences.

1712 E. Budgell Spectator No. 307. ¶5 Without a proper temperament for the particular Art or Science which he studies, his utmost Pains and Application..will be to no purpose.

1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. xi, Previous to the year 1780, Mineralogy, though tolerably understood by many as an art, could scarce be deemed a science.

1837 R. Southey Doctor IV. 185 The medical profession..was an art, in the worst sense of the word, before it became a science, and long after it pretended to be a science, was little better than a craft.

1907 J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 58 The development of the photographic image is both an art and a science.

2004 Wall St. Jrnl. (Central ed.) 12 Jan. b1/1 Compression is the art and science of doing more with less—of squeezing out unneeded information in a picture or sound before sending or storing it.












b. A branch of study that deals with a connected body of demonstrated truths or with observed facts systematically classified and more or less comprehended by general laws, and incorporating trustworthy methods (now esp. those involving the scientific method and which incorporate falsifiable hypotheses) for the discovery of new truth in its own domain.
For more established compounds, as bio-, computer, geo-, life, natural, neuro-, physical science, see the first element.



1600 W. Vaughan Golden-groue i. lxv. sig. Mv, The name of science is taken more strictly for a habit gotten by demonstration separated from wisedome; in which last signification Naturall philosophy, & the Mathematickes are called Sciences.

1679 J. Moxon Math. made Easie 7 Anacamptics, A branch of the Opticks, called also Catoptrics, a Science, which by the Rays of some luminous object..considers, and finds out its form.

1725 I. Watts Logick ii. ii. 283 The Word science is usually applied to a whole Body of Observations or Propositions,..concerning any Subject of Speculation.

1794 J. Hutton Diss. Philos. Light 118 Philosophy must proceed in generalising those truths which are the object of particular sciences.

1846 R. Coates First Lines Nat. Philos. (subtitle) For..those who wish to enter understandingly upon the study of the mixed sciences.

1860 Abp. W. Thomson Outl. Laws of Thought (ed. 5) §131. 281 Classification of the Sciences. Mathematics... Astronomy... Physics [etc.].

1865 J. S. Mill Auguste Comte 33 The concrete sciences..concern themselves only with the particular combinations of phaenomena which are found in existence.

1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 781/2 It may be said that in all sciences there are implied clearly defined notions, general statements or judgments, and methodical proofs.

1916 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 21 537 Law..is a training common to a dozen sciences that aim to reconstruct the past, including geology, paleoclimatology,..history, and judicial proof.

1946 R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. 12 One more problem..remains to be mentioned, the problem of co-operation between archaeologists and workers in other sciences.

1960 J. Cohen Chance, Skill & Luck i. 13 It does not follow that psychology lacks the status of an independent science and must be ‘reduced’ to neurophysiology, though this is what latter-day reductionists in effect demand.

1983 M. S. Peck People of Lie (1985) vii. 254 Being a science, however, it [sc. psychology] has shared in the traditions of science, which include a respect for value-free thinking.

2010 S.-T. Yan & S. Nadis Shape Inner Space xiii. 294 In physics and other empirical sciences, something thought to be true is always subject to revision.









c. With of. Denoting the application of scientific methods in a field of study, activity, etc., previously considered open only to theories based on subjective, historical, or undemonstrable abstract criteria.



1777 S. Cooper Necessity & Truth Three Principal Revelations 5 Thus is the Science of Mind or Metaphysics placed on the summit of human knowledge.

1828 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 9 140 The impugners of the school logic, as they term it, may be divided into two classes. The first class consists of men not untinctured with philosophy, including even some writers of considerable eminence in the science of mind.

1869 W. James Let. 21 Jan. in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. W. James (1935) I. 291 Some weeks ago I read the three last articles on ‘Science of Religions’ by Emile Burnouf in the Revue des deux mondes.

1909 D. Ainslie tr. B. Croce Aesthetic (subtitle) , As science of expression and general linguistic.

1933 Burlington Mag. May 248/2 The great problem as to whether the science of art really is a science in the sense that the word is used in relation to natural science remains, however, unsolved.

1976 F. McDonagh tr. W. Pannenberg Theol. & Philos. of Sci. iv. 256 Theology then comes under the general heading of a science of religion.

