Clearly the Pope enjoyed the last time he got a bunch of scientists riled (Great Beyond post from earlier this month). His latest pronouncement seems sure to do it again.

This time the Pope seems to have waded into my favourite topic in the philosophy of science – reductionism. “Man is not the fruit of chance or a bundle of convergences, determinisms or physical and chemical reactions,” he boldly declared to scientists at a Paris meeting (Canada’s National Post).

He might have got away with this if he hadn’t gone further, saying “In an age when scientific developments attract and seduce with the possibilities they offer, it’s more important than ever to educate our contemporaries’ consciences so that science does not become the criteria for goodness.”

Now I’ve never thought science was in danger of becoming ‘the criteria for goodness’, but leaving that aside nothing in this latest speech is necessarily more controversial than previous Pope pronouncements (which generally reiterate the old “science can’t know everything” argument). As both the National Post and Reuters point out though, coming so soon after his last conflict this is sure to reignite debate between the pontiff and scientists.

Obviously I’m biased though, having long ago been ‘attracted and seduced’ by the possibilities offered by scientific developments. Is that so wrong?

More

The editor of New Humanist looks at the last row

The Lancet examines ‘the Pope’s mixed record on science’ (subscription required)