ABSTRACT
The science and belief relationship has often been theorised in terms of a conflict, which should be resolved by reducing the ensuing cognitive dissonance, in favour of science, the rational choice. The conflict hypothesis, however, ignores the plurality of common sense and the role of experience with science in decision making processes. In Africa, religion is a mix of Christianity, Islam, and African religions, each with its various branches, and health is a mix of Western (clinical) and traditional medicine. Behavioural outcomes are thus in the context of mixed belief systems, traditional and modern science, and other psychosocial, political, and economic factors. The chapter argues, with case studies from the African continent, that these external factors can tilt the balance of reasoning in favour of either way of knowing and presents a modified theory of cognitive polyphasia, governed by hierarchy and complementarity, as plausible explanations of behavioural outcomes.