2006 Science 24 Nov. 1235/2 A small but growing research field known as ‘molecular gastronomy’, or..‘the science of making delicious things’.






5.






a. The kind of organized knowledge or intellectual activity of which the various branches of learning are examples. In early use, with reference to sense 3a: what is taught in universities or may be learned by study. In later use: scientific disciplines considered collectively, as distinguished from other departments of learning; scientific doctrine or investigation; the collective understanding of scientists. Also with modifying word.



▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 3 After solempne and wise writeres of arte and of science.

?a1425 (▸c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 106 Ȝif ȝou lyke to knowe the vertues of þe dyamand..I schall telle ȝou as þei beȝonde the see seyn & affermen, of whom all science & all philosophie cometh from.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. i. f. 10v, Who can not assure him selfe to haue learned any science, if hee make it not knowen, and if hee perceiue not that others which are learned allowe of it.

1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations Pref. ⁋5, All their theory and contemplation (which they count Science) represents nothing but waking mens dreams, and sick mens phrensies.

1668 Dryden Of Dramatick Poesie 9 Nothing spreads more fast than Science, when rightly and generally cultivated.

1744 M. Akenside Pleasures Imagination ii. 127 Speak ye the pure delight, whose favoured steps The lamp of Science through the jealous maze Of Nature guides.

1759 O. Goldsmith Bee 20 Oct. 75 Nature was never more lavish of its gifts than it had been to her [sc. Hypasia], endued as she was with the most exalted understanding, and the happiest turn to science.

1833 T. Chalmers On Power of God I. i. i. §1. 57 Just as much as the properties of a triangle are the enduring stabilities of mathematical science.

1845 M. Pattison in Christian Remembrancer Jan. 71 One who is certainly not chargeable with neglect of the substantials of historical science.

1864 T. S. Cobbold Entozoa 298 This species is new to science.

1922 E. P. Adams tr. A. Einstein Meaning of Relativity i. 1 The object of all science, whether natural science or psychology, is to co-ordinate our experiences and to bring them into a logical system.

1940 Social Forces 18 352/1 To this must be added the preoccupancy of science with empirical verification.

2004 What is Enlightenment? May 37/1 It wasn't until 1988..that he..returned to the world of science full time, plunging headlong into the study of biology, psychology, sociology, physics, and history.












b. spec. The intellectual and practical activity encompassing those branches of study that relate to the phenomena of the physical universe and their laws, sometimes with implied exclusion of pure mathematics. Also: this as a subject of study or examination. Cf. natural science n.
The most usual sense since the mid 19th cent. when used without any qualification.

Often contrasted with religion when regarded as constituting an influence on a person's world view or belief system; cf. quot. 1967. Cf. also scientism n. 2.


1779 tr. C. F. X. Millot Elements Gen. Hist.: Pt. Second III. 118 Francis Bacon..shewed the futility of abstractions, which the doctors made their sole study; established the basis of science on the phænomena of nature.

1825 Glasgow Mechanics' Mag. 7 May 217/2 Sentiments of high respect and approbation with regard to that gentleman's talents in general, and as a public teacher of science.

1867 W. G. Ward in Dublin Rev. Apr. 255 We shall..use the word ‘science’ in the sense which Englishmen so commonly give to it; as expressing physical and experimental science, to the exclusion of theological and metaphysical.

1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce p. xiv, An acquaintance with science or with the systematised knowledge of matter and its properties.

1871 G. C. T. Bartley Schools for People liv. 441 It will be noticed that Science was not included in the curriculum.

1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. vii. 253 Science is all the go nowadays... And Science is what we want. Science and Religion.

1921 Times 15 Sept. 9/5 The Edinburgh meeting of the British Association will long be remembered as that at which the new atomic age was made known to those outside the inner ring of science.

1926 N.Y. Times 15 Dec. 32/8 Six hours of science must be taken in group three.

1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists Apr. 141/1 Science has become a major source of the power of civilized man.

1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 5 Aug. 305/2 The issue here is the same one that occurs repeatedly in the history of clashes between science and religion: belief derived from evidence after free investigation versus revealed Truth.

