Love of Neighbor in Classical Judaism

Love of Neighbor in Classical Judaism

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Jacob Neusner will be presenting this paper at the Metanexus 2007 Conference as part of a special public evening plenary at Irvine Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania on Monday, June 4, 2007. Also included on the panel are Stephen Post, Mahmoud Ayoub, Martin Seligman, and Bruce Chilton. The program is entitled Prospects for Our Common Humanity: Love of Neighbor in the Monotheistic Traditions. For more information on Metanexus 2007, visit the conference website.

Classical Judaism is set forth by the Hebrew Scriptures of ancient Israel, a.k.a., the Old Testament, as interpreted by the Rabbinic sages of late antiquity ó the first six centuries of the Common Era ó in the Talmud and related writings. That Judaism maintains that the biblical commandment, ìYou shall love your neighbor as yourselfî (Lev. 19:18), defines the heart of the Torah, which is to say, what we should call the essence of Judaism. That judgment is set forth in the Talmud, the extension and amplification of the Torah, in a famous story about the sage, Hillel:

I.12
A. There was another case of a gentile who came before Shammai. He said to him, ìConvert me on the stipulation that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot.î He drove him off with the building cubit that he had in his hand.

B. He came before Hillel: ìConvert me.î

C. He said to him, ìëWhat is hateful to you, to your fellow donít do.í Thatís the entirety of the Torah; everything else is elaboration. So go, study.î

Bavli Shabbat 31a

The concluding counsel, ìGo, study,î points to the task of elaborating the Golden Rule to cover a variety of specific cases. Notice how the formulation shifts from the positive, love, to the negative, what is hateful to you to your fellow donít do. But in both positive and negative formulations, the focus is on your fellow, and that superficially at least excludes the stranger.

Why do people limit the definition of neighbor to the fellow believer?

That minimalist reading of Lev. 19:18 is sustained by a dispute on the encompassing principle of the Torah:

7.
A. Öbut you shall love your neighbor as yourself: [I am the Lord]:

B. R. Aqiba says, This is the encompassing principle of the Torah.

C. Ben Azzai says, ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam’ (Gen. 5:1) is a still more encompassing principle.

Sifra CC:III

So who is my neighbor? The dispute between Aqiba and Ben Azzai makes clear that by ìmy neighborî not everyone is meant. Aqiba, like Hillel before him, identifies the commandment to love oneís neighbor as oneself as the encompassing principle of the Torah. But Ben Azzai chooses a still more compendious principle, ìThis is the book of the generations of Adam,î which encompasses not only ìyour neighborî but all humanity. For the ìbook of the generations o Adamî covers all the peoples known at that time and by showing how all nations derive genealogically from Adam and Eve establishes that humanity forms a common family. In the context of Genesis, which sets forth the theory that ìIsraelî is constituted by the extended family of Abraham and Sarah, the metaphor of a family covering all of the nations of the world carries a weighty message.

So at issue is the governing metaphor. Ben Azzai sees humanity as united in genealogy, cousins all, and it is in that context that Ben Azzaiís reading of ìLove your neighbor as yourselfî rejects the Golden Rule as too limited in application. For Ben Azzai implies that loving oneís neighbor limits the commandment of love to oneís own group. This he does when he selects a statement that transcends the limits of a particular group.

Lev. 19:17-18 establishes a context for his criticism. For it states: You shall not hate your brother in your heart, [but reasoning, you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord] (Lev. 19:17-18). The clear intent is to frame matters in terms of your brother and your own people. No wonder, then, that Ben Azzai has chosen a verse that refers to all humanity.

But that is not the end of the story. Leviticus 19:31-32 explicitly extends the rule of love to the stranger or outsider:

1.
A. [When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God (Lev. 19:31-32).]

4.
A. Öyou shall not do him wrong:

B. You should not say to him, Yesterday you were worshipping idols and now you have come under the wings of the Presence of God.

5.
A. Öas a native among you:

B. Just as a native is one who has accepted responsibility for all the teachings of the Torah, so a proselyte is to be one who has accepted responsibility for all the words of the Torah.

6.
A. Ö shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself:

B. Just as it is said to Israel, You will love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18),

C. so it is said with regard to proselytes, You shall love him as yourself.

7.
A. Öfor you were strangers in the land of Egypt:

B. Know the soul of strangers, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Sifra CCV:I

Here is an explicit definition of the commandment to love the outsider, and Lev. 19:18 is cited to apply to the stranger.

How is love conceptualized and encouraged?

Rabbinic Judaism depicts God in human terms. The human emotion of love is therefore imputed to God. The proclamation of Judaic faith, the Shema, says, ìYou will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mightî (Dt. 6:4), and that implies God craves humanityís love. Rabbinic Judaism sees God and man as consubstantial, sharing in particular the same emotional traits. God has three major character traits, power, love, and justice. Power pertains to Godís creation, control of history, and imposition of morality on human kind (Muffs 1992, 4). Love invokes the imagery of family. Justice means God metes out justice measure for measure (M. Sot. 1:7). What happens to human beings responds to the actions of the person who is subject to judgment, and fairness governs. All relationships come to their final resolution in the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of humanity for eternal life or eternal death.

The relationship of love defines the interplay of God and Israel (the holy community), man and man, man and himself. Love of God and love of the neighbor set the norms of right action. God is the model throughout, since he is conceived in personal terms. Godís love for Israel is expressed in such language as, ìYou have given us the Sabbath as a gift of love, given willingly.î Godís relationship to Israel then is one of pure love, balanced by justice. ìLoveî is given spontaneously, not under coercion, thus ìwho chooses his people Israel in loveî means, ìspontaneously, without reservationî (Muffs 1992, 187). The gift of the Torah is the most important manifestation of Godís love for humanity and Israel, and the fact that God has informed humanity and Israel of his love for them is still greater evidence:

A. R. Aqiba would say, ìPrecious is the human being, who was created in the image [of God].

B. ìIt was an act of still greater love that it was made known to him that he was created in the image [of God],

C. ìas it is said, ëFor in the image of God he made maní (Gen. 9:6).

D. ìPrecious are Israelites, who are called children to the Omnipresent.

E. ìIt was an act of still greater love that they were called children to the Omnipresent,

F ìas it is said, ëYou are the children of the Lord your Godí (Dt. 14:1).

G. ìPrecious are Israelites, to whom was given the precious thing [the Torah].

H. ìIt was an act of still greater love that it was made known to them that to them was given that precious thing with which the world was made,

I. ìas it is said, ëFor I give you a good doctrine. Do not forsake my Torahí (Prov. 4:2).î

Tractate Abot 3:14

The commandments are marks of Godís love and concern for Israel. They express Godís love for Israel, by showing that God concerns himself for Israelite conduct and character:

A. R. Hananiah b. Aqashia says, The Holy One, blessed be he, wanted to give merit to Israel.

B. Therefore he gave them abundant Torah and numerous commandments,

C. as it is said, ëIt pleased the Lord for his righteousness’ sake to magnify the Torah and give honor to it (Is. 42:21).

Mishnah-tractate Makkot 3:`16

Just as God loves Israel, so Israel loves God. Acts of loving kindness are valued by God. These cannot be coerced by only prompted by the actorís generous heart. When the Temple was destroyed, acts of loving kindness replaced the animal sacrifices as media of atonement. Yohanan ben Zakkai, surviving authority after the destruction of the Temple in 70, is portrayed in a late Midrash-compilation as saying to his disciple, distressed at the loss of Temple sacrifice as a medium of atonement, ìWe have another mode of atonement, which is like [atonement through sacrifice], and what is that? It is deeds of loving kindnessî (The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan IV:V.2). Accordingly, in the aftermath of the loss of the sacrificial cult in 70, love formed the principal relationship between Israel and God.

A. One time [after the destruction of the Temple] Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was going forth from Jerusalem, with R. Joshua following after him. He saw the house of the sanctuary lying in ruins.

B. R. Joshua said, ìWoe is us for this place which lies in ruins, the place in which the sins of Israel used to come to atonement.î

C. He said to him, ìMy son, do not be distressed. We have another mode of atonement, which is like [atonement through sacrifice], and what is that? It is deeds of loving kindness.

D. ìFor so it is said, ëFor I desire mercy and not sacrifice, [and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings] (Hos. 6:6).íî

The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan IV:V.2

Love in these contexts is commanded, but not coerced; God yearns for Israelís love. But love can only be freely given, not forced, and the commandment to love bears the paradox that God can only beseech, not coerce, love. God can command Israel to love him, but cannot force Israel to obey his commandment. Love in the end is an emotion that is freely given or withheld as an act of will. Oneís attitude determines the weight of an action, and an act can be one of love or one of mere submission, depending on the feeling of the person who performs the action.

The exposition of the commandment to love God in the Talmud of Babylonia stresses the universality of the commandment to love God. It speaks of acts of love that are material and those that are intangible. Martyrdom means voluntarily giving oneís life for the love of God and the sanctification of his name. That is done in public and sets an example for Israelites to follow:

XVIII.1
A. ìYou shall love the Lord your Godî [M. 9:5B]:

B. It has been taught on Tannaite authority:

C. R. Eliezer says, ìIf it is said, ëWith all your soul,í why is it also said, ëWith all your mightí? And if it is said, ëWith all your might,í why is it also said, ëWith all your soulí?

D. ìBut if there is someone who places greater value on his body than on his possessions, for such a one it is said, ëWith all your soul.í

E. ìAnd if there is someone who places greater value on his possessions than on his life, for such a one it is said, ëWith all your might.íî

F. R. Aqiba says, ìëWith all your soulí ó even if he takes your soul.íî

Bavli Berakhot 9:5 61b

The highest expression of love of God is to give oneís life in martyrdom:

XVIII.2
A. Our rabbis have taught on Tannaite authority:

B. The wicked government once made a decree that the Israelites should not take up the study of Torah. Pappos b. Judah came and found R. Aqiba gathering crowds in public and taking up the study of Torah.

C. He said to him, ìAqiba, arenít you afraid of the government?î

D. He said to him, ìI shall show you a parable. What is the matter like? It is like the case of a fox who was going along the river and saw fish running in swarms place to place.î

E. He said to them, ìWhy are you running away?î

F. They said to him, ëBecause of the nets people cast over us.í

G. ìHe said to him, ëWhy donít you come up on dry land, and you and I can live in peace as my ancestors lived in peace with yours?í

H. ìThey said to him, ëAre you the one they call the cleverest of all wild beasts? You are not clever, youíre a fool. Now if in the place in which we can live, we are afraid, in a place in which we perish, how much the more so [should we fear]!í

I. ìNow we too, if when we are in session and taking up the study of Torah, in which it is written, ëFor it is your life and the length of your daysí (Deut. 30:20), things are as they are, if we should go and abandon it, how much the more so [shall we be in trouble]!î

J. They say that only a few days passed before they arrested and imprisoned R. Aqiba. They arrested and imprisoned Pappos b. Judah nearby. He said to him, ìPappos, who brought you here?î

K. He said to him, ìHappy are you, Aqiba, because you were arrested on account of teachings of Torah. Woe is Pappos, who was arrested on account of nonsense.î

L. The hour at which they brought R. Aqiba out to be put to death was the time for reciting the Shema. They were combing his flesh with iron combs while he was accepting upon himself [in the recitation of the Shema] the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.

M. His disciples said to him, ìOur master, to such an extent?î

N. He said to them, ìFor my whole life I have been troubled about this verse, ëWith all your soulí [meaning] even though he takes your soul. I wondered when I shall have the privilege of carrying out this commandment. Now that it has come to hand, should I not carry it out?î

O. He held on to the word, ìOne,î until his soul expired [as he said the word] ìone.î An echo came forth and said, ìHappy are you, Rabbi Aqiba, that your soul expired with the word ëone.íî

P. The serving angels said before the Holy One, blessed be he, ìIs this Torah and that the reward? ëFrom them that die by your hand, O Lordí (Ps. 17:14) [ought to have been his lot].î

Q. He said to them, ìëTheir portion is in lifeí (Ps. 17:14).î

R. An echo went forth and proclaimed, ìHappy are you, R. Aqiba, for you are selected for the life of the world to come.î

Bavli Berakhot 9:5 61b

The ultimate gift of love fulfills the commandment of love. But love involves not only Israelís love for God but Godís love for Israel.

In the relationship of love that binds the Israelite to God, God takes the part of the suitor, Israel, the besought: ìI will betroth you to me for ever, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lordî (Hos. 2:19-20) ó these words, recited every weekday morning in prayer, capture the relationship to which we of holy Israel aspire to form with God who loves Israel.

How Rabbinic Judaism portrays the metaphor of love between God and Israel comes to full expression in Song of Songs Rabbah, a Rabbinic commentary to the Song of Songs, which turns the Song of Songs (a.k.a., the Song of Solomon) into a series of love-songs that celebrate Godís love for Israel and Israelís love for God. In reading the Song of Songs as a statement of the relationship of God and Israel, Israel is identified as the female-beloved, God as the male-lover. The relationship of Israel to God is the same as the relationship of a wife to the husband, and this is explicit in Song of Songs Rabbah to Song 7:10: The yearning of Israel is only for their Father who is in heaven, as it is said, ìI am my belovedís, and his desire is for me.î To be ìIsraelî is to accept Godís love.

Romantic love found no place in Rabbinic Judaism. Yet the following story captures the full meaning of love embodied in that religious system:

Song of Songs Rabbah IV:v.2

B. If one has married a woman and lived with her for ten years and not produced offspring, he has not got the right to stop trying.

C. Said R. Idi, There was the case of a woman in Sidon, who lived with her husband for ten years and did not produce offspring.

D. They came before R. Simeon b. Yohai and wanted to be parted from one another.

E. He said to them, By your lives! Just as you were joined to one another with eating and drinking, so you will separate from one another only with eating and drinking.

F. They followed his counsel and made themselves a festival and made a great banquet and drank too much.

G. When his mind was at ease, he said to her, My daughter, see anything good that I have in the house! Take it and go to your father’s house!

H. What did she do? After he fell asleep, she made gestures to her servants and serving women and said to them, Take him in the bed and pick him up and bring him to my father’s house.

I. Around midnight he woke up from his sleep. When the wine wore off, he said to her, My daughter, where am I now?

J. She said to him, In my father’s house.

K. He said to her, What am I doing in your father’s house?

L. She said to him, Did you not say to me last night, ‘See anything good that I have in the house! Take it and go to your father’s house!’ But I have nothing in the world so good as you!

M. They went to R. Simeon b. Yohai, and he stood and prayed for them, and they were answered [and given offspring].

That combination of yearning, commitment, affection, and devotion defines love in Rabbinic Judaism, beginning with the love of God, extending to the neighbor, and pertaining also to the self, as Hillel said (Mishnah-tractate Abot 1:14): ìIf I am not for myself, who is for me? And when I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?î

How we can make progress toward a common humanity

Ben Azzai thinks that the conception of a common humanity begins in the metaphor of a family, the metaphor of Israel as formed by the children of Israel forming a concrete example. How would such a mode of thought do its work? A single example suffices. The Rabbis of late antiquity had to explain the paramount status of Rome and its power over Israel, Godís people. To do so, they imputed common ancestry to Israel and to Rome. They made a place for Rome in the history of Israel. This they did in conformity to their larger theory of who is Israel, an extended family related to common ancestors, specifically by assigning to Rome a place in the family. Rome as an autonomous actor, as an entity with a point of origin (just as Israel has a point of origin) and a tradition of wisdom (just as Israel has such a tradition). So as Rome is Esau, so Esau is part of the family and therefore plays a role in history. And ó yet another point of considerable importance ó since Rome does play a role in history, Rome also finds a position in the eschatological drama.

This sense of poised opposites, Israel and Rome, comes to expression in two ways. First, Israelís own history calls into being its counterpoint, the anti-history of Rome. Without Israel, there would be no Rome ó a wonderful consolation to the defeated nation. For if Israelís sin created Romeís power, then Israelís repentance would bring Romeís downfall. Israel and Rome ó these two contend for the world. Still, Isaac plays his part in the matter. Rome does have a legitimate claim, and that claim demands recognition ó an amazing, if grudging ó concession on the part of sages that Christian Rome at least is Esau.

1.
A. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry [and said to his father, ëBless me, even me also, O my father!í]î (Gen. 27:34):

B. Said R. Hanina, ìWhoever says that the Holy One, blessed be he, is lax, may his intestines become lax. While he is patient, he does collect what is coming to you.

C. ìJacob made Esau cry out one cry, and where was he penalized? It was in the castle of Shushan: ëAnd he cried with a loud and bitter cryí (Est. 4:1).î

Genesis Rabbah LXVII:IV

So Rome really is Israelís brother. No pagan empire ever enjoyed an equivalent place; no pagan era ever found identification with an event in Israelís family history. The passage presents a stunning concession and an astounding claim. The history of the two brothers forms a set of counterpoints, the rise of one standing for the decline of the other. I cannot imagine a more powerful claim for Israel: the ultimate end, Israelís final glory, will permanently mark the subjugation of Esau. Israel then will follow, the fifth and final monarchy. The point of No. 1 is to link the present passage to the history of Israelís redemption later on. In this case, however, the matter concerns Israelís paying recompense for causing anguish to Esau.

