A belief in 'God' was a primary motivating force for many of the pioneers of science like Newton wasn't it?

Question

"Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done." Issac Newton

Tiner, J.H. (1975). Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist and Teacher. Milford, Michigan, U.S.: Mott Media.

Bekki

Obviously their contribution lead to a lessening of the role of God
that is widely accepted and i am not disputing that.
I was pondering the motivations of the early scientists and i think they were
often influenced by their religious beliefs .

Empiricism was not always the main driving force of Newton.

If it was he would have given up on his astrological/alchemical pursuits once they had proved ineffective.


I think to claim he used religious terms merely as a way to 'sell' his work to a religious society is somewhat disingenuous.
He was a highly religious individual whether we like that or not

Answer 1

Yes, infact for Newton it was a primary motivation according to

"Sir Isaac Newton, the author of classical physics and a devout Christian, interpreted the Book of Daniel, providing insights which are still profound today.

Sir Isaac Newton, upon whose work nearly all of classical physics is built, was a deeply religious Christian, who saw the hand of God in all things. To him, all of the great laws of physics which he discovered, were the laws of God that testify of his design. He would have been appalled to know that centuries later, atheists would be claiming that he had really discovered self-existent laws, which explain the universe so well that God is no longer needed in the equation.


Newton wrote an entire book interpreting the prophecies of the Biblical books of Daniel and the Revelation of John (also called "The Apocalypse"). His insights vary in several respects from the "standard" modern Christian interpretations, and his perspicacity might well be vindicated as the rest of these prophecies are yet fulfilled. Besides his immense intellect, he provides a huge contribution which few can supply even today. He had a wealth of knowledge of ancient history, obtained by reading mountains of documents in the original Greek, Latin and Hebrew, in which he saw many of those prophecies literally fulfilled long after they had been revealed. To him, it was a proof of the foreknowledge of God, which was his purpose in writing the book. "

Thank-you for asking this question. When I was an engineering student I had conflicts from home that what I was learning lessened my faith. A philosophy professor helped me to show that as we first gain knowledge it challenges and corrupts our blind faith. However, as we integrate our learnings into knowledge, ony a belief in God will reconcile the unknown. The deeper knowledge I gain the more I believe and appreciate the beauty of creation.

j

Answer 2

Au contraire really--their contribution was a lessening of the role of God in the universe from an active player in everyday life to (at most) the great clockmaker who set everything up and just let it run.

Ultimately, theology wasn't the driving force behind their work--it was empiricism--looking at the world as it is and deriving theories to fit the data. The theology usually came in at the end when they tried to fit their work back into a world which was still very religious (like that Newton quote above or like Copernicus justifying that the Sun MUST be in the center of the solar system because it is the manifestation of Christ). They lived in a world in which not only did people cling to superstition, but also the church was a font of temporal as well as religious authority. We view that stuff as nonsense today, but it was necessary back then for scientists to sell their work to the world and keep the religious fanatics at arm's length (unlike Galileo).

edit--sure Newton had superstitions--so did almost everyone else at the time. But I don't see how religion influenced or motivated the work for which he was remembered--principia, opticks, etc.

Answer 3

Duh...No.

I think Newton could have discovered the laws of motion even if he had not believed in God.

I'm having a very hard time understanding your leap in logic. What if he had said "Its 9:30 at the present time." Would his motivating force have been the clock?

He simply stated what he thought about gravity, then stated that there were other unknowns about the universe that he didn't grasp.

Answer 4

The belief in God and the perfection of the universe drove many sciences. Kepler would be the big one. A belief in God or some vast intelligence may not be necessary to understand the universe but it is necessary to understand reality.

Answer 5

Newton spent quite a lot of his life pursuing astrology, and the latter part of it obsessively seeking the philosophers stone to turn base metal into gold. He was convinced of magic, and cast fortunes for people.

So his motives are clearly not what makes his theories right. It is that they are verifiable, reproducible, logical and testable.

The existence of god is none of these things, and belief in it is not necessary to understant the universe.

Answer 6

Moreover the work during those times was to defy the authority of religious cults.

That is why when Galilee was imprisoned when he showed that irrespective of its weight everything reaches to ground at the same time if air friction is not there.