On Whitehead's Viewpoints of Religion and Science

Alfred North Whitehead thinks there are the two strongest general forces which influence men. They are religion and science. Religion, as the inherent pursuit of human nature for something which is the ultimate ideal beyond all reach, gives meaning to the external world. Religious culture breeds the spirit of science and makes the modern science come into being. Objective science which concentrates on pure facts is only the abstraction of reason. It helps clarify human nature and purify religious idea. The unity of science and religion not only theoretically depends on overcoming of 'the fallacy of misplaced concreteness', throwing away the dualistic separation of fact and value, and constituting the philosophy on the basis of experience of aesthetic value, but also practically requests us to have attitude towards the utmost toleration of variety of them, and to make positive understanding of their conflict.