How the agent of love benefits from loving others

Let me close by dealing with more general questions. How does the agent of love benefit from loving others? Love defines a relationship of responsiveness to the other. ìLove your neighbor as yourselfî extends to the other the affirmation of self that sustains life.

The chief impediments to love for a common humanity

The dispute between Aqiba and Ben Azzai captures the challenge: to love the one like oneself presents no challenge. To love the outsider requires effort. And the source of love for a common humanity is the narrative that we are able to formulate, the governing metaphor.


Bibliography

Borowitz, 1971: Eugene B. Borowitz, ìLove,î Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1971: Keter Publishing Co., 11:523-530,

Buechler, 1928: A. Buechler, Studies in Sin and Atonement in the Rabbinic Literature of the First Century, pp. 119-176.

Feldman, 1975: David M. Feldman, The Jewish Family Relationship, N.Y., 1975: United Synagogue of America.

Glueck, 1967: Nelson Glueck, Hesed in the Bible. Translated by Alfred Gottschalk. Cincinnati, 1967: Hebrew Union College Press.

Gordis, 1978: Robert Gordis, Love and Sex: A Modern Jewish Perspective. N.Y., 1978: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Muffs, 1992: Yochanan Muffs. Love & Joy. Law, Language and Religion in Ancient Israel. NY and Jerusalem, 1992: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Neusner, 1997: Jacob Neusner, The Components of the Rabbinic Documents: From the Whole to the Parts. V. Song of Songs Rabbah. Atlanta, 1997: Scholars Press for USF Academic Commentary Series. Now: Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Part i. Introduction. And Parashiyyot One through Four Part ii. Parashiyyot Five through Eight. And a Topical and Methodical Outline of Song of Songs Rabbah

Neusner, 2003: Jacob Neusner, Androgynous Judaism. Masculine and Feminine in the Dual Torah. Macon, 1993: Mercer University Press. Jewish Book Club Selection. Reprint, Eugene, OR, 2003: Wipf and Stock

That Judaism maintains that the biblical commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Lev. 19:18), defines the heart of the Torah, which is to say, what we should call the essence of Judaism. 3/22/2007 03/22/2007 9854 Useless Arithmetic and Inconvenient Truths

A Review of Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can’t Predict the Future by Orrin H. Pilkey and Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Columbia University Press, 2007.
ISBN 0-231-13212-3

My story begins with the intriguing title of a new book — Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can’t Predict the Future (Pilkey 2007).  The authors are a father and daughter team.  The father is Orrin H. Pilkey, an emeritus professor of geology at Duke University’s Nicolas School of the Environment.  He lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina.  The father is a prolific author and expert in shoreline developments.  The daughter, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, is also a geologist.  She hails from McCleary, Washington, working in Washington State’s Department of Ecology, managing the state’s oil spill programs.

The book is a delight to read.  The Pilkeys recount dozens of scientific vignettes, unfolding like detective stories, of scientists gone astray, lost following their predictive models to unexpected consequences and tragic failures.  As the Pilkeys make clear, science has not been very successful in predicting or managing environmental changes.  The problems, they argue, are inherent in any attempt to model complex natural and human systems.  Predictions from any computer simulations of any complex reiterative dynamic processes are not worth the binary code they were written in, nor the supercomputers they were run on.  The book reads like a series of parables, each illustrates what Whitehead meant by “the Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness.”  The problem is endemic to all modeling of any complex environmental or human process.

Chapter Four alone should be required reading for anyone concerned with the debate over climate change.  To address the larger question, the authors begin by pulling on the string of sea level change.  Readers get a brief tutorial on eustatic and isostatic changes in sea level.  Eustatic variations are changes in the volume of liquid water in the Earth’s oceans, more or less depending on the amount of glaciated ice, atmospheric water, and geologically bounded water captured in aquifers, lakes, soil, and rock.  Isostatic changes in sea levels are dramatic geological changes in the contours of Earth’s ocean basin, increasing or decreasing the volume of the ocean containers.  When the ocean basin is smaller, global sea levels rise everywhere.  The ocean cup runneth over unto all of the continents.  Or as the case may be in the reverse, sea levels can also drop dramatically.

These dynamics and others have been at work on the Earth since its beginning.  Major climate changes in the past have been caused by wobbles in the Earth’s axis of rotation.   Indeed, the magnetic poles have even flipped – south becomes north and north becomes south.  Our orbit around the sun is also ever so slightly out of kilter.  Our sun too is dynamic, sometimes overly exuberant in bathing the Earth with excess solar energy, and sometimes too little.  In addition, there are disruptions caused by volcanic activity and terrestrial impacts.  And life itself is also an important part of the story, like the invention of photosynthesis or the formation of large hydrocarbon deposits hundreds of millions of years ago.  All of these can dramatically impact global climate and maybe even your vacation plans this summer.

Climate change is hardly front-page news for geologists; climate change is the whole story from beginning to end.  Geologists read this story from the text of rock, mud, water, ice, and air, in the half-lives of radioactive isotopes, in the orientation of magnetic sediments, in geological deposits, in the traces of ancient glaciers, mountain ranges, canyons, fossils, bygone oceans, and tectonic plates.  The 4.5 billion year old Earth story is one of continuous and dramatic metamorphoses on a time scale difficult to imagine; unless, of course, you happen be a geologist – or in this case, two geologists.

This is the backdrop to the Pilkeys’ exploration of useless arithmetic in the current debate on anthropogenic global climate change.  Their message undermines everyone and every position in the current global debate about global climate change. The book came out before the release of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, but we do get a careful analysis of the 2001 IPCC Report.  Perhaps this section can be updated in future releases of the book, even though there is no problem in extrapolating from 2001 to 2007, unlike some of the other extrapolations discussed in their book.

There are about fifteen major climate models used by scientists around the world.  Favored are bottom-up models, involving a long chain of events and very complicated computer simulations running on supercomputers.  This approach uses a great aggregation of models, and models of models, all the way up.  In other words, it is models all the way down too.  The assumption here is that the more variables included in the meta-model, the better the meta-model.  Another approach, the minority view, favors top-down models, focusing only on larger systems – simplify, averaging, estimating, testing, but not presuming to include every potentially relevant variable.  Predicting future sea-levels, of course, is only one piece of the climate puzzle.  Up or down, the Pilkeys profess:

What a daunting task faces those who choose to predict the futures of the sea-level rise!  We have seen that the factors affecting the rate are numerous and not well understood.  Even if our understanding improves, the global system simply defies accurate and quantitative prediction because of its complexity. (76)

Their argument is not whether our climate cup is half full or half empty.  Geologists have a different perspective on time.  Their earthy timescale is some 4.5 billion years.   All rock is ultimately metamorphic rock.  And this includes the concrete, steel, and glass monuments of human engineering and architecture built in cities around the world.  Imagine my beloved New York City, and every other at some point in the future, crushed under mile-thick glacier ice, or perhaps absorbed back into the molten core of the Earth through normal plate tectonics, or perhaps someday under the ocean.  A geologist knows, it is only a matter of time — hot and cold, sea levels up and down, round and round the sun — before there are dramatic changes on our restless and creative planet.  Maybe this will happen soon, maybe suddenly, and maybe not for a long time, at least relative to the scale of human life, but it will happen, if the past is any guide.

The American Petroleum Institute and Dick Cheney should take no pleasure in the Pilkeys’ thorough challenge to the global climate-change prediction industry.  Anthropogenic climate change may be a real concern.  And furthermore, the same types of modeling errors and unknowns presumably also call into question industry models of global petroleum reserves.  The Pilkeys’ real argument is that no scientist can offer cogent predictions of the Earth’s climate – too hot, too cold, or just right.  No matter how much data is collected, no matter how sophisticated the computer program, no matter how powerful the supercomputer employed to run the simulation.  Complex natural systems cannot be modeled in a way that generates useful predictions.   There are too many variables, too many feedback loops between variables, and the system is dynamic in ways that we do not understand and cannot represent mathematically. 

In the case of climate change, a short list of variables and feedback loops might begin:

  • the absorption of CO2 by the ocean,
  • the heat exchange between the oceans and the atmosphere,
  • the effect of cloud cover,
  • variations in the Earth’s albedo,
  • ocean current circulation,
  • local climate perturbations,
  • long-term climate cycles
  • arctic ice melt,
  • release of methane from melting  artic tundra,
  • health of phyloplankton,
  • variations in amounts and  types of precipitation, and
  • many more confounders large and small.

Any of these variables could accentuate or ameliorate climate change and could do so with runaway dynamics. The authors are leaning agnostic to pessimistic on the prospects for near-term climate change (resulting from anthropogenic causes).  It may not be all that bad.  It may even be worse. We have no way of knowing, in spite of the $2 billion-per-year industry funded by the United States government to studying climate change.  The Pilkeys use strong words to criticize these expenditures:

Assumption upon assumption, uncertainty upon uncertainty, and simplification upon simplification are combined to give an ultimate and inevitably shaky answer, which is then scaled up beyond the persistence time to make long-term predictions of the future of sea-level rise.  Aside from the frailty of the assumptions, there remains ordering complexity: the lack of understanding of the timing and intensity of each variable. (82)

The authors advocate instead a qualitative methodology that settles with tendencies, directions, and magnitudes of change.  A supercomputer is not required to document actual glacial declines around the world over the last few decades.  Before-and-after photographs from a tourist camera of Muir Lake, Alaska from 1941 and 2004 provide compelling evidence for major changes (83).  Over twenty years of space telemetry and ground observations in Antarctic give us disturbing short-term trends.  Over a three-year period, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet lost 36 cubic miles of ice per year.  The complete melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet alone would produce a 13-foot global sea level rise (78).  Maybe you should rebook that summer vacation after all.

The Pilkeys certainly seem to think that global climate change is a serious problem.  It is just that “A serious societal debate about ‘solutions’ can never occur so long as modelers hold out the probability, just around the corner, of accurate projections of future climates and sea-levels” (86).  There will be no accurate projections.

Along with their scathing critique, the authors do manage a backhanded compliment to climate change modelers, at least by way of a negative comparison to their own guild in applied geology.  They write:

The publications of this diverse international group (IPCC) are filled with painfully long discussions about error, uncertainties, and missing data.  The objectivity of these global change modelers stands in stark contrast to the arrogance of the coastal engineers or the overconfidence of ground water modelers (79).

It is not that mathematical predictions are always impossible.  Far from it.  At one point, the authors quote reassuringly the New York Times for June 7, 2004:

In New York City sunrise will be at 5:25 am.  Eastern time on Tuesday, and Venus is to begin leaving the solar disc at 7:06 am, when the sun is 17 degrees above the horizon.  The planet’s final contact with the sun’s edge should occur about 7:26 am when the sun is 20 degrees high.  There will be another transit on June 6, 2012…” (34)

It is comforting that some things can be known with certainty.  I can plan on another transit of Venus in 2012.  Predictive success is thought to be the sine qua non in most science, technology, and engineering fields.  Regularity and reproducibility have traditionally been seen as one of the hallmarks of science.  I count on it every time I log onto this computer, get on an airplane, or take an elevator to the 40th floor.  In some domains, however, science is going to need to let go of prediction.  Two things have changed:

1) the rise of complexity and

2) the rise of computation. 

Environmental and human processes have always been complex.  This is not new.  It is just that now we have a lot more insights and background information.  We know a lot more of the details, so we are compelled by the known facts at every turn to ask more and more complex questions.  This is true in many disciplines, but for the Pilkeys, it is the key to understanding our human power in affecting major environment changes by our actions.  For instance, they launch the first chapter showing how industrial fishing wiped out the North Atlantic cod fisheries, in spite of mathematical models predicting levels for maximum sustainable yields. 

The complexity challenge also arises because of the availability of the computer.  Every scientific discipline has been dramatically changed over the last twenty years by the availability of computers.  Scientists can now collect enormous datasets, query the datasets, and run computer simulations.  Without computers, there would be an epistemic bias towards asking simpler questions and ignoring questions that were thought to be beyond the capabilities of science.

Climate change is only one of two-dozen different kinds of quantitative modeling projects that the Pilkeys discuss in their book.  Each example demonstrates failures of quantitative modeling, including:

  • maximum sustainable yield and the Atlantic cod fishery,
  • plans for storing highly radioactive nuclear waste in Yuka Mountain,
  • invasive weed species,
  • 1972 Club of Rome Report, Limits to Growth,
  • McNamara’s management of the Vietnam War,
  • abandoned pit mines water toxicity,
  • forecasting on Wall Street,
  • Enron collapse,
  • EPA second-hand smoke studies
  • Lord Kelvin and the age of the Earth
  • soil erosion on sandy coasts
  • engineered beaches
  • salt-marsh grass
  • Brown Tree Snakes on the Island of Guam

We also get a thorough introduction to Orrin Pilkey’s specialty — developed shorelines, treated in two chapters and the appendix.   These should be required reading for anyone living in the coastal communities on any of the seven seas.

Already in the second chapter, the Pilkeys begin to develop a typology for modeling.  This comes with a long list of common modeling errors.  This genealogy of models – mathematical, applied, quantitative, qualitative, statistical, epidemiology, simulations, analytic, numerical, static, dynamic, conceptual – are all discussed with an eye to how the model employed can distort our understanding of reality.  Other sources of reality distortion result from computer coding, uncertain debugging and quality assurance in computer programming, algorithmic biases based on important assumptions, situational bias, model-tweaking, pessimist and optimist biases, advocacy and politically correct biases. All of this, compounded and confounded by increasing complexity, causes us to often ask the wrong questions. We don’t look back. I will refer to these as tragic errors,  distortions that arise because we are always imperfect humans being.  We are finite and mortal.  We make mistakes.

There are other sets of modeling distortion.  Let’s call these complexity errors, becausethese errors result from the nature of complexity itself.  Our models necessarily make assumptions about partially known and unknown relationships, expressed in ordering complexity with different valences, intensities, and vectors.  There are negative and positive feedback, linear and nonlinear systems, deterministic or probabilistic strategies.  So too I might add exponentially more data sets, but also exponentially more models.  It’s models all the way down.

Complex models often exhibit sensitivity.  This means that when some small variable is changed, the system changes dramatically.  Complex models can exhibit sensitivity to initial conditions, variations in guiding assumptions, and minor modifications in ordering the parameters.  The Pilkeys remind us that “the sensitivity of the parameters in the equation is what is being determined, not the sensitivity of the parameters of nature.”(25)  The italics is theirs, so let me restate and interpret. 

There are two problems that need to be solved in every model of complexity.  First, what is the ordering of complexity in the system, the timing and intensity of different parameters?  And second, how does one best “re-represent” this ordering of these parameters and complexities mathematically on a computer?  Algorithms need to be imagined.  Relationships defined.  Data collected.  Data analyzed. Values assumed.  Code written.  Models tested.  Simulations run.  And all of this — the algorithms, the lines of code, sets of data, computer storage and processing — have all been growing exponentially over the last three decades.  But, and this is what the Pilkeys are emphasizing, as a simulation leading to predictions, the computer model is only simulating and testing itself.   The computer re-representation is not “run” on the actual complex natural phenomena. 

The Pilkeys show that substituting mathematics for nature is itself a source of errors in modeling nature.  What is most illuminating are the varied ways that models are corrupted and misguided.  What is the impact of substituting laboratory measurements for nature?  What happens when we scale up short-term predictions into long-term predictions?  What happens when one chooses and omits different parameters in a model of nature?  What we do not know about initial conditions in a model of nature?  What happens with the intrusion of forces from outside of a particular model of nature?

The Pilkeys are advocates of qualitative modeling, which at best can be used only to predict general directions of change and possible magnitudes.  Qualitative modeling will not presume to offer a numerical answer with a range of error.  The approach asks why, how, and what if.  Qualitative modeling can also use large datasets, computer simulations, and lots of arithmetic, but they used to explore different scenarios, contingencies, and normative relationships.  At the end, there is also humility and uncertainty, multiple scenarios, and no hard and fast predictions.  The authors offer the following chart, in other words, a model of modeling (200).

Scenario Planning

Strategic Planning or Mathematical Modeling

Qualitative input

Quantitative input

Exploits uncertainties

Minimizes uncertainty

Long-range planning

Short-term planning

Multiple answers

Single answer

Planning for the future

Predicting the future

Hypothetical events

Predetermined goals

The bad news about complex predictions is that we don’t know anything and we can’t know anything —  not about future climate change,  not about storing radioactive waste over eons, not about managing declining fisheries or invasive weed species.  Science is butting its head against more and more complexity horizons, my term, not theirs.  Science discovers complexity horizon that it cannot cross, but cannot yet accept.  This is not a problem that can be solved with bigger datasets, more code, more powerful supercomputers, and less flawed and politicized science. 

We cannot look over this horizon of complexity, in part, because we are mortal humans with normal human problems.  We do not have a God’s eye view of the world and ourselves.  This means that science will always be distorted by political and economic interests, the culture and personalities of the scientists at that time.  Even if we could minimize all of these “externalities”, science is still confronted with the problem of complexity itself.  When the phenomenon is networked, reiterative, nonlinear, creative; then prediction will not work. 

