The UnCommon Good with Bo Bonner and Dr. Bud Marr

Science and Mystery -- Dr. Karen Zwier -- 07/04/18

Episode Summary

An interview with Dr. Karen Zwier, Phd from Pittsburgh University in Philosophy and History of Science, who has served different appointments at Drake and Iowa State Universities. Faith and Science are often seen as opposed, but even when they are "brought into conversation" with one another, the temptation is to claim they both have solid, firm answers, just in different fields or types of inquiry. However, Dr. Zwier challenges this narrative on both accounts, arguing that what unites Faith and Science is actually their mutual reliance on "apophatic" (or "negative") knowledge, or knowing something better by ruling out what it is not. In other words, both fields share in common this: the deeper you go into either, the more you come to appreciate the mystery of both.

Episode Notes

An interview with Dr. Karen Zwier, Phd from Pittsburgh University in Philosophy and History of Science, who has served different appointments at Drake and Iowa State Universities. Faith and Science are often seen as opposed, but even when they are "brought into conversation" with one another, the temptation is to claim they both have solid, firm answers, just in different fields or types of inquiry. However, Dr. Zwier challenges this narrative on both accounts, arguing that what unites Faith and Science is actually their mutual reliance on "apophatic" (or "negative") knowledge, or knowing something better by ruling out what it is not. In other words, both fields share in common this: the deeper you go into either, the more you come to appreciate the mystery of both.