Religion, Science and Capitalisms

Abstract

This paper enquires into the relation between capitalism, religion and the philosophy of science. We would tend to suppose that there are only superficial and accidental links between them. A closer analysis reveals, however, that the epistemology of contemporary science is still based on a certain interpretation of Christianity and linked to a particular type of capitalism. Science developed after Galileo and Descartes aims at universal truth but was founded on the notion of the Christian God and associated with a technological perspective on the world, which was most effectively exploited by Western capitalist societies. This gave rise to a particular concept of religion as opposed to the technological perspective, even though the latter was founded on the former. While other types of science and capitalism have existed, all forms of the religious have been subsumed under the concept of religion developed by Western science. This paper argues that it is impossible to understand any other form of the religious than recent Christianity from this perspective.