ABSTRACT
In a paper delivered at a public session of the Wunsch symposium, Robert Cordis, professor of Bible and the philosophy of religion at the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, examined the roles of science and natural law in the formulation of ethical norms. Regarding science as the pursuit of truth and ethics as the quest for the good, he viewed technology as occupying a middle ground between the two: the search for the useful, utilizing "the truths of science for the advancement of the good of society. " Although scientific discoveries—e.g., those of Copernicus, Darwin, Freud—have revolutionized "man's world-view and ethical system, " science itself cannot furnish a system of values for the individual and society. Instead, Gordis stressed a new role for natural law as "a basis for an ethical system for our times."