1976 Norwich Mercury 17 Dec. 3/8 Second year prizes—English,..mathematics,..science,..history,..geography,..music.

1981 Sci. Amer. Dec. 114/2 Not all cosmologists and philosophers of science assent to the utility of the anthropic principle, or even to its legitimacy.

2009 M. Militello et al. Leading with Inq. & Action v. 85, 51 percent failed math and 53 percent failed science.

2010 J. D. Lowry & J. P. Lowry Turquoise i. 19/2 With advances in science, geologists know turquoise generally forms near the surface.




c. With the. The scientific principles or processes which govern or underpin a (specified) phenomenon, technology, etc. Also: the scientific research into these principles or processes. Usu. with of or behind.



1840 Mechanics' Mag. 11 July 109/1 He reads that one..declares that..Leibnitz and Newton, the co-inventors of fluxions, did not understand ‘the science’ of fluxions. Or that Euclid understood not the principles or ‘science’ of geometry because some school boy could not ride over the pons asinorum!

1865 J. W. Nystrom On Technol. Educ. & Shipbuilding 103 Once, in a scientific meeting, efforts to explain the science of steamboiler explosions, and how to prevent the same, were silenced by the president of the meeting.

1924 Pop. Sci. Monthly Mar. 152/2 In ‘The Story of the Mind’ next month, Doctor Walsh will explain the science of our emotions—what they are and how to use them for profit.

1956 J. W. Oliver Hist. Amer. Technol. xxxvi. 546 The science behind radar involves the same principles as radio, and its adaptation..resulted from discoveries made in the early 1920's.

1989 New Scientist 26 Aug. 19/2 Today the Jeremiahs blame the ozone layer or the greenhouse effect, depending on personal prejudice and how much they understand the science involved.

2009 M. Siegel Swine Flu (Electronic ed.) iii, I tried my best to explain the science of flu to the bus driver as well as to my patients.









d. Scientific results obtained from observations, experiments, etc.; scientific data. Freq. with the.



1979 Science 13 Apr. 155/3 The reports, although detailed, are predictably cautious. (The group ‘drew a conclusion, and that is that the science is inconclusive,’ said Libassi.

1988 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 6 Jan. Electricity, the lifeblood of modern society, may pose previously unimagined risks to human health, a growing body of science indicates.

1990 Independent 28 May 14/2 Yet no sooner had the ‘early warning’ been published, than the world of politics began its attempt to massage the science into line with perceived expediency.

2007 J. Rippe High Performance Health 42 Others tout the latest ‘magical’ foods, claiming health benefits well beyond what the science shows.









6. As a personification (in various senses).



c1475 Court of Sapience (Trin. Cambr.) (1927) l. 1878 (MED), The philosofres, whyche rehersyd bene Wyth Dame Science..Wyth thys lady eke goodly were be sene, And had concourse to her in speciall.

?1553 (▸c1501) G. Douglas Palice of Honour (London) 1813 in Shorter Poems (2003) 112 With him are assessouris four of one ascent Science, prudence, Iustice, Sapience.

a1668 W. D'Avenant Wks. (1673) 276 Many Goths give frighted Science chace, All Empires covet, and would all deface.

1747 T. Gray Ode Eton Coll. 3 Where grateful Science still adores Her Henry's holy Shade.

1862 G. H. Lewes Let. 30 Aug. in George Eliot Lett. (1955) IV. 52 It is some comfort to reflect that Science keeps aloof from such misplaced and unjustifiable criticisms.

1894 A. Lang Cock Lane 328 It is in this way that Science makes herself disliked.

1999 G. Bear Darwin's Radio i. 9 Mitch had gotten in trouble with institutions before... Until now, he had never slighted Dame Science herself.










†7. A craft, trade, or occupation requiring trained skill; a skilled profession. Obs.



c1485 (▸?a1400) Child Bristow l. 78 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 316 He gaf hym gold gret plente, The child his prentys shuld be His science for to conne.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Siiii, Whan a virgine begynneth first to lerne to sewe in the samplar, that science to her as than semeth very hard.

1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII c. 13 That no..persones..shalbe enterpret or expounded hande craftesmen, in, for, or by reason of usyng any of the sayde mysteryes, or scyens, of bakyng, bruyng, surgery or wrytyng.