The Pilkeys focus on environmental changes, but I suspect that many scientists are on similar wild-goose chases when it comes to hope for understanding and controlling complex genetic systems, developmental biology, cognitive neurosciences, and a whole slough of other phenomena.  Complexity is not just more; it is something new.  There are known limits to computational complexity (Harel 2000).  There are known limits to science (Barrow 1999).  And the really creative processes in nature and by humans in nature tend to be complex distributed systems, not amenable to deterministic modeling (Kelly 1994)  This is the greatest challenge for science today.  It is also a challenge to any applied bioethics or environmental ethics, because the consequences of actions cannot be known in advance.

Again science produces lots of useful and reliable predictions.  Mathematical modeling works well enough with simpler systems, like plotting the motion of the stars and planets in the evening sky or designing a modern bridge with stress-engineering of concrete and steel under variable loads and conditions.  Multiply the variables, however, add a lot feedback loops, grow the complexity of a system, and suddenly predictive modeling becomes an exercise in futility.  Predictive modeling cannot yield valid predictions for any complex natural and human related processes. This is truly the Earth shattering story, which really should be on the front page of the New York Times, not to mention Fox News.  This story is about the approaching limits of science, at least a certain kind of science.

After goring so many sacred cows, it is perhaps understandable that the Pilkeys resist the temptation to move into metaphysics, philosophy, and applied ethics.  These iconoclasts have already gotten themselves into a lot of hot water with their colleagues.  One conclusion to be drawn is that humanity is now thrust willy-nilly into the role of managing the Earth, not that we really know what we are doing.  The Pilkeys advocate a qualitative modeling approach, which aspires to predict mere tendencies, directions, and magnitudes of changing systems.  After all of the qualifications and caveats though, I am not sure qualitative modeling has much more to offer in the way of certainty, comfort, or a clear plan of action.  The future will always be shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty.

And that is the bad news enumerated in Useless Arithmetic.  Humans will never have the complete know-how, even though we certainly have increasing can-do.  Humans have themselves become an important variable in the future evolution of the planet.  This book offers no comfort or consolation.  The Pilkeys offer no hard and fast predictions.

The good news is that we live and think in a networked universe.  Our environment is networked, as are our networked bodies with our networked brains in our networked culture.  Let’s call it a metanexus.  You and I are surrounded by, constituted by, and are also ourselves dynamic components within all kinds of complex distributed systems.  These systems transcend us and form us, even as we also participate in their transformation.  The universe is metanexus all the way down.  These complex distributed systems exhibit creative intelligence, even elegance, though not unfailingly to our benefit.  Still some amazement and gratitude are evoked.  This seems like a promising point of departure for a new theology of nature based on a rather different understanding of nature (and science).  I also find it hopeful that science has known theoretical and practical limits.  Do not get me wrong.  Push the mechanistic, reductionist, and predictive envelope as far as possible.  Without the skeptics like the Pilkeys, however, there would be no way of escaping from “misplaced concreteness”.

Science must now recognize that there are non-reducible emergent, transcendent systems, which seem to constitute many of the most interesting and creative phenomena in our contextual universe – ecosystems, genomics, brains, and culture.  No amount of mathematical modeling, computer simulations, reiterative databases, and paradigm filtering will get us beyond this horizon of complexity.   We may hope that an “Invisible Hand”, reputably at play in free economic markets to the maximum benefit of all, is also at play in the free evolution of technology, culture, and the planet.  We won’t know for certain, but the very hope itself now becomes a variable in our future modeling and doings.

None of this relieves us of the risks and responsibilities of taking action.  We have to make choices.  We have to project desirable outcomes.  Let us try to model, design, and build for sustainable and better futures.  Expect adaptation.  Think geology.

How should governments, business, and citizens respond to the real and/or perceived threat of global climate change?   The Pilkeys don’t really say.  Perhaps the question is as perplexing as asking how one would plan for and respond to a dramatic non-anthropogenic climate change?   Still I wish they had been more explicit in their recommendations for the stray business leaders, elected leaders, and eclectic citizens who might pick up this book.

For my part, we need to deemphasize climate change and look at other variables.  There are many compelling arguments for radically reducing fossil fuel consumptions.  These reasons do not depend on prognostications of climate models.  Reducing fossil fuel consumption will improve local environmental air and water quality.  It will increase health, safety and quality of life.  It will slow resource depletion.  Reducing fossil fuel consumption can improve the bottom-line for individuals, corporations, and entire economies.  There are also important national security interests at risk, if we do not dramatically reduce fossil fuel consumption.  We don’t need a global climate change scare, in order to justify, rationalize, or motivate, what should already be obvious and sound public and private policy.  It is in the best interest of the United States and the world to dramatically reduce fossil fuel consumption, especially through increased efficiency, while also developing alternative energy sources.  I wonder whether the Pilkeys would agree.  After reading their chapter on nuclear waste storage, I doubt they would be enthusiastic about increasing nuclear power production as one of those alternative strategies.  Again, the authors leave us hanging, perhaps intentionally.

Useless Arthmetic is a book that should be adopted widely in college courses because professors and students both need to read it.  It is directly relevant in departments of engineering, environmental science, economics, public policy, medicine, sociology, psychology, history of science, law schools, computer science, and applied mathematics.  I would also add departments of philosophy, religion, and theology, who have a vested interest in understanding the content, practices, limits, and interpretations of science.

In the end, the qualitative modeling advocated by the Pilkeys will also fail to make useful predictions.  Perhaps their approach offers more understanding with less explanation.  When they do fail, they will do so humbly and with multiple scenarios in their back pocket.  This may not be very satisfying.   Remember that humans are being asked to make major political and economic decisions in response to an unknown threat of anthropogenic climate change.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of the many and varied complex ways that humans and nature interact.

The Pilkeys call for an adaptive management.  To this we might add adaptive epistemology.  This strategy is the most potentially transformative take-home from the book, but very few examples are offered.  It would be nice if they developed adaptive management and adaptive epistemology with lots of specific examples. How do corporations, governments, and people actually implement an adaptive management strategy?   How would scientists practice adaptive epistemology?  Perhaps their next book will offer stories of successful case studies, the lessons learned, the successes counted, and the adaptations made. We need a lot more examples of successful case studies in the world today.


References

Barrow, John D. (1999). Impossibility: The Limits of Science and the Science of Limits. New York, Oxford University Press.

Harel, David (2000). Computers Ltd.: What They Really Can’t Do. New York, Oxford University Press.

Kelly, Kevin (1994). Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World. New York, Addison-Wesley.

Pilkey, Orrin H. and Linda Plkey-Jarvis (2007). Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can’t Predict the Future. New York, Columbia University Press.

“Science must now recognize that there are non-reducible emergent, transcendent systems, which seem to constitute many of the most interesting and creative phenomena in our contextual universe – ecosystems, genomics, brains, and culture.  No amount of mathematical modeling, computer simulations, reiterative databases, and paradigm filtering will get us beyond this horizon of complexity.   We may hope that an “Invisible Hand”, reputably at play in free economic markets to the maximum benefit of all, is also at play in the free evolution of technology, culture, and the planet.  We won’t know for certain, but the very hope itself now becomes a variable in our future modeling and doings.  None of this relieves us of the risks and responsibilities of taking action.  We have to make choices.  We have to project desirable outcomes.  Let us try to model, design, and build for sustainable and better futures.  Expect adaptation.  Think geology.” 3/26/2007 03/26/2007 9855 Genesis according to Hindu visions

The Rig Veda, which is said to date back to more than five millennia, has visions of cosmic origins. The best known of these is the Nâsadîya or Creation Hymn which appears in the tenth book of the work. Here one speaks of a pre-creation stage in which there was nothing in the universe, a poetic vision of the pre-Big Bang phase, as it were.

Not even nothing existed then
No air yet, and no heaven.
Who encased and kept it where?
Was water in the darkness there?

Neither deathlessness nor decay
No, nor the rhythm of night and day:
The self-existent, with breath sans air:
That, and that alone was there.

Darkness was in darkness found
Like light-less water all around.
One emerged, with nothing on
It was from heat that this was born.

In it did Desire, its way did find:
The primordial seed born of mind.
Sages do know deep in the heart:
What exists is kin to what does not.

Across the void the cord was thrown,
The place of every thing was known.
Seed-sowers and powers now came by,
Impulse below and force on high.

Who really knows, and who can swear,
How creation arose, when or where!
Even gods came after creation’s day,
Who really knows, who can truly say

When and how did creation start?
Did He do it? Or did He not?
Only He up there knows, maybe;
Or perhaps, not even He.

In a truly anthroposensitive way, the verse says that desire found its way into that void, suggesting the primordial seed was born of a cosmic Mind. This vision affirms a spiritual under-grounding to the world at large. Note the statement here: “Even gods came after creation’s day.” In this reflection on Genesis, we find a disarming modesty, for the sage-poet also exclaims, “Who really knows, and who can swear!” It is simplistic to imagine that a religious worldview will necessarily have to be dogmatic.

Hinduism is unique in offering more than one interpretation for cosmogenesis. Given that all life seems to arise from an egg, ancient Hindu thinkers pictured the world too as sprouting out from an egg. For so magnificent an entity as the world the origin had to be grand and glorious and golden. Thus, it all emerged from Hiranyagarbha or the Golden Womb “which floated upon the surface of the primeval waters.” This is the Cosmic Intelligence, the Designing Mind which came to be called Brahmâ. It is interesting that in the twentieth century L’Abbé Lemaître, a proponent of the Big Bang theory used a similar imagery when he spoke of the universe arising from the explosion of the cosmic egg.

Beyond all the mythologies and the mathematics, beyond all the poetry of physics and the tales of tradition, Brahmâ stands for the supreme abstraction of that unfathomable mystery of Crea­tion from which has sprung this magnificent universe we experience.

The Rig Veda, which is said to date back to more than five millennia, has visions of cosmic origins. The best known of these is the Nâsadîya or Creation Hymn which appears in the tenth book of the work. Here one speaks of a pre-creation stage in which there was nothing in the universe, a poetic vision of the pre-Big Bang phase. 3/26/2007 03/26/2007 9856 R.O.S.C.O. (Right On Schedule, Chill Out): Global warming as inevitable

I burnt my feet very badly once, spilling ignited gasoline on them by mistake. I went up in flames. For a while I felt no pain. I got to experience the way the body sets upper limits on excruciation in the short term. I take comfort from knowing that some sudden physical shocks donít feel as bad as they look.

I learn about global warming. It worries me the way nuclear war used to. Well, not really the same way. Nuclear war is the heart attack of global disasters. It would be a sudden shock, jumping us as though from behind. Global warming is more like cancer. It approaches you slowly, and at first abstractly from the front. The doctors inform you that itís coming to get you.

The news these days–really just in the last few years–informs us weíve got the cancer. Itís malignant.

Anyone who has witnessed someone struggling with severe cancer knows that the complications compound and cascade. Global warming has that in common with cancer.

Still, thereís a limit on how much pain the news causes me. Next to every article about global warming, thereís an article about something with milder implications–the Oscars, local politics. In a way itís absurd. If the bigger-news-means-bigger-font headline format were applied to whole newspapers, global warming stories should saturate the paper in ink. Still, we read, heave a deep but short sigh, and move on to other news.

When we look into the future and see something coming, we call it inevitable. When we look into the past and say, ìHad we known then what we know now,î weíre also tempted to call it inevitable, even if it wasnít. Hindsight is always 20-20.

I suspect that global warming was inevitable, as was our inability to predict it, and as is our limited response to it. Indeed, I suspect that if intelligent–that is, symbol- and tool-using–life were to evolve anywhere else in the universe, it too would deal with a climate crisis like ours, and deal with it as ambivalently as we do.

In the mid-1700s we discovered fossil fuels. By 1800 we had found ways to use them to do work. By the late 1900s, having become dependent on fossil fuels, we began to recognize global warming, the perilous side effect of using fossil fuels. By the early 2000s, though the evidence is quite clear, many still deny it, and far more donít do much about it.

Inevitable? Really, what are the odds of such a turn of events? If you ran thousands of planets through the process of evolving life, and eventually intelligent life, how likely is it that they would end up dealing with a cancer like global warming?

Unbeknownst to our ancestors, say 15,000 years ago, pooled beneath their feet was the accumulated biomass of roughly 300 million years of life. Whatís the likelihood that such an enormous accumulation of concentrated energy from the past would be pooled within a planet occupied by an intelligent life form–one well on the way to complex tool and symbol use?

Given that it would take a very long time for intelligent life to evolve anywhere in the universe, then anywhere intelligent life evolved, there would likely have been many prior life forms. By their nature, life forms concentrate potential energy. By its nature, evolution depends upon cycles of life and death. So an intelligent life form standing (crawling, slithering, hoverboarding, or whatever) atop a concentration of prior biomass? Intelligent life forms arenít that likely, but were they to emerge, their chances of sitting on a goldmine of concentrated energy would actually be pretty high.

Whatís the likelihood that this intelligent life form would learn how to tap and use its planetís biomass reserve to do work? Also very high, if it got far enough to make complex tools. Tool use is an inevitable evolutionary adaptation. Using oneís body to fashion tools that in effect extend the body would be the inevitable outcome for any creature capable of complex mental modeling and subtle manipulation of the physical world.

Whatís the likelihood of a substantial delay before this intelligent life form noticed the unintended and undesirable consequences of consuming in a very short time the potential energy that had accumulated over a very long time? Well, how likely is it that an intelligent life form would learn tool use before learning to predict subtle, complex long-term consequences?

Very likely. Indeed, for us it was burning through the fossil fuels that made the industrial revolution possible, which made the institutions of continual scientific progress possible, which gave us the ability to predict subtle, complex long-term consequences. We couldnít have known about global warming without having caused it–and not just because by causing it we gave ourselves something to know about. It was in the process of causing it that we became perceptive enough to detect something as complex as a long-term trend in climate change.

Well, even without predicting global warming, couldnít we have guessed that using the fossil fuel would have drastic consequences? Whatís the likelihood that an intelligent life form anywhere in the universe would have behaved more responsibly to future generations by resisting the temptation to exploit the concentrated potential energy so quickly?

Low. What precedent is there for any beings to collectively resist exploiting ready resources? All species consume whatever resources they can exploit. Weíre not greedier than other organisms, weíre just far better than most at finding new ways to exploit resources. Intelligence makes us much better than other creatures at resisting temptation, and we were never more intelligent than we are now. That intelligence provides us with greater capacity to exploit resources and greater capacity to resist temptation, but the latter is unlikely to outpace the former in any intelligent life form. Our intelligence arises from our powers of exploitation, which would always tend to get ahead of our capacity for foresight-motivated self-restraint.

Itís hard to imagine a creature that would gain the capacity for collective self-restraint in the service of very long-term goals before gaining the capacity to tap into accumulated biomass. But thatís what it would have taken to even retard the blaze that has consumed roughly half of our oil reserves in the last fifty years.

The ìPolitically Incorrect Guide (PIG) to Global Warmingî is number 55 on Amazonís best-seller list this week. Written by a senior fellow at the ExxonMobil-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute, its inside cover text reads: ìFor decades, environmentalism has been the Leftís best excuse for increasing government control over our actions in ways both large and small. Itís for Mother Earth! Itís for the children! Itís for the whales! But until now, the doomsday-scenario environmental scares theyíve trumped up havenít been large enough to justify the lifestyle restrictions they want to impose. With global warming, however, greenhouse gasbags can argue that auto emissions in Ohio threaten people in Paris. . . . î

Last week, House ranking Republican member Jim McCrery argued against measures to curb global warming, saying that he doubts whether hurting the nationís economy and losing jobs to China and India is worth preventing ìa mere one degree rise in global temperature.î

George Bush hasnít seen ìInconvenient Truth.î

This too is entirely predictable. Human symbolic capacity has given us, among other things, an extraordinary power for ambiguity. Symbols are useful largely because they are so flexible. With our symbolic capacity, we gain the ability to infer, to find possible meanings in things. This helps us find clues to reality, inferring from ice core measurements a realistic assessment of carbon dioxide levels millennia ago. It also gives us the ability to infer unrealistically optimistic interpretations that sidestep reality. Language is intrinsically slippery. Language without the potential for rhetoric would not be language.

So of course we would have people reading the signs on global warming differently. And of course a substantial number of us would ease the abstract pain of a global cancer diagnosis with the rhetoric of denial.

Iím fifty and I realize now that I blew it. Iíve wasted my whole life learning things I now already know. Not only that, Iíve been imprudent. Like the guy who eats all his french fries and dessert before his broccoli, I used up all my best years first rather than spreading my adolescent vitality evenly across the entire length of my life.

I take some comfort from recognizing that itís not just me. We all do that. We couldnít help but do it. Weíre right on schedule, doing what any late-blooming intelligent life form would have done, exploiting the rich stuff first before realizing that there might be costs, and then denying the costs as long as slippery language would let us.

R.O.S.C.O.: Right on schedule, chill out. We are probably one of several intelligent life forms in the universe that have gotten this far, to the brink of a puzzle our native wit may or may not have the wherewithal to solve. At the very macro-evolutionary scale, intelligence is being vetted for viability, probably not just here but on several planets throughout the universe dealing with similar problems.

