A scientific defense of spiritual & religious faith | Tony Jack | TEDxCLE
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Published 2015-07-10
Anthony Jack has a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University, and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from University College London. He then trained in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL, London and the Dept. of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis Medical School. Since 2007 he has been leading the Brain, Mind and Consciousness lab at Case Western Reserve University. In 2014 Dr Jack also became the Research Director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
All Comments (21)
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The great physicist Freeman Dyson said. " Science and religion are perfectly compatible as long as you don't make science into a religion and you don't make religion into a science". Wise words.
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too low audio, headphone users: be careful when switching videos to avoid ear damage
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A really interesting talk. I’m both pro-science and pro-spirituality. Science helps me understand the workings of the physical universe. Spirituality helps me understand the workings of the inner universe.
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From my perspective of being extremely agnostic and uncertain, this has come to be unbelievably true.. To go completely scientific and logistics based, the lesser I feel sane in how I look at the world
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I was browsing some shops a few years ago, went into a Christian book store and a thin paperback caught my eye. It was written by a scientist who was also a believer. Glancing through it, one thing really caught my attention... the author stated that..."science was about the how and the when, and the bible was about the who and the why." THIS made sense to me and explained why many scientifically minded people I knew in life including doctors could also be spiritual. I found it to be a useful perspective.
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I loved this very much. I am both a student of history and a hyperactive Roman Catholic. This has opened my mind much further than I thought. I feel... enlightened!
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Actually I loved how this video talks about the both sides of religion and science and how it supported it with evidences.
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Wow, what interesting research. You were brave to present it and end with the provocation to the audience to indeed ascertain what they do believe. The research on dogmatic atheists was disturbing (their lack of empathy and tendency towards sociopathy). I used to enjoy reading Dawkins, recognizing him as a learned scientist, until he got so rabid in his atheism - in becoming this, he ceased to be a scientist in my view. Thanks for a great presentation!
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I remember seeing a program with the dali lama who is going through a physics research facility and when it was all explained to him said: "l see no contradiction with my beliefs and teachings" I can't quote him exactly but that was the gist of it. A dynamic synthesis between the spiritual and the physical will hold many of our answers.
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Nice job Tony. I stumbled onto this lecture and enjoyed listening to it. I wish you well in your continued research and future. Brad
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dogmas are what intelligent people reject not God. Scientists who seek knowledge are very valuable, honest scientist. Scientists with an agenda against the Idea of God are are not honest brokers of truth, they have their minds made up prior to investigation.
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Thank you very much. You just triggered another way of thinking for me. Again thank you very much
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It's simple: it's entirely possible that a god, gods, some powerful entity, or whatever you want to call it created everything. Nothing prevents that from being so. The problem, then, is claiming that that creator god is one of any of the thousands upon thousands of gods worshipped in any of the thousands of religions humanity has ever had. Quite a leap to jump.
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It is time people who talk about scientific research results provide certain information (e.g., sample size) before they tell us what the results show.
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Excellent! A redefinition of terms would IMO clarify the concepts and make the talk that much more valuable.
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I can totally see both at the same time! It takes some work and I might be fooling myself by swapping back and forth quickly, but I don't think I am.
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I am a science student And I am truly religious I am a Sikh
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I wouldn't label Einstein as religious, but he was definitely spiritual.
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The meaning of being religious is what I want to go deep into after watching this well delivered talk. Thank you for tge wonderful post
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My grandpa Dr. Myron Gerald Neuffer worked for years in genetics. So yes you can be a scientist and religious at the same time. My grandfather used the scientific method at work however he threw the scientific method out the window when he got home. He was an respected figure at church who said things like "What I have seen in my job is so complex that I feel there must have been a designer because I feel this could have never have happened on its own." Yes you can be religious and be a scientist at the same time however you can be a better scientist if you drop the religion and go where the research takes you properly using the scientific method.
