Philosophy of Religion
Assignment
Mark Jason Gotas
Stefaan Stoelen
A Review on The Magician’s Twin: C.S Lewis on Science,
Scientism, and Society
The documentary featured insights from C.S Lewis, the famous novelist most commonly
known for writing The Chronicles of Narnia. Although I watched all the films of Narnia when I
was a kid, I wasn’t particularly interested in the movie, much more the author, so this
documentary didn’t really pique my interest. In the documentary, C.S Lewis raised some
concerns of the ideology pertaining science.
Scientism is the belief that science is all the real knowledge there is. As scientism is a
type of worldview which is creating science into a religion or faith itself. This creates an issue
between science and faith, since science is supposed to be neutral and objective and free from
beliefs. Along with the role of scientists to investigate the structure and laws of natural
phenomena and to conduct research and advance knowledge. As generally science is an open-
minded and open-ended process as theories are always tested and updated.
Lewis saw how meaningless a process it is to create minds that would purse science that
endeavors to corrupt just to gain control. He understood that the scientific method would be a
double-edged sword. The main argument of the entire video is how Scientism, the treatment
od science as if it holds the answers to all of life’s questions, is the twin of Magic. Lewis then
points out how, in three ways: Science and Magic can act like religion; Science and Magic can
encourage Credulity; and Science and Magic can be quests for Power.
In the aspect of Religion, they cited out some famous books/movies such as Narnia and
Lord of the Rings, which entices us to believe something out there exists and that it is
extraordinary. This magical view of the world makes people believe in something higher than
themselves. When I was a child, I was always fascinated with magic, I would play around
thinking that magic was real, and that I was willing to worship it. But as I grew older, I began to
Philosophy of Religion
Assignment
think magic is just science that hasn’t been discovered. Cartoons, shows, and movies had plenty
to do with why I thought that way. Just like in adventure time, when Princess Bubblegum
denied the existence of magic and only focused on the scientific process, which led to her
people resenting her, but in my mind, I’ve always thought that she was right.
In the aspect of credulity, they pointed out how people would believe in almost
anything if it’s dressed up in the name of science. They then cited the flaw in Freudian
psychoanalysis. They gave an example of how one treats a car as a woman, and so the car acts
as a substitute to fulfill this primal wish to own the woman. It makes sense that this might
provide useful illusions to aid survival but to pretend that these are somehow the truth doesn’t
make sense. If we are to simply accept anything because it is scientifically valid, we would
encourage blind faith in science.
In the aspect of power, they compared science to a magician who wants to have power
to rule over the world, particularly over nature and over people. Talk about a literal meaning
behind knowledge is power, right? But in the end of the day, magic does not exist, science does;
and science can control and manipulate people. When power is achieved, people would gain
access over human life, experimentation on criminals and the like of it. The rise of power in
science would show that humans are no more than just material parts, which can be
manipulated to create power structures just as religion can. The biggest danger of scientism is
desire to control. How could we prevent something good be corrupted by those want power?
There is ethics behind science, and Lewis understood this perfectly. We must not twist
the good into evil ends and we must prevent science from becoming scientism.