At the rate diseases are becoming treatable, a lot of illnesses these days impose a bitter irony. If you die of an illness today that becomes treatable within the next two hundred years, think about your haplessness. Four billion years of life on earth and just your luck to be born two hundred measly years before life figured out how to cure what youíve got. With global warming, it could be that way for all of us, afflicted with a cancer just shy of the collective native wit and wherewithal necessary to treat it.

One of the slipperiest aspects of language is the way it slips between levels of analysis. Notice how the rhetoric from the book jacket implies that itís addressing global warming but really itís an analysis one level up–an analysis of how the Left addresses global warming.

R.O.S.C.O. is a handy concept, but one that can easily be construed as an argument for complacency. Yes, at one level the conflict between forces for denial and alertness to global warming within and between us are right on schedule and in perfect harmony with each other. But thatís no reason to stop fighting. Chill out about the fact that thereís a fight, and keep fighting the forces of denial.

R.O.S.C.O. is a handy concept, but one that can easily be construed as an argument for complacency. Yes, at one level the conflict between forces for denial and alertness to global warming within and between us are right on schedule and in perfect harmony with each other. But thatís no reason to stop fighting. Chill out about the fact that thereís a fight, and keep fighting the forces of denial. Originally published on Mind Readers Dictionary; www.mindreadersdictionary.org. 3/26/2007 03/26/2007 9857 John Haught Explores Contemporart Science and Christian Faith

PHILADELPHIA, PA…Georgetown theologian John Haught, 2006-07 Metanexus Fellow, will give a series of thought-provoking talks entitled Science and Christian Faith beginning December 6 and continuing into 2007. The five-part series will take place at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, co-sponsor of the events with Metanexus Institute. The talks will begin at 7:30 pm and are free and open to the public. Sessions will include respondents from other religious traditions and offer opportunities for the audience to participate in the dialogue.

A prominent theologian, Haught specializes in systematic theology, with a particular interest in issues pertaining to science, cosmology, ecology, and religion. This series of talks constitutes some of the content that Haught is developing into a new book. In his own words, Haught describes his subject matter,

Developments in geology, evolutionary biology and cosmology have left no doubt that the whole of nature, and not just our planet and human history, have an essentially narrative character. Formerly the heavens seemed steady enough to frame all the stories unfolding on earth. The firmament was a place of refuge to which worldlings could flee, at least in contemplation, from the flow of events here below. But during the last century the heavens too got swallowed up by a story, one that now seems almost too large for the telling.

What is Christian theology going to make of this larger story, one that infinitely outstrips in time and space the brief span of human flourishing and the even more fleeting moments of Hebrew and Christian religious history? Science has discovered a world that moves on a scale unimaginable to the prophets and evangelists. Is it possible that the universe has outgrown the biblical God who is said to be its Creator? Many thoughtful people today have concluded that this is exactly what has happened.

The very substance of Christian faith seems irreversibly intertwined with the outworn imagery of an unmoving planet nested in an unchanging cosmos. Can Christianity and its theological interpretations find a fresh foothold in the immense and mobile universe of contemporary science, or will science itself replace our inherited spiritualities altogether, as many now see happening? The Jesuit geologist Teilhard de Chardin asks: “Is the Christ of the Gospels, imagined and loved within the dimensions of a Mediterranean world, capable of still embracing and still forming the centre of our prodigiously expanded universe?”

The individual talks and dates are:

  1. Wednesday, December 6: “Einstein, Religion and Christian Theology”
  2. Wednesday, January 10: “What’s Going on in the Universe?: A Christian Perspective”
  3. Monday, February 19: “Scientific Truth and Christian Faith”
  4. Wednesday, April 25: “Darwin and Christ: Toward a Theology of
    Evolution
     
  5. Wednesday, May 23: “Science, Death and Resurrection”

John F. Haught is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University. His area of specialization is systematic theology, with a particular interest in issues pertaining to science, cosmology, ecology, and religion. He is the author of Deeper Than Darwin: Evolution and the Question of God (Westview, 2003); Responses to 101 Questions on God and Evolution (Paulist Press, 2001); God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution (Westview Press, 2000); Science and Religion: From Conflict to Conversation (Paulist Press, 1995); The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose (Paulist Press, 1993); Mystery and Promise: A Theology of Revelation (Liturgical Press, 1993); and many others, as well as numerous articles and reviews. He lectures often on topics related to religion and science, cosmology, theology, and ecology. Haught serves as chairman of the Academic Advisory Board of Metanexus Institute.

The Metanexus Institute advances scientific research, education and outreach on the constructive engagement of science and religion. Metanexus is a leader in a growing network of individuals and groups exploring the dynamic interface between cosmos, nature, and culture in communities and on campuses throughout the world. Metanexus sponsors dialogue groups, lectures, workshops, research, courses, grants, and publications. Metanexus leads and facilitates over 300 projects in 43 countries. Projects include the Local Societies Initiative, the Templeton Research Lectures, and topical interdisciplinary research projects such as the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Project, Spiritual Capital, Templeton Advanced Research Program, and other endeavors. A membership organization, Metanexus hosts an online journal with over 370,000 monthly page views and 9,000 subscribers in 57 countries.

Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church is located at 625 Montgomery Avenue in Bryn Mawr, PA, 610-525-2821. The church has a 133-year history and, with more than 3000 members, is one of the larger congregations of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Priorities include excellence in worship music and preaching, commitment to outreach and worldwide ministries, Christian education for all ages, connecting faith with the culture in which we live, and a spirit of inclusivity. For directions, go to www.bmpc.org/Directions.html.

10/23/2006 03/26/2007 9858 Local Societies Initiative Final Round Awards Ten Science and Religion Dialogue Groups

PHILADELPHIA, PA…Ten international science and religion dialogue groups were awarded $15,000 three-year grants in the final round of the highly successful Local Societies Initiative of the Metanexus Institute. They will join 230 other groups in 40 countries who are doing outstanding work advancing the constructive engagement of science and religion and to promote transdisciplinary approaches to foundational questions. The new groups are in Australia, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, and the USA. The LSI network brings multiple perspectives to the worldwide dialogue on nature, culture, and cosmos.

The LSI grant program, made possible by the generous funding of the John Templeton Foundation of Conshohocken, PA, and supported by participating educational and religious institutions around the world, has provided organizational and programming support for dynamic associations of scientists, theologians, clergy, philosophers, and other engaged citizens interested in exploring issues arising at the intersection of science and religion. With the new grantees, the LSI network is comprised of more than 240 dialogue societies in 42 nations on six continents. LSI societies are found on the campuses of major research universities, both national and international; elite liberal arts colleges; seminaries; state universities; private religious schools; graduate academies; and faith communities. As LSI enters its sixth year, the program to date has driven over $6.5 million in mutual support for the science and religion dialogue, resulting in an LSI network that has become what may be the most diverse, broadly competent, and dynamic association of academics, clergy, and intellectuals anywhere in the world, committed both to the rigorous exploration of the most fundamental questions of the cosmos and human existence and to the search for creative solutions to the most profound challenges the contemporary world presents.

Metanexus Institute is a leader in a growing network of individuals and groups exploring the dynamic interface between cosmos, nature, and culture in communities and on campuses throughout the world. Metanexus sponsors dialogue groups, lectures, workshops, research, courses, grants, and publications. Metanexus leads and facilitates over 300 projects in 43 countries. Projects include the Local Societies Initiative, the Templeton Research Lectures, and topical interdisciplinary research projects such as the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Project, Spiritual Capital, Templeton Advanced Research Program, and other endeavors. A membership organization, Metanexus hosts an online journal with over 370,000 monthly page views and 9,000 subscribers in 57 countries.

For further information on the 240 Local Societies and their extraordinary work, please go to www.metanexus.net/lsi.

Local Societies Initiative July 2006 Grantees

 

UWS Psychology and Spirituality Society
Department of Psychology, University of Western Sydney Penrith, Australia Chair: Maureen H. Miner, Ph.D.

 

Science & Spirituality Society
Fundaci—n SOLES Santiago, Chile Chair: Daniela Cecilia Thumala, M.Sc.

 

Oklahoma Society for Science and Faith
Southern Nazarene University Bethany, Oklahoma, USA Chairs: Brint A. Montgomery, Ph.D. and Mark Winslow, Ph.D.

 

The Stetson Center for Science, Nature, and the Sacred
Department of Religious Studies, Stetson University Deland, Florida, USA Chair: Donald W. Musser, Ph.D.

 

Foro de Di‡logo Ciencia y Fe (Dialogue Forum on Science and Faith)
Sociedad Educativa Champagnat, A.C.
Universidad Marista de San Luis Potos’
San Luis Potos’, Mexico
Chair: José Ignacio Algara Coss’o, M.Sc., M. Phil.
 

 

Working Group on Religion, Ethics and Nature
Ohio Northern University Ada, Ohio, USA Chairs: Forrest Clingerman, Ph.D. and Mark Dixon, Ph.D.

 

Theology and the Natural Sciences in Aotearoa Auckland (TANSAA)
Tyndale-Carey Graduate School, Bible College of New Zealand Henderson, Waitakere City, New Zealand Chair: Nicola Hoggard Creegan, Ph.D.

 

Baltimore Society for Science/Religion Understanding
Physics Department, Loyola College Maryland Baltimore, Maryland, USA Chair: Gregory N. Derry, Ph.D.

10/17/2006 03/26/2007 9859 Eric Weislogel Named New Executive Director of Metanexus

PHILADELPHIA…Metanexus Institute, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announced today that organization founder and executive director Dr. William Grassie has stepped aside as executive director, but will retain important responsibilities with the organization. Dr. Eric Weislogel, who has been with the organization for five years as director of the Institute’s highly successful Local Societies Initiative, will become the new executive director effective October 1. The announcement was made by Dr. Kathleen Duffy, S.S.J., president of the Metanexus Board of Directors.

William Grassie will continue to serve as executive editor of Metanexus Institute’s online magazine, as Metanexus launches a new publication called The Global Spiral in the coming months. Grassie will also continue to travel and speak on behalf of the Institute, and he will oversee several initiatives, including the Templeton Research Lectures project. Grassie serves on the Institute’s governing and academic boards.

“We are enormously grateful to William Grassie for his extraordinary vision and boundless energy and for a leadership style that has enabled the Metanexus Institute to develop so rapidly into a dynamic worldwide organization,” said Duffy. “At the same time, we have every confidence in Eric Weislogel’s leadership and creativity. His experience in shaping Metanexus’ powerful global network of dialogue groups provides a strong platform upon which to build future programs.”

“Change in leadership is healthy,” noted Grassie. “By giving up the day-to-day responsibilities of managing this remarkable organization, I hope to be able to better serve the institution and its partners in more focused ways—writing and speaking, teaching and networking, publishing and fundraising.”

William Grassie began the organization in 1997 with the creation of the “Meta-List,” a small-moderated listserv providing scholarly articles and dialogue on religion and science. From an initial list of 600 subscribers, the forum quickly grew to nearly 9,000 subscribers. The publication has evolved into a rich collection of thousands of essays from many of the leading scholars of our time. It receives hundreds of thousands of page views every month and has become a primary resource in the science and religion dialogue. The organization has grown into a worldwide network of some 300 partners in 43 countries.

Grassie received his doctorate in religion from Temple University in 1994, where he specialized in the philosophy of religion and science. In 1995, while teaching in Temple’s Intellectual Heritage Program, Grassie applied for and received a grant from the Templeton Science and Religion Course Program. He taught “Science and the Sacred” at the University of Pennsylvania to general acclaim in the spring of 1996. With the success of the Meta-List in 1997, Grassie and four professors at the University of Pennsylvania incorporated in 1998 as the Philadelphia Center for Religion and Science (PCRS). In 2000, the Meta-List became a website, www.metanexus.net.

In 2001, PCRS changed its name to the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science to reflect the organization’s growing international profile and to capitalize on the successful website publication. Grassie led the Institute through a period of rapid growth, managing a staff of 17 and many consultants. The organization has developed and administered several hundred projects through strategic alliances, including many university-based projects funded by the Templeton Foundation. This past spring, Grassie led an delegation to Iran for dialogue on science and religion. This fall, Grassie will lecture in China, Thailand, India, and Indonesia as part of Metanexus’ Local Societies Initiative.

Incoming executive director Dr. Eric Weislogel initiated and developed Metanexus’ growing network of Local Societies from its inception in 2001. He brings to the Institute unique skills, developed in both higher education and industry. Before coming to Metanexus, Weislogel served as the manager of business process consulting for UEC Technologies, a unit of U.S. Steel, and was assistant professor of philosophy at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 1990 to1997. Weislogel received his masters in philosophy from Villanova University in 1987 and his doctorate in philosophy from the Pennsylvania State University in 1995. He has published a number of philosophical essays and reviews in such journals as Philosophy Today, Idealistic Studies, Philosophy in Review, Science and Theology News, and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Weislogel’s main philosophical interest consists in the interplay of postmodernism, religion, science, and politics.

Weislogel commented, “This is a very exciting time in the evolution of Metanexus and the worldwide movement to promote transdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue on the great questions of our time. The Metanexus Institute is poised to strengthen existing projects and resources as it pursues a variety of exciting new ideas. I look forward to this leadership opportunity to help Metanexus make a significant contribution to education and to global intellectual and cultural life in general.”

The Metanexus Institute advances scientific research, education and outreach on the constructive engagement of science and religion. Metanexus is a leader in a growing network of individuals and groups exploring the dynamic interface between cosmos, nature, and culture in communities and on campuses throughout the world. Metanexus sponsors dialogue groups, lectures, workshops, research, courses, grants, and publications. Metanexus leads and facilitates over 300 projects in 43 countries. Projects include the Local Societies Initiative, the Templeton Research Lectures, and topical interdisciplinary research projects such as the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Project, Spiritual Capital, Templeton Advanced Research Program, and other endeavors. A membership organization, Metanexus hosts an online journal with over 370,000 monthly page views and 9,000 subscribers in 57 countries. 

9/30/2006 03/26/2007 9860 $160,000 Awarded to Societies Around the World Fostering Science and Religion Dialogue

Philadelphia, PA (June 6, 2006) In support of an ongoing effort to advance the constructive engagement of science and religion and to promote transdisciplinary approaches to foundational questions, grant prizes of $10,000 each were awarded on June 6, 2005, to sixteen (16) outstanding religion and science dialogue societies from around the world by the Local Societies Initiative (LSI), a project of the Philadelphia-based Metanexus Institute.

The LSI grant program, made possible by the generous funding of the John Templeton Foundation of Conshohocken, PA, and supported by participating educational and religious institutions around the world, provides organizational and programming support for dynamic associations of scientists, theologians, clergy, philosophers, and other engaged citizens interested in exploring issues arising at the intersection of science and religion. The LSI network is comprised of more than 230 dialogue societies in 40 nations on six continents. LSI societies are found on the campuses of major research universities, both national and international; elite liberal arts colleges; for-profit educational institutions; seminaries; state universities; private religious schools; graduate academies; and faith communities. As LSI enters its sixth year, the program to date has driven over $6.5 million in mutual support for the science and religion dialogue, resulting in an LSI network that has become what may be the most diverse, broadly competent, and dynamic association of academics, clergy, and intellectuals anywhere in the world, committed both to the rigorous exploration of the most fundamental questions of the cosmos and human existence and to the search for creative solutions to the most profound challenges the contemporary world presents.

The 2006 LSI Grant Prizes, supplemental to the basic program grants every society is awarded, were presented by Dr. Eric Weislogel, Director of the Local Societies Initiative, accompanied by Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., MD, President of the John Templeton Foundation, to selected LSI societies in recognition of organizational excellence, creative programming for their communities, and significant contributions to the larger science and religion movement. This year’s winning societies come from China, England, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia, Spain, Thailand, and Turkey.

According to Dr. Weislogel, “Metanexus and the LSI global network aim to integrate the best of religion and the best of science in the service of humanity and our world in a practical and effective way. The imperative for constructive engagements between scientific and religious communities, and for undertaking the kinds of diverse and creative projects in which the LSI societies around the world engage, has never been more pressing. We hope to promote a more integral or holistic understanding of ourselves and our world in order to forge new and healing relationships in a troubled world.”

“LSI brings together visionary and creative thinkers, researchers, and teachers in support of our mutual efforts to come to understand ourselves and our world, the cosmos and the divine,” said Dr. Weislogel.

