The Penultimate Curiosity: How Science Swims in the Slipstream of Ultimate Questions

What Lies At The Root Of The Long Entanglement Between Science And Religion? The Curiosity That Leads To The Search For Religious Understanding And The Curiosity That Leads To The Search For Scientific Understanding Have Common Origins In Aspects Of The Human Mind That Go Back As Far As The Earliest Records Of Human Intellectual Endeavour. Their Relationship Developed As The Categories Of Religion And Science Became Distinct And New Information Was Discovered. The Struggle To Make Sense Of The World As A Whole Seems To Be An Urgent And Fundamental Requirement In All Human Societies - An Ultimate Curiosity That Creates A Slipstream Of Interest In Which Penultimate Curiosities About Particular Aspects Of The Physical World Have (to A Greater Or Lesser Extent) Been Able To Swim.