우리는 하루하루 눈부시게 발전하는 자연과학과 과학 기술의 덕을
보며 살아가고 있다. 그런데 과학과 기술은 단지 우리의 삶을 편리하게
해주는 일만 하는 것은 아니다. 그것은 우리의 사고방식과 생활방식을
바꾸어 놓고 있으며, 많은 신학적, 윤리적 문제를 야기하기도 한다. 이제
현대과학은 인간의 정신이나, 도덕성, 종교 체험까지도 과학적 방법에
의하여 규명해 보려고 시도하고 있다. 생명과 인류의 기원에 대하여 과
학이 진화론으로서 설명한다고 하는 것은 이미 주지의 사실이다. 그런
데 거기서 더 나아가, 행동유전학은 인간의 행동이 결국은 유전자에 의
해 통제된다고 주장한다. 또한 사회생물학은 인간의 도덕성과 종교를
포함한 인간의 사회적 행동에 대하여 진화론적인 설명을 시도한다. 인
지- 신경과학은 인체의 신경 구조와 뇌의 활동을 인지 과정과 관련하여
연구하는 학문으로서, 인간의 정신도 결국 뉴런과 뇌의 상호 작용을 밝
혀냄으로써 설명이 가능하리라고 본다. 그런 입장을 극단적으로 따르면
종교나 신이라는 것도 결국은 뇌와 신경계의 작용에 불과한 것으로 설
명될 것이다. 컴퓨터 과학 특히 인공 지능에 대한 연구는 인간의 뇌를
일종의 생체 컴퓨터로서 하나의 정보 처리 시스템 같은 것이라고 이해
한다. 여기서는 이 모든 것을 자세히 살펴볼 수 없고, 다만 신학적 인간
이해에 관련되는 것들만 간단히 고찰해 보기로 하자. 그러한 과학적 연
구 결과들은 우리들에게 어떤 도전을 던져 주며, 우리는 그런 도전들에
대하여 어떻게 대응하여야 할까?
Sciences and technologies are rapidly advancing in today’s world.
They not only give us efficiency and convenience in our daily life, but
also give great challenges to our theology and understanding of
humanity. This paper surveys some of the results of contemporary
scientific researches like evolution of selfish genes, sociobiology,
cognitive-neuroscience and life science and gathers the challenges
those sciences issue to theological understanding of humanity. Then it
seeks theological ways of responding to such challenges.
It briefly introduces Richard Dawkins’ assertion of ‘selfish genes’,
Edward O. Wilson’s ambitious attempt of sociobiological explanation
of social human behaviour including morals and religion. They insist
that human altruistic behaviors are in fact selfish behaviors from the
perspective of genes. Their researches present questions of human
dignity as the image of God, the possibility of moral freedom, and the
altruistic nature of human behavior. While this paper appreciates
certain insights of those researches, it critiques their seemingly
scientific but quasi-philosophical or quasi-religious assertions and
maintains the need of theological understanding of human being.
This paper also briefly introduces contemporary neuroscience and
the challenges they give to theological anthropology. It specifically
pay attention to the science-religion dialogue jointly conducted by
Vatican Observatory and Center for Theology and Natural Sciences in
Poland, 1998. The development of recent neuroscience makes it
possible to explain human mental phenomena in terms of biochemical
and electrical changes in our brain. Many scientists think
that all human mental behavior can be reduced to physical things in
the brain. Francis Crick even suggest the astonishing hypothesis that
human being is nothing but a bunch of neurons. This presents
questions of moral freedom, the existence of human soul, the
salvation of human soul etc. While this paper critically appreciates the
holistic understanding of human being, rather than dualistic
understanding, it still criticizes reductionism, questioning whether
reductionistic explanation is really sufficient for explaining human
mental behavior, especially freedom of moral and religious decision.
This paper introduces non-reductive physicalism and the concept of
supervenience of Nancy Murphy and the suggestion of emergent
supervenience of Philip Clayton as plausible options.
This paper also briefly deals with recent studies of life-science.
Scientists found out that DNA of all living beings are consisted of the
same basic chemicals, Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine. They
were successful in figuring out all human genes by the famous
Human Genome Project. They also found out that there is little
difference between genes of human being and chimpanzees. About
98.5% of them are the same things. What then is the real difference?
What is the essence of human nature? Scientists are now able to
produce animals not by natural reproduction process but by body-cell
cloning. They are now seeking to clone human body cell by changing
the nucleuses of eggs. Most of them say that their purpose is not to
clone human beings but to get stem cells which are useful for
therapies of diseases difficult to heal, by providing fresh new organs.
This causes serious problems. The cloned body-cell comes to have
the same nature as a fertilized egg. It has all the possibility to become
an adult human being. In a sense it is a human being already. Is it
alright to cut a necessary part of an embryo (for a therapeutic purpose)
and kill the embryo? However, many scientists do not regard it
as a human being in its early period. For them it is just a medically
useful cells. It is a hot issue from what time we have to see it as a
individual life. Scientifically and theoretically speaking, the related
technologies may open the ways to all kinds of dreadful things:
human cloning, designer baby, mass cloning of human bodies with
desired natures, making of cyborgs ets. What are their identities? Are
they human beings? What about the discrimination of the new races?
Is it not a challenge to divine sovereignty upon human lives?
It is very difficult to deal with all these issues. This paper suggests
the application of the four models of Ian Barbour in relating science
and religion: conflict, independence, dialogue, and integration. We
find that there is no clear-cut answer to all of these problems. It is
hard to apply just one model to all situations and we need to apply
different models in different situations. In some areas we need to appreciate
the results of new scientific researches and may find consonance
between science and theology. In some areas we may have to
reshape our theological understanding of human being, in consideration
of the new scientific foundings. In some other areas we have to
challenge the endeavors and thoughts of contemporary scientists and
to help make laws and regulations to check the wild ventures of some
scientists.