1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Hviv, Hvsbandrye is a scyence common to them all ingenerall, both men and women, wherin they be all experte and cunnynge.

1576 in F. J. Furnivall Gild of St. Mary, Lichfield (1920) 26 The Master, Wardens and Combretheren of the mystery, crafte, and Scyence of the Taylers of the Citie of Lichffelde.

1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. Bv, My iolly coze..Became a Shoomaker in Wittenberg, A goodly science for a gentleman.

1660 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1877) II. 156 No person shall henceforth open a shop in this Towne, nor occupy any manufacture or Science, till hee hath compleated 21 years of age.

8. Esp. with reference to boxing: skilful technique, trained skill. Cf. noble science n. 2, scienced adj. 2. Now arch. and rare.



1785 G. A. Bellamy Apol. Life IV. lxxxvi. 110 She could by no means be said to surpass Mrs. Yates, who joined hard earned science to her other great qualifications.

1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 31. 247 Mr. Powell, the fire-eater, is a singular genius; and Mendoza has more science than Johnson.

1812 Sporting Mag. 39 22 Molineux sparred neatly early in the fight, but he lost his science after he had been a good deal punished.

1889 Field 12 Jan. 41/2 It was most disappointing to their huntsman to have the cup thus dashed from his lips when it only required a kill to render complete as fine an exhibition of science as could possibly be seen.

1921 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 7 May 7/3 Bim was a light heavyweight, a rusher, a foul fighter, with little science, great strength and a brutish courage.


9. Oxford Univ. slang. That part of the course of study in Literae Humaniores (literae humaniores n.) which includes ancient and modern philosophy. Now hist. and rare.



1831 W. E. Gladstone Diary 14 Nov. in J. Morley Life Gladstone (1903) I. i. iii. 78 Examined by..Hampden in science.

1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain iii. iv. 320 Our men know their books well, but I should not say that science is their line.

1855 M. Pattison Oxf. Stud. in Oxf. Ess. 290 A new element of uncertainty came in, in the difference between taste and scholarship on the one hand, and attainment in Aristotle (science, it was called) on the other.

1905 H. Paul Life Froude ii. 26 Froude remained at Oxford..taking pupils in what was then called science, and would now be called philosophy, for the Honour School of Literæ Humaniores.



10. Chiefly U.S. Usu. with capital initial. In the context of Christian Science or the language of Christian Scientists: = Christian Science n.



[1875 M. B. Eddy Sci. & Health viii. 422 A student once said, ‘this science has made me all I am’, and that was saying more, perhaps, than he was aware.]

1878 in M. B. Eddy Sci. & Health (ed. 2) II. v. 151, I never thought I was a very wicked man until I attempted to learn of Science.

1902 ‘M. Twain’ in N. Amer. Rev. Dec. 768 Does the Science kill a patient here and there and now and then?

1946 Christian Sci. Jrnl. Dec. 616 We called on a practitioner to learn what this Science was.

1980 A. Wilson Setting World on Fire ii. i. 51 Servants..live in a world of doctors and illnesses and death... Of course I wasn't in Science then. I believed all their nonsense.

1996 C. Burke Becoming Mod. xvi. 327 While Mina found relief in talks with Mrs. Ramsey, the Christian Science practitioner, she considered the daily lessons ‘too boring’, she told Joella, herself a faithful follower of Science.


[both entries are from the OED]

 

[Augustus]

Science, in general, is not a religion. It is a method for gaining understanding.

Some people however, seem to almost deify 'scientific' knowledge, giving it more value than it is worth and underestimating the extent to which it could possibly be wrong.

Some scientific knowledge is very accurate, other thing that count as scientific knowledge are still quite speculative or certainly open to falsification. Some people also believe science is capable of telling us almost everything about our existence, rather than seeing it as something that can only tell us about many aspects of our existence, but that it has inherent limitations as to the extent of what can be known in certain areas.

For some people 'scientists' play the role of Sheik/Rabbi/Priest, when they talk about their 'empirical' knowledge, it is treated like gospel truth, and if you don't share their evangelism, then you are a luddite or anti-science or anti-progress or some other ad hominem label that is not far off being labeled an infidel.