  • The $10,000 LSI Grants Prizes were awarded to:
    Bursa Local Society Initiative
    University of Uludag
    Bursa, Turkey
    Chair: Bülent Şenay, Ph.D.
  • Nature, Intentionality, and Finality – Oxford Group
    Ian Ramsey Centre, Theology Faculty
    University of Oxford
    Oxford, UK
    Chair: Margaret Yee, Ph.D.
  • Center for the Study of Science and Human Spirituality
    Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST)
    Wuhan, China
    Chair: Ouyang Kang, Ph.D.
  • Etruscan Local Group
    Universit‡ Degli Studi di Perugia
    Universit‡ di Pisa
    Perugia, Italy
    Chair: Lodovico Galleni, Ph.D.
  • Salatiga Circle for In-dept Study of Science and Religion Relation (SCISOSSAR)
    Yasa Luhur Foundation
    Salatiga, Indonesia
    Chair: Liek Wilardjo, Ph.D., D.Sc.
  • Fundaci—n Xavier Zubiri LSI
    Fundaci—n Xavier Zubiri
    Madrid, Spain
    Chair: Diego Gracia, Ph.D.
  • Local Society of the Studio Filosofico Interprovinciale “San Tommaso d’Aquino”
    Napoli, Italy
    Chair: Fernando di Mieri, Ph.D.
  • The Thousand Stars Buddhism and Science Group
    The Thousand Stars Foundation
    Nonthaburi, Thailand
    Chair: Soraj Hongladarom, Ph.D.
  • GeoChris Institute for Ecozoic Spirituality
    GeoChris Foundation.
    Marikina City, Philippines
    Chair: Fr. Georg Ziselsberger, SVD
  • TRIESTE-NIF (Nature, Intentionality and Finality Research Group)
    Departimento di Filosofia, Universit‡ degli Studi di Trieste
    Trieste, Italy
    Chair: Antonio Russo, Ph.D.
  • Seminari de Teologia i Ciéncias (STIC) of Barcelona
    Institut de Teologia Fonamental
    Barcelona, Spain
    Chair: Fr. Manuel G. Doncel, Ph.D.
  • St. Petersburg Educational Centre for Religion and Science (SPECRS)
    St. Petersburg School of Religion and Philosophy
    St. Petersburg, Russia
    Chair: Alexey Chernyakov, Ph.D.
  • Centro de Estudios de Ciencia y Religion (CECIR)
    Universidad Popular Aut—noma del Estado de Puebla
    Puebla, Mexico
    Chair: Eugenio Urrutia
  • Science – Human Being – Religion
    Evangelische Akademie Arnoldshain
    Schmitten, Germany
    Chair: Hermann Düringer, D. Theol.
  • C‡tedra Ciencia Tecnolog’a y Religi—n LSI
    Universidad Pontificia Comillas Madrid
    Madrid, Spain
    Chair: Javier Leach, Ph.D., Javier Monserrat, Ph.D.
  • The Pari Dialogues on Religion and Science
    Pari Center for New Learning
    Pari, Italy
    Chair: F. David Peat, Ph.D.

In addition to the $10,000 prize, the recipients each received a beautiful plaque featuring original artwork in honor of their efforts.

Representatives from all the LSI societies held their annual meeting in conjunction with the Metanexus Institutes’ Continuity and Change: Perspectives on Science and Religion conference, June 3 through June 7, 2006, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania . The awards were presented on the evening of June 6 during the closing banquet.

The LSI program, inaugurated in July 2001, now funds more than 230 local societies around the world as part of a global collaborative educational network. All societies funded by LSI receive three-year challenge grants of $5,000 per year and have the opportunity to compete for the supplemental Grant Prizes for additional funding. Applications for LSI grants are being accepted; program deadline is July 1, 2006.

This unique international interfaith-interdisciplinary program has helped participating societies to hold lecture series, conferences, workshops, and study groups; to produce scholarly journals, CD-ROMs, videos, and radio and television programs; and to design course materials and study guides.

The Metanexus Institute advances scientific research, education and outreach on the constructive engagement of science and religion. Metanexus is a leader in a growing network of individuals and groups exploring the dynamic interface between cosmos, nature, and culture in communities and on campuses throughout the world. Metanexus sponsors dialogue groups, lectures, workshops, research, courses, grants, and publications. Metanexus leads and facilitates over 300 projects in 40 countries. Projects include the Local Societies Initiative, the Templeton Research Lectures, and topical interdisciplinary research projects such as the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Project, Spiritual Capital, Religion and Health, Religion and Human Flourishing, Foundational Questions in Physics and Cosmology, and other endeavors. A membership organization, Metanexus hosts an online journal with over 180,000 monthly page views and 8,000 subscribers in 57 countries .

The mission of the John Templeton Foundation is to pursue new insights at the boundary between theology and science through a rigorous, open-minded and empirically focused methodology, drawing together talented representatives from a wide spectrum of fields of expertise. .

For more information about the Local Societies Initiative and its member societies, see www.metanexus.net/lsi.

6/6/2006 03/26/2007 9861 Institute Awards $4.6 Million to Further Scientific Research on Religion

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia-based Metanexus Institute announced today the awarding of $4.6 million to fund eleven research teams seeking to further the scientific understanding of religion and spirituality. Grants in the Templeton Advanced Research Project (TARP), funded by the John Templeton Foundation as part of its mission to advance religion and science, were made by competitive application from over 400 qualified proposals.

Most scientific studies of religion focus on specific faith communities and utilize a single social scientific paradigm,” noted William Grassie, Executive Director of the Metanexus Institute. “What is unique about this project, and the Templeton Foundation in general, is the attempt to do broad comparative studies of religion and spirituality using multiple methods spanning disciplines as diverse as economics and the neurosciences.” Grassie worked with a team of twelve distinguished judges and over sixty external peer reviewers to make the difficult selections of which projects will utilize the most innovative methodologies and promise the most significant results.

The Templeton Advanced Research Project is broken down into three topical areas with different levels of funding—

Two awards of $1 million each were made on the theme of “Religion, Spirituality, Healing and Health Outcomes.” The funded projects are:

  • Michael Boivin, Principal Investigator, at Michigan State University will lead a three-year study of Breast Cancer Disease and Treatment: Modeling the Relationships Among Spiritual and Emotional Well-Being, Quality of Life, Neuropsychological Function and Immunological Resilience.
  • Brenda Cole, Principal Investigator at the University of Pittsburgh, will lead a three-year study of The Health Effects of Spiritually-focused Meditation for People with Acute Leukemia.

Two awards of $1 million each were made on the theme of “Religion, Spirituality and Human Flourishing”. The funded projects are:

  • Dacher Keltner, Principal Investigator at University of California, Berkeley, will lead a three-year study of Spiritual Experience, Pro-Social Emotion, and Human Flourishing.
  • Petr Janata, Principal Investigator at University of California, Davis, will lead a three-year study of Music, Spirituality, Religion, and the Human Brain.

Seven awards varying from $50,000 to $150,000 were made on the theme of “Competitive Dynamics and Cultural Evolution of Religions and God Concepts”. The funded projects are:

  • Pascal Boyer, Principal Investigator at Washington University, St. Louis, will lead a two-year study of Ritual Behavior and the Dynamics of Religious Commitment.
  • Adam Cohen, Principal Investigator at Arizona State University, will lead a two-year a two-year study of Effects of Faith, Nature of God, and Community on Health and Well-Being: A Multi-Method, Multicultural Study.
  • Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Principal Investigator at the University of Texas at Austin, will lead a two-year study of Faces of God in Latin America.
  • Scott Garrels, Principal Investigator at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Pasadena, California, will lead a two-year study of Imitation, Mimetic Theory, and Religious and Cultural Evolution.
  • Michael Graves, Principal Investigator at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, will lead a two-year study of The Ecological Evolutionary Dynamics of Hawaiian Ritual and Social Complexity.
  • Tom Smith, Principal Investigator at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, will lead a two-year study of Basic Theories and Models of Religious Change.
  • David Sloan Wilson, Binghamton University, and William Scott Green, University of Miami, Co-Investigators, will lead a two-year study of Religious Conceptions of the Afterlife from a Cultural Evolutionary Perspective and a General Field of Evolutionary Religious Studies.

For more information on the Templeton Advanced Research Project including detail on the funded projects, bios of the principal investigators, lists of the judges and reviewers, selection criteria, and field analyses, go to: https://www.metanexus.net/tarp .

Quotes from Principal Investigators

Never before have the fields of neuropsychology, immunology, fMRI brain imaging, psychological and emotional well-being, and spirituality within a theology of personhood been brought together by such an accomplished team of experts. – Michael Boivin.

My colleagues and I are trying to understand why most religious traditions have rituals. They study the brain processes at work when people perform rituals and consider how these processes create or strengthen religious commitment – Pascal Boyer

This research builds on work in cultural psychology, personality psychology, and psychology of religion in a number of ways. First, it uses multiple methods, as opposed to asking people to tell us about their conscious views of God. We use a sophisticated computer program to analyze the meaning of people¡¯s descriptions of God. We will also use computer software to time how long it takes people to answer questions about their views of God, to gain insight into the structure of their unconscious attitudes. Second, we are examining views of God in different religious groups and countries, to gain insight into how views of God and broad cultural syndromes build upon each other. – Adam B. Cohen

This project is significant because it will allow for the initiation of cross-fertilization between imitation researchers and mimetic scholars who, up to this point, have more or less been working independently from one another, yet at the same time have been calling for a dramatic shift in thought and research based on the rediscovery of imitation as an incredibly dynamic and foundational force in human development and cultural evolution. -Scott Garrels

We will study the co-evolution of traditional Hawaiian religious practices with social strategies and natural environmental variability from AD 1300-1825. This work is innovative in its integration of archaeological and historical materials within an explicity evolutionary framework that includes the development of social simulations based on agent based models. – Michael Graves

This is the first large-scale scientific research project that critically examines what seems to be a universal link between music and spirituality. We hope to understand the interaction of these core human experiences and how they facilitate human social and emotional well-being. -Petr Janata

Our program of research is based on the assumption that spiritual experiences of different kinds amplify the central of pro-social emotions like compassion, gratitude, awe, and love of humanity in the individual¡¯s life. Our work will begin to characterize how spiritual transformation: (1) activates central nervous system structures involved in compassion and awe; (2) creates a pro-social orientation that leads to the contagion of cooperation; and (3) plays a role in the lives of women in their seventies, and traces back to certain life histories and predicts long term life outcomes. -Dacher Keltner

This project will be the most comprehensive review to date on what people believe about God and other transcendental matters and how those beliefs have changed across time and countries. Major data sources such as the General Social Surveys and the International Social Survey Program studies will be analyzed to examine people¡¯s view across cohorts, time, and nations.- Tom Smith

This project will study the diversity of conceptions of the afterlife in the same way that evolutionists study the diversity of biological life forms. In addition, the project is designed to accelerate the establishment of evolutionary religious studies as a general field of inquiry. – David Sloan Wilson

5/30/2006 03/26/2007 9862 International Conference Presents Big Ideas from Big Thinkers on Science and Religion

PHILADELPHIA, USA… A new curriculum proposal for more effective science education and current perspectives on the evolution/intelligent design controversy highlight the Metanexus Institute’s annual international conference on science and religion, June 3-7 on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The conference, Continuity + Change: Perspectives on Science and Religion, presents leading international scholars whose work delves into important new and emerging ideas at the intersection of science and religion scholarship and research. Complete details are posted at www.metanexus.net/conference2006. Registration is available for a single session, an entire day, or the full conference.

The tension between continuity and change is not simply philosophical conundrum; it is also at the root of the most pressing questions of our time. We wrestle with the tensions of tradition vs. innovation in the law, religious thought, and political life. The pace of change in scientific discovery, technological advancement, environmental transformation, and globalized culture is accelerating at such a dizzying rate that our abilities to cope are tested to the limits. The key to surviving and flourishing as human beings depends on how we find continuity and make the right choices in the midst of such rapid change.

Featured public sessions, co-sponsored by the Academy of Natural Sciences (Philadelphia), include Beyond Intelligent Design, Science Debates, and Culture Wars: A Teach-In on Evolution, , Sunday, June 4. This day-long series of talks will investigate the question of the origins and evolution of life, taking into account scientific, theological, philosophical, historical, and political considerations, many of which impact education and public policy. Distinguished presenters and respondents for these sessions include Ian Barbour (Carleton College), John Haught (Georgetown University, the only theologian to testify in the Dover trial), George Ellis (University of Cape Town), and Nancey Murphy (Fuller Theological Seminary.

Teaching the History of Nature: Towards an Integrated Science Curriculum is the topic for discussion on Monday evening, June 5. As the world becomes ever more scientific and technological, Americans demonstrate not only declining scientific knowledge, but also the inability to effectively address philosophical, religious, and moral issues. To participate in a meaningful way in our democratic society, to make informed policy decisions that will affect not only our lives but also the world’s future generations, we must transform our ways of educating and of learning. Our curriculum reform discussion will propose an integrated science curriculum organized around teaching of the history of nature as an effective framework that will enable students to better understand science, as well as important philosophical, religious, moral, and practical issues at the interface of science and society. Featured speakers are Ursula Goodenough (Washington University of St. Louis), George Ellis (University of Cape Town), and Dennis Cheek (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation).

Spiritual Capital: Global Perspectives on Economics and Religion, Saturday evening, June 3. This opening plenary session will explore the influences that religion and spirituality have on economic and societal realities—locally and globally. While capitalism certainly has spread far beyond the Protestant countries in the last century, the hypothesis that capitalism’s advance— along with other aspects of the modern world—would necessarily lead to religion’s demise is clearly false. This interdisciplinary forum will explore the economic and societal consequences of religion and spirituality as part of the emerging social science of “spiritual capital.” Featured speakers include Theodore Malloch (the Roosevelt Group), Timur Kuran, (University of Southern California), and Robert Putnam (Harvard University; the author of Bowling Alone).

“We live at an extraordinary moment in the natural history of our planet and the cultural evolution of our species,” said William Grassie, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Metanexus Institute. “The domains of science and the domains of religion, however understood, stand at the center of our hopes for a healthier and safer future. This is a moment for integrating the best of religion and the best of science in service of humanity and the world. This conference is an important opportunity to pursue this multifaceted, multidisciplinary, and multifaith challenge.”

Other conference sessions include

  1. Indic Religions in an Age of Science
  2. Positive Psychology and Character Strengths
  3. The Emergent Mind
  4. Worldviews in Mathematics, Physics & Cosmology
  5. Pentecostalism and Science

Metanexus Institute is an international organization based in Philadelphia that advances research, education, and outreach on the constructive engagement of science and religion through a variety of projects and opportunities for dialogue. Metanexus supports nearly 300 projects in 37 countries. The annual conference is, in part, a gathering of representatives of Metanexus’ Local Societies Initiative (LSI) members, who have established science-and-religion dialogues in their communities, networked with the global programs.

5/2/2006 03/26/2007 9863 Grant Recipients Announced for 2006 Templeton Research Lectures

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia-based Metanexus Institute announced today that Stony Brook University in New York, and Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, were the 2006 recipients of the Templeton Research Lectures grants. The three-to-four year project grants provide up to $500,000 to promote important conversations at the forefront of the field of science and religion through interdisciplinary study groups and an annual distinguished lectureship. The projects were selected through an international competition.

“As the pace of scientific discovery and innovation accelerates, there is an urgent cultural need toreflect thoughtfully about these epic changes and challenges” notes William Grassie, Executive Director of the Metanexus Institute, who manages this international grant competition. “The challenges of the 21st century require new interdisciplinary collaborations, which place questionsof meanings and values on the agenda. We need to put questions about the universe and the universal back at the heart of the university.”

The Stony Brook University project is headed by Dr. Robert P. Crease, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy. The project is entitled “Trust: Prospects for Science and Religion” and will explore how issues of trust play out similarly and differently in both religious and scientific enterprises. In addition to the Principal Investigator, the project involves sixteen faculty from a variety of academic disciplines at Stony Brook University, and from nearby academic, religious, and scientific institutions.

“Trust is central to the practice of both science and religion on many levels – personal, public, and institutional,” says Crease. “Without trust, the scientific process would grind to a halt like a machine drained of oil. Trust is also central to religion – among members of a congregation, between individuals and leaders, and between individuals and God. Moreover, recent controversies have shaken confidence in both scientific and religious institutions. What fosters trust? What erodes it? How it can be restored once lost? At Stony Brook, we aim to create an interdisciplinary dialogue about a rarely discussed subject that is at the core of both fields – and about which each field has much to say to the other.”

The Arizona State University initiative, based at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, is headed by Dr. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Professor of History. The project, entitled “Facing the Challenge of Transhumanism: Religion, Science, and Technology,” will examine the development and convergence of genomics, stem-cell research, robotics, nanotechnology, and neuropharmacology in the transforming and enhancing of human nature, posing difficult religious and philosophical questions in what some refer to as our “posthuman” future. In addition to the Principal Investigator, the project involves nine faculty from a variety of academic disciplines at ASU as well as a number of research centers and institutes within ASU.

“ASU is committed to addressing the most pertinent issues of our times,” notes the historian Dr. Tirosh-Samuelson. “In this project we will examine and evaluate the claims of transhumanism, focusing on philosophical issues; social, legal, and political questions; environmental issues; and the religious aspects of transhumanism. This multi-faceted investigation will take into consideration the entire scope of human evolution and culturally specific conceptions of humanity. It will illustrate how the humanities can and should interface with the social and natural sciences, and how scientific discourses are culturally bound and historically situated.”

