Is Buddhism a Science of Mind? - Against False Concepts of a Possible Reconciliation between Science and Religion

Hans-Guenter Wagner

Authors

Hans-Guenter Wagner Rasenallee 29a, D-34128 Kassel, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7541-2972

Keywords:

Religion and science; Buddhism and modern science; science and spirituality

Abstract

Since the commencement of the Age of Enlightenment, religion has unceasingly been challenged by upcoming science. Step by step, this science replaced once firmly believed doctrines with fact-based knowledge gained by proper methods of empirical research or derivation logic. After a long and conflictual history, during which many brave scientists were burned at the stake, today we witness sustained efforts to bring religion and science together again and to undo its historical separation. In particular, Buddhism is considered a candidate for a genuine religious belief that would make such reconciliation possible. This article shows the futility of such attempts at reconciliation and the fallacies on which they are grounded. The author pleads for a farewell to any oversimplified and harmonious concept of a possible reconciliation between science and religion. As science is reductionist by its very nature, neither Christianity nor Buddhism can overcome the cleavage between fact-based knowledge and that gained by spiritual insights.

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