The cultural history of religions and the ethics of progress: building the human in 20th century religion, science and art

摘要

Although some theorists of modernity have argued that the importance of religion has or would decline in the modern world, religion remains a vital force in the production and reproduction of culture. Theology helps guide social movements, as can be seen in liberation theology and the social justice movements in Latin America and among United States Latino Catholics. Less obviously, religion helps shape technoscientific and artistic culture. Sacred themes such as purpose, salvation, immortality and transcendence persist in camouflaged forms in science and art. The persistence of these sacred categories permits a final religious theme to drive scientific and artistic life: the construction of the human subject. Researchers from robotics and artificial intelligence demonstrate, through their popular science publications, the continuing importance of belief in cosmic purpose and the possibility of social and individual salvation in technological progress. Likewise, the desire for transcendence plays a key role in the contemporary art world, as shown by Survival Research Laboratories and Wolfgang Laib. Among 20th century Catholics, roboticists/AI researchers and contemporary artists, different values are held up to define the nature of the human subject; thus a conflict over what it means to be a person surrounds the interactions of religion, science and art in the 20th century. This conflict relies upon two things: (1) how social progress is defined and (2) what kinds of transcendence or promises of salvation are offered by the relevant figures. While other factors do play a role, the persistence of the sacred demonstrates that religion even produces technoscientific and artistic culture. This comparison of religion, science and art demonstrates the power of religion to shape 20 th century culture, even in its most secular bastion, science.