The judges in this year’s selection were:

  1. George Ellis, Physics, University of Cape Town, South Africa
  2. Scott Gilbert, Biology, Swarthmore College.
  3. Antje Jackelén, Theology, Zygon Center and Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago
  4. James Proctor, Environmental Studies, Lewis and Clark College
  5. V.V. Raman, Physics and Humanities, Rochester Institute of Technology
  6. W. Mark Richardson, General Theological Seminary, New York City

The Metanexus Institute advances research, education and outreach on the constructive engagement of science and religion. Metanexus is a leader in a growing network of individuals and groups exploring the dynamic interface between cosmos, nature, and culture in communities and on campuses throughout the world. Metanexus sponsors dialogue groups, lectures, workshops, research, courses, grants, and publications. Metanexus leads and facilitates over 300 projects in 37 countries. Projects include the Local Societies Initiative, the Templeton Research Lectures, and topical interdisciplinary research projects such as the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research Project, Spiritual Capital, Religion and Health, Religion and Human Flourishing, Foundational Questions in Physics and Cosmology, and other endeavors. A membership organization, Metanexus hosts an online journal with over 180,000 monthly page views and 8,000 subscribers in 57 countries.

Past winners of the Templeton Research Lectures grants are the University of Frankfurt, the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University, the University of Arizona, the University of Southern California, UCLA, University of Montréal, Stanford University, Bar Ilan University, Columbia University, and University of California at Santa Barbara. The deadline for the 2007 applications is January 1, 2007.

The Templeton Research Lectures are made possible by a generous grant from the JohnTempleton Foundation. The mission of the John Templeton Foundation is to pursue new insightsat the boundary between theology and science through a rigorous, open-minded and empirically focused methodology, drawing together talented representatives from a wide spectrum of fields of expertise. Using “the humble approach,” the Foundation typically seeks to focus the methods andresources of scientific inquiry on topical areas that have spiritual and theological significance ranging across the disciplines from cosmology to healthcare. For more information about the Templeton Foundation, go to <www.templeton.org>.

3/2/2006 03/26/2007 9872 Society for Pentecostal Studies and the Wesleyan Theological Society, “Sighs, Signs, and Significance,” 13-15 March

The Society for Pentecostal Studies and the Wesleyan Theological Society are issuing a call for papers for their third joint meeting, titled:

“Sighs, Signs, and Significance:  Pentecostal & Wesleyan Explorations of Science & Creation”

13-15 March 2008
Duke University Divinity School
Durham, NC
USA

Proposals Due:
Saturday, 30 June 2007

Proposals for the meeting should be 250-300 words. Authors should send their proposals and brief biographical information to WTS session chairs (see websit) no later than 30 June 2007.

Pentecostals and Wesleyans have affirmed that God is Creator and that in God we live, and move, and have our being. The two theological traditions have also acknowledged that science provides significant hypotheses and data with which Christians must work to understand their experiences and to articulate well their affirmations about the world that God has created. Yet there has been little sustained engagement between either tradition with the theological questions raised by modern science.

For more information, visit: 
http://wesley.nnu.edu/wts

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In the third joint meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and the Wesleyan Theological Society, we invite paper proposals that explore facets of the theology-and-science dialogue and of Pentecostal and Wesleyan approaches to theology of creation. Here is a sampling of topics that society members might address:

  • Biblical perspectives on theology of creation
  • Major figures (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas, Wesley, G. T. Haywood) in the Christian tradition as they responded to the opportunities and challenges of science;
  • Christian anthropology, the mind-body relation, and the nature of the human spirit;
  • The Cognitive sciences, mind, and spirit;
  • Pastoral practice in light of the psychological and sociological sciences;
  • Spiritual gifts and the charisms in light of modern science;
  • Christian discernment, including discernment of spirits, in the context of a theology of creation;
  • Divine action and the work of the Holy Spirit in light of modern cosmology;
  • Pentecostal and Wesleyan perspectives on the doctrines of creation out of nothing, continuing creation, evolution, and intelligent design;
  • Ecological and environmental issues in scientific, theological, and pneumatological perspectives;
  • Indigenous and cultural perspectives on creation, nature, and the sciences;
  • Theological and relational perspectives on the nature of time and of the future;
  • Methodological issues in the theology and science dialogue;

3/29/2007 03/29/2007 9873 Radio Broadcast: ‘Fresh Air from WHYY,’ NPR, 28 & 29 March 2007 Fresh Air from WHYY  on NPR has recently interviewed two important people involved in debates about science and religion, Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins, as a two-part discussion.   This discussion ran on the 28th and 29th of March. 

To listen to the interviews, visit:
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9180871

About Dawkins

In his most recent book, British scientist Richard Dawkins writes about the irrationality of a belief in God, examines God in all his forms and sets down his arguments for atheism. The book is The God Delusion.

Dawkins is a professor of “the public understanding of science” at Oxford University.

The New York Times Book Review has hailed him as a writer who “understands the issues so clearly that he forces his reader to understand them too.”

About Collins

Geneticist Francis Collins is director of the National Human Genome Research Project. He is also an evangelical Christian, and author of the book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

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Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, is one of public radio’s most popular programs. Each week, nearly 4.5 million people listen to the show’s intimate conversations broadcast on more than 450 National Public Radio (NPR) stations across the country, as well as in Europe on the World Radio Network.

Though Fresh Air has been categorized as a “talk show,” it hardly fits the mold. Its 1994 Peabody Award citation credits Fresh Air with “probing questions, revelatory interviews and unusual insights.” And a variety of top publications count Gross among the country’s leading interviewers. The show gives interviews as much time as needed, and complements them with comments from well-known critics and commentators.

Fresh Air is produced at WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and broadcast nationally by NPR.

3/30/2007 03/30/2007 9874 Discussion Series: Wilma Theater, The Galileo Project, 16 April – 7 May 2007, Philadelphia, PA 19111

“Knowledge Is Only Won Through Doubt”: Science and Culture from Galileo to the 21st Century

How have “scientific revolutions” of the past such as Galileo, Darwin, relativity, and genomics affected society and our understanding of humanity? What role does skepticism play in scientific progress?

Moderator:Paul Grobstein, Biology, Bryn Mawr College

Panelists include:M. Susan Lindee, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

  • Joel R. Primack, Physics, University of California at Santa Cruz, and co-author of  ————————————

 

Monday, 23 April 2007 at 7:00pm: Arthur L. Caplan, Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania

Panelists include:

  • Daniel Kevles, History of Science, Yale University
  • Michael Yudell, Public Health, Drexel University

 —————————————————-

Monday, 30 April 2007 at 7:00pm: Walter Bilderback, Dramaturg and Literary Manager, Wilma Theater

Panelists include:

  • In Gods We Trust
  • The Scientist as Rebel
  • Gino Segre, Physics, University of Pennsylvania

 ——————————————————–

Monday, 7 May 2007 at 7:00pm: John Timpane, Commentary Page Editor, Edward B. Davis, History of Science, Messiah College

  • God’s Universe
  • Moral Minds

 

 —————————————————–

Additional panelists to be announced. Program subject to change. For updates, go to www.wilmatheater.org
 

The Galileo Project Panel Discussion Series is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

 

 

 

3/30/2007 03/30/2007 9875 Urizen Struggling in the Waters of Materialism

 src=https://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Portals/0/VisualExplorations/urizon_lg.jpg></p><p>© 2003 The William Blake Archive, Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi<br>(Plate 12 of <em>The First Book of Urizen</em>, by William Blake)</p><p>"<em>The First Book of Urizen</em>, as its title suggests, can be seen as the first book of Blake's “Infernal Bible”. In it he offers an alternative view of creation in a rewriting of the biblical Book of Genesis. According to this view, creation itself needs to be seen as an evil act because it follows from a command; it is the despotism of the god of reason and law, Urizen, that has called the world into being, and this is why it has automatically assumed a fallen form. In the poem, Urizen, having created the fallen world, is then drawn down into it himself, finding himself bafflingly and chaotically embroiled in his own nets and webs. The god Los, standing for the imaginative power, has been set to watch over Urizen, but instead he too gets drawn into the general collapse."<br><br>From David Punter, University of Stirling. "The Book of Urizen." <u>The Literary Encyclopedia.</u> 17 Jul. 2001. The Literary Dictionary Company. 14 March 2007. <http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1402></p>					3/30/2007	03/30/2007
9876	Wind Map	<p class=ve_image><a href=https://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Portals/0/VisualExplorations/cornell(lg).jpg><img height=413 alt=
(Click for a full size image)

©2007, Deborah Cornell

Nothing exists in isolation. This work connects the precision of scientific investigation with the complex flowing patterns of temporal change. Intricate natural interrelationships can produce unexpected outcomes, such as the subtle filtering of altered organisms throughout environments, and their effect on humans and other species. The digital print “Wind Map” is from the suite Species Boundaries, and uses a geoanalytical chart of the wind directions of the northern hemisphere to suggest the migration of physical matter (including genetic escapes) worldwide.