When someone constantly underestimates the possibility that they could be wrong as they know the 'truth', and that all criticisms of this from outwith their narrow worldview are to be dismissed without need for introspection then their belief is not far different to that of a religious zealot. Some people definitely hold such views.

Some people simply overestimate what science actually can do. Now, you can make a fair case that these people are actually the ones who are anti-scientific, as their scepticism is insufficient as regards 'scientific' knowledge. So I think it is clear that some people deify science, but this is not a criticism of science in general.

I remember reading an 'atheist 10 commandments' which had one commandment that was 'the scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world', which seems to overestimate the role of this in contributing to human understandings.

No doubt it is highly useful, but so much of our knowledge comes from experience, trial and error, fortunate discovery and pure intuition amongst others, so to overstate the role of the 'scientific method' seems to illustrate that some people see science as a direct replacement for the role of religion in society. Science certainly aids understanding, but it cannot be a direct replacement for religion as a 'theory of everything'. Those who think it can be, can be said to have deified science.

 

[Sapiens]

Science, in general, is not a religion. It is a method for gaining understanding.

Science is general and in specific is not a religion.

Some people however, seem to almost deify 'scientific' knowledge, giving it more value than it is worth and underestimating the extent to which it could possibly be wrong.

What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.

Some scientific knowledge is very accurate, other thing that count as scientific knowledge are still quite speculative or certainly open to falsification. Some people also believe science is capable of telling us almost everything about our existence, rather than seeing it as something that can only tell us about many aspects of our existence, but that it has inherent limitations as to the extent of what can be known in certain areas.

Scientific knowledge is not only very accurate, it is also very precise. Repeatability is at the core.

For some people 'scientists' play the role of Sheik/Rabbi/Priest, when they talk about their 'empirical' knowledge, it is treated like gospel truth, and if you don't share their evangelism, then you are a luddite or anti-science or anti-progress or some other ad hominem label that is not far off being labeled an infidel.

What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.

When someone constantly underestimates the possibility that they could be wrong as they know the 'truth', and that all criticisms of this from outwith their narrow worldview are to be dismissed without need for introspection then their belief is not far different to that of a religious zealot. Some people definitely hold such views.

What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.

Some people simply overestimate what science actually can do. Now, you can make a fair case that these people are actually the ones who are anti-scientific, as their scepticism is insufficient as regards 'scientific' knowledge. So I think it is clear that some people deify science, but this is not a criticism of science in general.

What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.

I remember reading an 'atheist 10 commandments' which had one commandment that was 'the scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world', which seems to overestimate the role of this in contributing to human understandings.

I'm a third generation, life long atheist and I've never heard of such a thing ... must be "some people" again.

No doubt it is highly useful, but so much of our knowledge comes from experience, trial and error, fortunate discovery and pure intuition amongst others, so to overstate the role of the 'scientific method' seems to illustrate that some people see science as a direct replacement for the role of religion in society. Science certainly aids understanding, but it cannot be a direct replacement for religion as a 'theory of everything'. Those who think it can be, can be said to have deified science.

Experience, trial and error, fortunate discovery and intuition are alll part and parcel of science. Did "some people" tell you otherwise?

 

[Augustus]

Science is general and in specific is not a religion.
What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.
Scientific knowledge is not only very accurate, it is also very precise. Repeatability is at the core.
What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.
What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.
What the mythical "some people," do or do not do is entirely irrelevant.
I'm a third generation, life long atheist and I've never heard of such a thing ... must be "some people" again.

Experience, trial and error, fortunate discovery and intuition are alll part and parcel of science. Did "some people" tell you otherwise?

Jesus wept. That is one of the most stupid replies I have ever read.

Science is not a religion, in general, but some people seem to 'deify' it. This is a fact based on personal experience, based on the definition I provided.

What 'some people' do is perfectly relevant in the context of the thread. It means some people.

Plenty of 'scientific knowledge' is highly inaccurate and is later proved to be so.

The 'atheist 10 commandments' is what 'some people' created and called the 'atheist 10 commandments'. Hence I quoted them and put the information into the context of 'an atheist 10 commandments'. I assume that most people have the basic intelligence to infer that this is not something that ALL atheists pledge allegiance to.

Science involves all those things at times but that doesn't make every time those things help gain understanding part of 'the scientific method'.