3/30/2007 03/30/2007 9877 In Saturn’s Shadow

 border=0 src=https://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Portals/0/VisualExplorations/In_Saturns_Shadow(mm).jpg><br>(Click for a full size image)</a></p><p>©2006, <font size=-1><span class=style1>NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute</span></font></p><p>With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world.</p><p>This marvelous panoramic view was created by combining a total of 165 images taken by the Cassini wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on Sept. 15, 2006. The full mosaic consists of three rows of nine wide-angle camera footprints; only a portion of the full mosaic is shown here. Color in the view was created by digitally compositing ultraviolet, infrared and clear filter images and was then adjusted to resemble natural color.</p><p>The mosaic images were acquired as the spacecraft drifted in the darkness of Saturn's shadow for about 12 hours, allowing a multitude of unique observations of the microscopic particles that compose Saturn's faint rings.</p><p>Ring structures containing these tiny particles brighten substantially at high phase angles: i.e., viewing angles where the sun is almost directly behind the objects being imaged.</p><p>During this period of observation Cassini detected two new faint rings: one coincident with the shared orbit of the moons Janus and Epimetheus, and another coincident with Pallene's orbit. (See <a target=_blank href=http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2277>The Janus/Epimetheus Ring</a> and <a target=_blank href=http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2312>Moon-Made Rings</a> for more on the two new rings.)</p><p>The narrowly confined G ring is easily seen here, outside the bright main rings. Encircling the entire system is the much more extended E ring. The icy plumes of Enceladus, whose eruptions supply the E ring particles, betray the moon's position in the E ring's left-side edge.</p><p>Interior to the G ring and above the brighter main rings is the pale dot of Earth. Cassini views its point of origin from over a billion kilometers (and close to a billion miles) away in the icy depths of the outer solar system. See <a target=_blank href=http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2279>Pale Blue Orb</a> for a similar view of Earth taken during this observation.</p><p>Small grains are pushed about by sunlight and electromagnetic forces. Hence their distribution tells much about the local space environment.</p><p>A second version of the mosaic view is presented here in which the color contrast is greatly exaggerated. In such views, imaging scientists have noticed color variations across the diffuse rings that imply active processes sort the particles in the ring according to their sizes.</p><p>Looking at the E ring in this color-exaggerated view, the distribution of color across and along the ring appears to be different between the right side and the left. Scientists are not sure yet how to explain these differences, though the difference in phase angle between right and left may be part of the explanation. The phase angle is about 179 degrees on Saturn.</p><p>The main rings are overexposed in a few places.</p><p>This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 15 degrees above the ringplane. Cassini was approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn when the images in this mosaic were taken. Image scale on Saturn is about 260 kilometers (162 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information on this image visit <a target=_blank href=http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2314>http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2314.</a></p>					3/30/2007	03/30/2007
9878	Interpretation of the Time Frame	<p>One obvious difficulty with the Biblical Genesis picture must have struck  quite a few thinkers over the ages, although they don't seem to perturb some  current apologists for literalism. As early as in the fourth century, Gregory  of Nyasa wondered how any "man of sense would believe there could have  been" any day at all before the sun was (allegedly) created on the fourth  day. </p><p>Developments in modern science,  especially in astrophysics and cosmology  invoke billions of years rather than just a Babylonian week for bringing  the world to its current phase of  stellar and galactic multitude. It is difficult to reconcile this with the time-periods in the  Biblical narrative, unless one is willing to make drastic compromises and  suitable scale changes. Many thoughtful theologians have done precisely that,  although here again, some have stretched their theory and imagination a bit  much. Thus, for example, one author has no hesitation in declaring: “With the  insights of Einstein, we have discovered in the six days of Genesis the  billions of years during which the universe developed.” </p><p>To solve the puzzle that a day  is a terrestrial unit which has no cosmic significance whatever, and that  according to the Book of Genesis "evening and the morning were the second  day," waters, land and the Earth appeared <em>after</em> this, and that  "God made two great lights" (the sun and the moon) <em>after</em> He  had made the earth, Schroeder explained in his <em>The Science of God</em> that the Biblical day in the first Book does  not refer to the terrestrial unit of time. And he goes on to give a new  interpretation: “The description of time in the Bible is divided two  categories: the first six days and all the time thereafter.” In this  interpretation, humankind began one fine day with Adam and Eve who lived for  more than a century. Indeed, if he can take inspiration from the <em>yuga</em> concept of the Hindu world (1 day for Brahma is equivalent to 4.2 billion  earth-years, one can reconcile the one-week creation with current cosmological  time scales.</p><p>However, not all scholars in the  Judeo-Christian tradition applaud and accept such ingenious transformations to  concord with the latest findings of Big Bang cosmology. Henry M. Morris, for  one, appropriately reminds of the fourth of the Ten Commandments where one is  asked to observe the Sabbath explicitly on the seventh day. Surely, the Lord  was not thinking of eons when He commanded this. Efforts to twist and turn ancient utterances,  of no matter what tradition, in order to bring them in harmony with the latest  harvests of current groping on the age of the cosmos are bound to cut awkward  figures, if critically examined. In a sense, those who hold steadfast to books  they regard as infallible, even in the face of blatant contradictions with well  established facts, are better off in their secure convictions than those who  erect pseudo-logical frameworks to sustain worldviews that are no longer  sustainable.</p><p>Aside from the Bible, there were  other esoteric writings on Creation by mystical scholars as early as in the  first century C.E. One of them, called Sefer Yezira, of unknown authorship is reported to have a  joint authorship: God and Abraham. Its thesis was that the world had been  created on the basis of ten basic principles. But the truly wise expressed the  view that ultimately all of this was mystery, and that the few who are privy to  it ought not to be sharing it with all and sundry. The authors of this work  clearly understood that such sharing will prompt questions as well as answers which  would be dissected with the logical razor and found unsatisfactory, raising  doubts in the minds of the masses who generally accept vague assertions without  probing into their rational consistency. </p><p>We may note in passing that medieval schoolmen, upon discovering  Neo-Platonism, exerted similar efforts to reconcile this with Biblical  cosmology, and were no less successful. They spoke of transcendent God having  an immanent aspect, of supernatural beings like cherubim and seraphim and angel  and archangels connecting God and Man, somewhat as modern physics pictures  virtual field bosons bonding fundamental physical entities. From a historical  humanistic perspective one would say that it is not unlikely that the authors  of the Book of Genesis, extraordinarily brilliant and awakened intellects that  they were, would, if confronted with the data of current science, choose to  present a revised edition of their work.</p>			From a historical humanistic perspective one would say that it is not unlikely that the authors of the Book of Genesis, extraordinarily brilliant and awakened intellects that they were, would, if confronted with the data of current science, choose to present a revised edition of their work.		4/2/2007	04/02/2007
9879	Science, Religion, and the Bomb	<div style=text-align: center>Presented at the First International Congress on Religion and Science,<br>Tehran, Iran, May 2006<br> </div><br><div style=text-align: center>In the name of God, the compassionate and merciful.<br> </div><br>I want to thank the organizers and sponsors of this First Iranian International Congress on Religion and Science.  Many years and a lot of hard work brought us to this event.  Much study and thought has gone into preparing the many wonderful lectures.  Thank you also for your gracious hospitality in hosting us.  I hope there will be many more such opportunities in the future to listen and learn from each other.<br><br>Concurrent with the planning of this Congress has been a growing conflict between Iran and the West about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, not to mention the US invasion of Iraq on the pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction.  And so I want to address some of these sensitive political and military issues with you today, because science and religion also are also involved in these debates about international relations and military power.  In the history of nuclear armaments, science and religion intersect in multiple and profound ways.  <br><br>I want to emphasize at the outset that I speak about these matters as a private citizen.  I certainly do not represent the U.S. government, nor for that matter any of the other Americans participating in this Congress.  Nor do these reflections today represent the views of the Metanexus Institute or any of our sponsors.<br><br>Since the beginning of the nuclear age sixty years ago with the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many scientists and religious leaders have united in opposition to nuclear weapons.  In the United States, there are hundreds of scientific, environmental and religious organizations that have actively opposed nuclear weapons for many decades now.  The list includes the Federation of American Scientists www.fas.org, the Union of Concerned Scientists <a href=http://www.ucsusa.org>www.ucsusa.org</a>, Physicians for Social Responsibility <a href=http://www.psr.org>www.psr.org</a>, Pugwash <a href=http://www.pugwash.org>www.pugwash.org</a>, the National Resources Defense Council <a href=http://www.nrdc.org>www.nrdc.org</a>, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists <a href=http://www.thebulletin.org>www.thebulletin.org</a>, Peace Action <a href=http://www.peace-action.org>www.peace-action.org</a>  - it would be a long list.  Every major religious organization in the United States has made public statements against nuclear weapons<sup>1</sup>, including the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.<sup>2</sup>   As a young man in 1982 I participated in and helped to organize the largest demonstration in the history of the United States with a million people gathered to oppose the US nuclear weapons build-up in New York City.  The core support for these activities has come from scientists and religious leaders, and also many retired military leaders<sup>3</sup>, united in their conviction that nuclear weapons are inherently immoral and provide no real security, rather only insecurity.  The same concerns extend to chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.<br><br>Traditional just war theory sets two criteria for the lawful, moral use of military force.  First, there must be just cause, which minimally includes self-defense.  Second, the war must be conducted by just means.  The second point includes rules-of-engagement that limit war to combatants and exclude violence directed at civilian populations.  The second point also includes notions of proportionality.<sup>4</sup>   Nuclear weapons, as well as other weapons of mass destruction and even many so-called conventional weapons today, cannot distinguish civilians from combatants. Nuclear weapons also have destructive consequences extending many decades after their formal intended consequences (e.g., cancer resulting from radiation).  And thus on both accounts, nuclear weapons, by their very nature, violate the traditional just war doctrine.  <br><br>Unfortunately, the logic of war always undermines the just war doctrine, because winning by whatever means necessary becomes the precondition for survival in armed conflicts.  The history of warfare in the 20th century points ever more to the harsh logic of war.  Civilian casualties now regularly exceed those of combatants in wars waged around the world.<sup>5</sup>  The logic of war also always dictates that governments tend towards dictatorships, restricting freedoms and waging war against dissent among their own citizens.  Warfare is always dehumanizing, so the logic of war quickly leads to the torture of prisoners and committing other atrocities.  In the future, nuclear weapons may be used again, perhaps between Pakistan and India, perhaps in the Korean Peninsula, perhaps in the Middle East.<br><br>Nuclear weapons are a terrible fact of life.  Wishful thinking and pious proclamations are not going to “put the genie back in the bottle”.  The most difficult part of the manufacturing process is obtaining enriched uranium or plutonium.  Once these are in hand, the actual bomb is not particularly difficult to build.<sup>6</sup>   The current nuclear club includes the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, South Africa, India, Pakistan, and probably North Korea.<sup>7</sup>  <br><br>Many in the West believe that Iran is about to become part of this nuclear weapons club.  Strategic planners in Iran, looking at the world today, might feel well justified in seeking their own nuclear weapons.  Iran is surrounded by the US military in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf.  Many of its neighbors already have nuclear weapons, including India, Pakistan, Israel, and Russia, not to mention the United States with forward deployment of weapons on our navy fleet in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. <br><br>Of course, the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty itself provides for the possibility of acquiring enrichment and reprocessing technology for civilian purposes.  Unfortunately, those provisions are the fatal flaw in the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a treaty written several decades ago by naÔve enthusiasts of nuclear power. The goal of the Non-Proliferation Treaty was to make civilian nuclear power available to all humanity, while restricting the spread of nuclear weapons capabilities.  Once a country has enrichment or reprocessing technology, however, it is not far from being able to build nuclear weapons.  <br><br>The 1950s vision of civilian nuclear electricity, “power too cheap to meter” we were told, is bankrupt today<sup>.8</sup>  By way of example, there are currently 104 civilian nuclear power plants in the United States, generating more electricity by nuclear power than any other nation.  And yet this still accounts for only 20 percent of our total US electric power.  The civilian nuclear power industry in the United States is dying.  There have been no new licenses to build nuclear power plants now for 29 years.  The last commercial reactor to come online took 34 years to complete construction.<sup>9</sup>  Many of these plants are soon to be decommissioned and we don’t really know what that means or the actual cost of doing so. The electricity is quite expensive.  Moreover, the commercial nuclear energy industry exists in the United States today because of massive government subsidies and government protection.<sup>10</sup>   The free market would not have built these expensive, toxic dumps.  <br><br>The big worry is safety and waste disposal.  While there has not been a catastrophic nuclear accident in the United States, the industry has been plagued with numerous safety problems too long to list.<sup>11</sup>  The disposal of nuclear waste continues to be the number one problem.<sup>12</sup>  Currently, the United States has about 40,000 tons of spent fuel rods awaiting long-term disposal.  These hot highly radioactive rods are stored in pools of water at the reactor sites and need to be continuously cooled.  Just to be clear here, the half-life of plutonium, one of the by-products of nuclear reactors, is 24,000 years.  Plutonium is one of the most toxic substances ever created, so humans need to discover a way to isolate plutonium from the human and natural environment for up to 100,000 years.  Again, science and religion intersect.  What are our obligations to the planet and future generations?  Science may give us the technology and inform us of the benefits and dangers, but by itself it cannot tell us whether these long-term risks are worth the short-term benefits.<br><br>Still petroleum and natural gas will not last forever.  Global demand is increasing, production is peaking, and supplies appear to be dwindling.  And with the threats of global climate change resulting from the burning of these fossil fuels, many scientists and even environmentalists are suggesting that we take a new look at nuclear power technology.  The Chinese, for instance, are developing a new, small-scale, “fool-proof” graphite reactor design and planning to mass-produce these.<sup>13</sup>  There are many efforts in the United States to restart the nuclear power industry, but still no consensus, no new construction, and no longterm solution to the waste disposal.<br><br>In the 1960s and 1970s, Iran received significant assistance from the United States and Europe in developing civilian nuclear power.  The Shah had plans to construct 23 nuclear power stations.  Iran spent many billions of dollars in contracts with Western companies to build these plants.  In 1976, U.S. President Ford authorized helping Iran build fuel reprocessing facilities without any thought of the proliferation issues; other U.S. plans existed to help Iran build a uranium enrichment facility.  All of these agreements ended with the Iranian Revolution in 1979.  Western governments broke contracts with Iran and kept billions of dollars.<sup>14</sup><br><br>Obviously, one of the differences between then and now is the lack of trust.  The United States and Europeans believe that Iran’s real goal is to obtain nuclear weapons and that Iran has set up a massive program, partly clandestinely, to obtain highly enriched uranium necessary for nuclear weapons.  Iran sees the United States as hypocritical and harboring designs on overthrowing the Iranian government (again) and dominating the region and its oil resources.<br><br>On August 9, 2005, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa forbidding the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons. The fatwa was referenced in an official statement at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, though the text of it has not been released.  This position is consistent with other statements from Iranian leaders.  Khamenei has been quoted in the press as saying "The Islamic Republic of Iran, based on its fundamental religious and legal beliefs, would never resort to the use of weapons of mass destruction. In contrast to the propaganda of our enemies, fundamentally we are against any production of weapons of mass destruction in any form."<sup>15</sup>  I can only applaud the declared intentions of your Supreme Leader and hope they are sincere.<br><br>Of course, I speak here today as a citizen of the United States, the country that has more nuclear weapons than any other country in the world and the only country to actually use them.  I am ashamed of this.  Reason and faith tell me that these weapons are an abomination; they offend God and humanity.  The United States also has obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and should, I believe, give a full accounting of its own nuclear weapons, their deployment around the world, and a plan to decrease those weapons and withdraw them from deployment outside of United States, for instance from the Persian Gulf today.<sup>16</sup>    If the United States continues to see strategic utility in possessing, improving, and deploying these weapons, then in the long run there will be no reason for other countries not to also want to obtain them.  <br><br>I am not here to chastise Iran or lecture its leaders.  As a citizen of the United States, I can hardly criticize Iran on this point, even if its intentions are to obtain nuclear weapons.  An Iranian bomb will hardly change the balance of power in the world.  An Iranian nuclear first strike on Israel, for instance, would result in a massive retaliation by Israel; therefore any rational leader should be deterred from using these weapons. The big danger today, in any case, is more that a terrorist group will obtain a bomb.<sup>17</sup>  In the current climate, even a nuclear terrorist strike against Israel, a bomb delivered clandestinely with no return address, might well result in a massive “retaliation”.  A nuclear terrorist attack on a US, European, or Russian city would also generate some kind of response, though not likely as indiscriminately as the probable Israeli “retaliation”.  The problem, of course, is that one may not know precisely who was responsible for the initial attack.   We must strive to make sure that this nightmare never comes to be.  A little bit of sober strategic realism might go a long way to reducing tensions.  <br><br>For some fifty years, the United States, Europe, and the Soviet Union lived with a similar logic of destruction, known as “Mutual Assured Destruction,” or MAD for short.<sup>18</sup>   Strategic planners on both sides of the Cold War did the gruesome calculations, involving exchanges of hundreds and even thousands of nuclear weapons, many in the megaton range.  No matter how you did the calculations, first strike or counterforce strike, there was no way either side could really escape the depressing conclusions.  The death toll would need to be calculated in the tens of millions minimally, and potentially much, much higher.  If the nuclear war were large enough, the hypothesized “nuclear winter effect” would wreak havoc on the rest of the planet.  These stark assessments of the strategic situation helped pave the way for arms control and disarmament agreements, dÈtente, and eventually the transformation of the Soviet Union and China, unfortunately less so the United States.  It turns out the concept of mutual assured destruction had a sobering—and perhaps even salutary—effect on the superpowers during the Cold War.<br><br>If you are a strategic planner in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, or Egypt, or for that matter simply a citizen in any of these countries, how should you plan for the growing threat of a nuclear terrorist attack and the possible repercussions.  It is perhaps an increasingly realistic threat that a terrorist group may soon have the power, indirectly by attacking Israel, to also cause the destruction of your own armies, cities, wealth, and families.  How does one respond to such a horrific threat?<br><br>Of course, one possibility is that Middle Eastern countries could go through the “bomb shelter phase,” as we did in the United States back in the 1950s and 1960s.  School children could practice air raid drills like those I experienced in elementary school.  The anti-Israeli and anti-American rhetoric could be turned up a notch or two.  Middle Eastern countries could also arm themselves to provide a credible retaliatory threat.  Having a strong air force and army equipped with nuclear weapons, however, would not provide any deterrence or security in the event of a nuclear terrorist attack.  Indeed, it would just make one more of a target for retaliation.  There might be some short-term political advantages in consolidating domestic power with an “act tough” strategy.  In politics, it is sadly always useful to have an enemy, a scapegoat to divert attention from domestic problems and to consolidate power.  In the end though, it is just a fact of life that you and your nation may no longer exist on the fateful day that a bomb goes off in Tel Aviv or Washington, D.C. <br><br>Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) is the logic of the technology itself, a new state in the human condition; it is not something one can opt out of.  Albert Einstein warned us that “The splitting of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe.”  MAD has come to the Middle East. <br><br>The only other rational option to a MAD strategy for countries in the Middle East, strange and improbable as it may seem at first glance, is to pursue dÈtente with Israel, with the United States, and with its neighbors.  DÈtente requires diplomatic relationships, setting up communication channels to manage crises, trade and economic cooperation, and educational, cultural, and religious exchanges.  Such activities existed between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War beginning in the 1960s and increasing in the 1970s and 1980s.<br><br>This hoped for dÈtente is not likely, so let’s not hold our breath.  Everything has changed, except our ways of thinking, to repeat Einstein’s warning.  Again, I confess that the United States is very much a part of the problem.  The U.S. government has been foolish and short-sighted in the aftermath of the Cold War.  A great opportunity was lost to lead by example, rather than by threat and force.<br><br>Friends, I am sorry I have darkened your thoughts with these terrible visions.  Science has brought many wonderful blessings to humanity, but also great dangers.  Similarly, religion can be used to inflame hatred and intolerance or to motivate compassion and peace.  <br><br>The dilemma for humanity created by nuclear weapons and their proliferation is a symbol of a growing problem for humanity in the 21st century vis-‡-vis many new scientific developments and new technologies.  We live at an extraordinary moment in the natural history of our planet and the cultural evolution of our species  -- a moment with terrible dangers and great possibilities.  Our scientific, technological, and economic prowess has grown exponentially in the last century; but there is no indication that humans are any wiser, more compassionate, or more moral.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it succinctly, “we have guided missiles and misguided men”.<br><br>"Religion”, writes the 20th century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, “is more frequently a source of confusion than of light in the political realm. The tendency to equate our political with our Christian convictions causes politics to degenerate into idolatry."  Niebuhr goes on to say that “Civilization depends upon vigorous pursuit of the highest values by people who are intelligent enough to know that their values are qualified by their interests and corrupted by their prejudices." <br><br>Brothers and sisters, I would rather stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you exploring and celebrating the many mysteries of the universe, than go head-to-head with you in an escalating conflict.  The world needs us to combine the best of science with the best of religion.  Let us resolve to use these unspeakable dangers as an impetus to engage each other more, to promote more contacts between our societies, to build bridges of understanding and friendship, to open channels for communication, debate, and cooperation.  May we all live to be better human beings, better countries, more moral, more just, more free, more peaceful, and more prosperous.  A God of Love and Justice, as Christians and Jews so often proclaim, or a God characterized by Compassion and Mercy as Muslims so often proclaim, cannot possibly wish for humans to have or to use these terrible weapons.  This is the responsibility of our generation.  May it also be our gift to the world, for the greater glory of God.  <br><br>1. http://www.ncccusa.org <br>2. http://www.usccb.org <br>3. http://www.cdi.org . See also http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/armsjoin.htm <br>4.  http://www.iep.utm.edu/j/justwar.htm  and http://www.justwartheory.com. <br>5.  http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/misc/misery.html <br>6.  Frank Barnaby, How to Build a Nuclear Bomb: And Other Weapons of Mass Destruction, New York: National Books, 2004.<br>7.  Israel, India, and Pakistan have not signed the NPT.<br>8.  http://www.cns-snc.ca/media/toocheap/toocheap.html <br>9.  http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuc_reactors/reactsum.html <br>10.  http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/power/power.pdf <br>11. http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/nuclear_safety/ <br>12.  http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/EZRA/ <br>13.  “Let a Thousand Reactors Bloom” by Spencer Reiss, WIRED 12.09, September, 2004. http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/12.09/china.html <br>14.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3983-2005Mar26.html , see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran's_nuclear_program.  The freezing of Iranian assets in the West and the cancellation of these contracts to build nuclear power plants was part of the response to the taking of hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran.  For a full account of the Iranian Revolution and its consequences, see Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict between Iran and American, New York: Random House, 2004.<br>15.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran's_nuclear_program <br>16.  Technically, the NPT requires reducing nuclear weapons to zero, but this is not a realistic goal.  Any country that has had nuclear weapons could easily hide some number of those weapons or in a matter of days or weeks reconstruct those weapons from stored materials.  There will always be nuclear weapons on the planet somewhere or the prospects that these weapons could be quickly reassembled in the event of a war.<br>17.   Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, New York: Times Books, 2004.<br>18.  http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj97/win97/parrin.html <br>19.  Reinhold Niebuhr, Christianity and Crisis, 1952.<br><br><br><br>William Grassie, Ph.D., is founder and emeritus director of the Metanexus Institute, which works to promote the constructive engagement of religion and science with 400 partners in 43 countries www.metanexus.net .  Grassie has his doctorate in comparative religion from Temple University.  Prior to graduate studies, Grassie worked for ten years in arms control and disarmament advocacy.			"Friends, I am sorry I have darkened your thoughts with these terrible visions.  Science has brought many wonderful blessings to humanity, but also great dangers.  Similarly, religion can be used to inflame hatred and intolerance or to motivate compassion and peace.  The dilemma for humanity created by nuclear weapons and their proliferation is a symbol of a growing problem for humanity in the 21st century vis-‡-vis many new scientific developments and new technologies...  Our scientific, technological, and economic prowess has grown exponentially in the last century; but there is no indication that humans are any wiser, more compassionate, or more moral.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it succinctly, “we have guided missiles and misguided men”.	For  more information about William Grassie visit <a href=http://www.grassie.net>www.grassie.net</a>.	5/3/2006	04/02/2007
9880	MOGIBO (Me Outside. Good Inside. Bad Outside): Personal popularity in popular culture	<p>MOGIBO is the sentiment expressed in  many popular tunes, old and new: <em>I’ve lost at love. I’m out of the loop and  it’s sad. I can’t win in the mainstream. The world has left me behind. </em>MOGIBO  is one of just a few basic relationships possible between the in-crowd, the  out-crowd, good and bad, and the songster. </p><p>I was asked to teach a popular  culture class to some students who had already been with me for a few terms. I  decided to run the class as a seminar, a collaborative and informal content  analysis of songs, humor, and other pop cultural artifacts. We tried to  mind-read pop culture’s producers and consumers, looking for what makes the popular  stuff popular. </p><p>We concluded that a lot of it seems  to center on whether happiness is to be had inside or outside the mainstream.  Where is cool? Is it in the main culture or the subculture? Should you play the  game or abandon the game? </p><p>A lot of popular music is about  doing well at the mainstream game. <em>I’m rocking this party. I’m in the  groove. I’ve played the game and I’m finally earning the power that’s due me. </em>MIGIBO:  Me Inside. Good Inside. Bad Outside. </p><p>These days, of course, we also have  a lot of songs about the mainstream game as a wasteland, not worth it, only for  losers. The real <a href=http://www.mindreadersdictionary.com/Dictionary/Item.aspx?user_id=site&dict_id=157>value</a> is to be found at the margins of society,  in the subculture that rejects the main game. <em>I’m an outcast and I’m cool.  Now that we’ve broken out of the rat race everything is better. </em>MOBIGO: Me  Outside. Bad Inside. Good Outside. </p><p>And some songs say that winning the  mainstream game doesn’t turn out to be as good as it’s cracked up to be. <em>Success  makes me weary. I’ve done what I was told would make me happy, but I’m not  happy after all. </em>MIBIGO: Me Inside. Bad Inside. Good Outside. </p><p>Songs about partnerships play off  the same in/out theme. The beloved often becomes the symbol of the inside, the  very object of the mainstream game. <em>I finally won the inside game. I got  you. </em>MIGIBO: Me Inside. Good Inside. Bad Outside. </p><p>Conversely, <em>I’ve lost the main  game because I don’t have you. or If I could be with you, I’d be a winner. </em>MOGIBO:  Me Outside. Good Inside. Bad Outside. </p><p>Sometimes a partnership is what  stands in relationship to the inside and outside. <em>We’re making it in the  mainstream together. We’re helping each other be successful. </em>WIGIBO: We  Inside. Good Inside. Bad Outside. </p><p>Sometimes it’s us against the world.  WOBIGO: We Outside. Bad Inside. Good Outside. <em>For we’re living in a world of  fools, breaking us up . . . </em></p><p>Popular patriotic and religious  songs also play on the theme of insider/outsider relationships and where the  good is. The theme isn’t arbitrary. How to win at the game of life is naturally  a prevailing obsession. </p><p>Some songs try to eradicate the  boundary between good and bad. MIGIGO or MOGIGO. It’s all good. We are the same  whatever we do. Let’s ignore the in/out distinction. These songs can be  especially healing because they run counter to so much experience. They’re like  a trip to a fantasy land, a land free from preference, <a href=http://www.mindreadersdictionary.com/Dictionary/Item.aspx?user_id=site&dict_id=157>value</a> judgment, or distinction. <em>No hell below  us; above us only sky. </em></p><p>In popular humor, the in/out theme  is also central. Between the lines a lot of humor addresses the same questions.  Is it cooler to be conventional or unconventional? Where are you in  relationship to the inside and the outside? </p><p>With some humor, we identify with  the cool, conventional insider: a straight, clever hero surrounded by foolish,  cartoonish characters. In other humor, all the players are fools, and we laugh  knowingly, experiencing the contrast between ourselves and all those marginal  characters. Whether by associating with the conventional hero or by laughing at  everyone, we experience MIGIBO: Me Inside. Good Inside. Bad Outside. </p><p>With a lot of humor, we identify  with the cool, unconventional, irreverent, and eccentric hero. This stuff is  called “picaresque,” meaning humor in which the hero is a rogue. A classic  would be “Beverly Hills Cop,” in which Eddie Murphy plays a realist from the  inner city injected into the superficial culture of Beverly Hills. He’s sharp.  The other men range from dull-witted to bland to evil. The woman love interest  is fundamentally both judge and prize. She recognizes Murphy as the winner and  kisses him accordingly. The picaresque hero enters the mainstream but does not  join it. “Picaresque” probably comes from the Latin picar--to pierce, as in  pikepole, piercing the boundary between inside and outside. </p><p>While most humor plays with the  relationship between inside and out, not all of it deals with status. Most, if  not all of it reveals our near-infinite fascination with simple context  flipping. From peek-a-boo on, we’re mesmerized and tickled by watching the  frame shift from inside to out and back again. It’s magic to us. It’s the hocus  pocus of hokey pokey. More on that next week. </p><p>Here's a great NY Times article  about recent research showing that most laughter is a pressure release for  tense social situations. When it's getting a little hot in here, it's a way to  get outside of it. </p><p><a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/13tier.html?ex=1331611200&en=60e7544dbf3dbbff&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink>NY Times: What's so funny? Well, maybe nothing </a></p>			MOGIBO is the sentiment expressed in  many popular tunes, old and new: <em>I’ve lost at love. I’m out of the loop and  it’s sad. I can’t win in the mainstream. The world has left me behind. </em>MOGIBO  is one of just a few basic relationships possible between the in-crowd, the  out-crowd, good and bad, and the songster.	Originally published on Mind Readers Dictionary; www.mindreadersdictionary.org.	4/2/2007	04/02/2007
9881	Hope springs eternal: a Metanexus reflection on the religious feasts of Pesach and Pascha	<p><img border=0 align=left alt=While the first buds of spring break through the hardened earth and deliver us in the northern hemisphere from the bleakness of winter, Pesach and Pascha—or the Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter—come into view.  Despite intimate linkages between the two feasts, deriving from the Christian tradition’s beginnings in the Hebrew one, Passover and Easter are as different from each other as are the religious systems they are a part of.  And yet a responsible synthesis, one that respects and preserves the integrity of these distinct traditions, can entertain a truth that seems to transcend their particulars:  At the heart of both Pesach and Pascha is a timeless story of redemption and renewal.

Passover and Easter fall together this year during this first week of April.  At candlelit Passover Seders earlier this week, the tale of the Hebrews’ deliverance from slavery and exodus from Egypt was recounted so that its message of freedom and hope could live on in the minds and hearts of future generations.  And multitudes of Christians of all denominations are gathering formally and informally this week to reenact and relive the central mystery of their faith:  That by dying and resurrecting, Christ delivered the world from the tyranny of death. 

Historians, anthropologists, and scholars of religion have taken pains to point out that we should understand the central stories of Pesach and Pascha as part of a broader tradition of Ancient Near Eastern agrarian myth.  This insight in no way diminishes our observance of these feasts but rather accomplishes what good scholarship ought to.  It enriches our worldview by adding layers of depth to our understanding.  In the case of Passover and Easter, we are connected not only to the cycles of nature, but also through a continuity of culture and shared systems of meaning that have lived on while nations, races, and creeds have risen and fallen.  Pesach and Pascha connect us to the eternal.

The goal of Metanexus Institute and the Global Spiral is to foster transdisciplinary dialogue, research and education into humanity’s most profound and enduring questions and challenges.  In this effort, we bring together scholars representing diverse disciplines, scientists, clergy, and citizens alike as well as their various philosophical and spiritual views and religious practices.  All are encouraged to bring all of themselves.  It is our hope that this publication and your participation will contribute positively to these aims. 

To our Jewish friends, we wish a blessed Passover.  To our Christian friends, a joyous Easter.  And to all, a springtide resplendent with purpose, joy, and hope.

Image courtesy of Andy Ilachinski

4/4/2007 04/04/2007 9882 Religious and Scientific Views of Cosmogenesis

The fundamental thesis of the religious view, as implied in Vedic utterances, as stated in the Book of Genesis and as amplified in the opening to the Holy Qur’an, Man plays a central role as a purported end-product (indeed intended goal) of Creation. The will and guidance of an omnipotent and omniscient Creator are implicit in all religious cosmologies.

It was difficult to reconcile this after the scientific revolution of the 15th/16th centuries, which erected a framework in which inexorable, and mathematically precise laws operate without pause or exception to keep the universe rolling in time. This instigated a new vision of God as an omnipotent Creator of physical laws, who left the vast machine tick away like a well constructed clock: smoothly, precisely, and interminably. Some were prepared to admit that if and when the mechanism needed fixing, this Creator of the cosmic clock would intervene to set it right again. Its two advantages were this: It prevented science from sliding into atheistic materialism, and it made God more rational than whimsical, more respectful of rules than of arbitrary behavior. But its serious disadvantage was that it made God no more than a First Cause, who, after the first and only act (Creation) receded into eternal inaction, becoming what the French called le dieu fainéant (the do-nothing god). More seriously, it was only one more step to dispense with even this God.

Indeed, in the current scientific framework, the universe stumbled into existence on its own, because of some mishap in a silent and latent symmetry, intelligible only to the initiated (in group theory and high energy physics), blowing away as matter every which way, creating space and time in the process. As a result of the co-nascent laws of nature which included a few fundamental interactions, matter and radiant energy such as we know came to be, stars and planets were slowly formed by gravitational enticements, heavy elements were synthesized in the crushed core of super-hot supernovas.

After eons of mute and mechanical routine, mindless matter in elliptical orbits, rugged rocks and slime and sand and things like that, there occurred in this tiny speck in a cosmic corner we call the earth, and quite by accident too, a most remarkable event: the bonding of the first self-replicating molecules igniting biogenesis. This started the unpredictable slide down the giddying path of biological evolution. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, Homo sapiens emerged from apes, and began roaming around in the wilds of Africa. Then there was thought and language and agriculture and culture, and what do you know, thinkers were arguing about how it all began.

This picture was not painted overnight. Nor did it arise from the meditation of a serene sage, the proclamation of the wise man of a clan, or revelations from an archangel. Rather, it has developed from the search and struggle of countless people doing experiments, gathering data, formulating and weighing possibilities, mutually critiquing, revising, reviewing, verifying, rejecting, and finally accepting those ideas that seem most plausible. What matters here is not the correctness of the picture painted, or the sanctity in the source, but the reasons and routes by which one arrived at conclusions.

Some people find this account to be at least as interesting as what our distant ancestors came up with. They also find it persuasive because it is fortified by charts and data and mathematical theories to boot. It is more conjectural conclusion than solemn declaration. Those who are inclined to scientific cosmology grant that there is, as there always will be, something tentative in the scientific vision, but the reasonable coherence in it makes it more appealing to them. After all, if explain you must, then you better pay attention to detail and the deductive mode.

On the other hand, to those who are conditioned to scriptural authority and revealed truths, scientific cosmology is one drab and dismal story in which human beings are mere byproducts, accidents or worse, like some inconsequential mushrooms that sprout in the wilderness and perish. All the grandeur of a magnificent universe with splendid stars in the firmament is reduced in the scientific picture to tenuous hydrogen gas pervading all over and concentrating here and there, to dying stars with nuclear fire at the core, galaxies running amuck every which way like swarms of frightened fowl, sea salts cooking into animalcules. And then, one gives the cold shoulder to God Almighty, there is no room for reverence, no one to laud, sing hymns or be thankful to. All this, from the perspective of traditional religion, is not so much poverty of thought, as mischievous materialism, haughty in its cocksureness, lacking in humility, ignorant of the Divine, and pale when compared to the power and poetry of a glorious God-engendered Creation sanctified by meaning and morality and purpose. Cosmologists, like Laplace, may not need a God-hypothesis, but, like Lagrange, many find it to be beautiful and soothing too.

To those who are conditioned to scriptural authority and revealed truths, scientific cosmology is one drab and dismal story in which human beings are mere byproducts, accidents or worse, like some inconsequential mushrooms that sprout in the wilderness and perish. All the grandeur of a magnificent universe with splendid stars in the firmament is reduced in the scientific picture to tenuous hydrogen gas pervading all over and concentrating here and there, to dying stars with nuclear fire at the core, galaxies running amuck every which way like swarms of frightened fowl, sea salts cooking into animalcules… All this, from the perspective of traditional religion, is not so much poverty of thought, as mischievous materialism, haughty in its cocksureness, lacking in humility, ignorant of the Divine, and pale when compared to the power and poetry of a glorious God-engendered Creation sanctified by meaning and morality and purpose. 4/10/2007 04/10/2007 9883 Multi-Level-Headed: The ins and outs of humor

Last week I wrote about insider and outsider status within popular songs. I ended by extending that theme into humor. There is a lot of humor in which we watch to see whether the insider or the outsider prevails in status. Who’s in first place? Who’s in second? In picaresque humor like Beverly Hills Cop for example, Eddie Murphy, the outsider is clearly cooler than the insiders. A street-savvy outsider dropped into Beverly Hills, wins first place status among a bunch of second place insiders.

Of course, not all humor speaks to whether it’s cooler to be inside our outside. Still, an amazing amount plays with shifts between insider and outsider perspectives. We’re fascinated by the relationship between inside and outside because it plays off the most amazing commonplace we ever ignore: We act levelheaded but we’re really multi-level-headed. (See Going Meta, Upleveling, Four I’s. )

At its simplest, multi-level-headedness plays out on two planes: We’re either participating as insiders or observing from the outside. When things are going smoothly we’re just in it, doing what we’re supposed to be doing. When we encounter resistance, ambiguity, strangeness, or ambivalence, our perspective shifts from being in it to being outside observing it. When a relationship starts to feel less like a groove and more like a rut, we start to think about it rather than merely being in it. A lot of humor plays with the jumps we make between being within it and about it–up out of it.

Multi-level-headed humor starts early. Peek-a-boo is a teasing bounce between in and out. “I’m in here with you. No I’m not. Yes I am.”

Are you laughing at me or with me? If you’re laughing with me, we’re in it together. If you’re laughing at me, you’re outside, observing and parodying me.

A lot of puns are built on this inside/outside tension:

What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino?

Elephino.

Is “elephino” an answer within the context of the question or is it about the question’s unanswerability? It sits unsteadily on the ridge between inside and out.

Abbot and Costello’s “who’s on first; what’s on second” is the same game: Is “who” a reiteration of the question or an answer within the context of the question. The skit is thoroughly implausible–really, whose name sounds anything like “who’s”?–and yet it remains a classic. We’re as enchanted as babies watching the reference point shuttle between in and out.

Parody plays with the jump from inside to outside. You know what it’s like to accommodate someone’s eccentricities up to a point beyond which they feel like parodies of themselves. That is, you’re in it with them until their eccentricity pops you out, and you laugh a little, “sorry, you lost me there,” laugh. Parody takes that outsider perspective to its logical extreme. The characters are all the way inside, and you’re outside observing and laughing.

Austin Powers has no capacity for self-exploration. He never doubts himself, but we do throughout. He’s drawn so eccentrically, with all the features of a secret agent distorted by exaggeration, that the audience is completely outside observing him. Never while watching an Austin Powers movie are we on the edge of our seats rooting for or identifying with him.

If life were all lived at one level it wouldn’t be funny. Cows live at one level. Cows can be funny, of course, but only in the context of our multiple levels. Gender aside, cows are straight men. Cow-tipping, for example, wouldn’t amuse us if the cows were multi-level-headed and saw the humor in it. It’s only funny (to those who think it is) because the cows are so oblivious.

Wallace and Gromit offer an interesting division of labor on multi-level-headedness. Like Austin Powers or a cow, Wallace, the cheese- and invention-loving middle-class British gent, thinks at one level. Though he’s very bouncy, he never bounces out of the action to observe himself. Gromit, the mute (and in fact mouthless) dog, is the sophisticated and multi-level-headed character. He’s often put in compromising situations and we see through his eyes as he bounces from inside his relationship with Wallace to outside observing it. So who is the straight man? By lack of expression it’s Gromit; by lack of self-observation, it’s Wallace.

And if it weren’t tickle enough popping in and out between two levels, there’s the uber-tickle of multiple or infinite levels. The classic is Monty Python’s “Argument Clinic .” A guy goes to the clinic to buy an argument and falls into argument with the service provider about whether they’re having an argument, and then about whether they’re having an argument about having an argument. Abouts about abouts, pushing us ever further up and out.

But mostly, bouncing between a couple of levels is tickle enough. The deadpan delivery of the last word that pops us out of the mainstream game reveals our unedited perspective, as with Oscar Wilde’s line, “Nature is a dark damp place where birds fly about uncooked.”

But seriously (inside), I’m only joking (outside). . . no, but seriously (inside), I’m reminded of Eeyore’s birthday in Winnie the Pooh, a story that I always thought ended very strangely, very uncharacteristically, but now seems to make cosmic sense.

Eeyore the donkey is a beast of burden, a straight man in a state of permanent disappointment. MOGIBO: Me Out. Good In. Bad Out. Because nothing ever goes right for him, he’s always in a rut, and therefore always stuck between levels. He tries to stand outside his circumstances, calmly observing his own misery. When his friends forget his birthday, he says, “After all, what are birthdays? Here today and gone tomorrow.” But really, he’s neither resigned nor grieving, with no signs of shifting reliably to accepting his fate or fighting against it. His standard greeting is “Good morning, if it is a good morning which I doubt.” It’s right on the edge between hoping it’s a good morning and giving up on its being good.

Piglet and Pooh remember Eeyore’s birthday at the last minute. They run home to get him presents. Pooh gets him a pot of honey, but on the way to Eeyore’s house, he forgets that it’s a gift. He eats all the honey and at the last bite suddenly remembers. He decides to just bring the empty honey pot anyway.

Piglet gets Eeyore a leftover balloon from someone else’s birthday party, but on the way to Eeyore’s he trips and the balloon bursts. Piglet decides to bring the balloon shrapnel anyway.

We see what’s coming, another Eeyore disappointment and disaffirmation, another reason for him to half-resignedly bemoan an unjust world.

Pooh and Piglet try desperately to persuade Eeyore that they really meant well but Eeyore is uncharacteristically oblivious. For the first and only time in the book, he is really at peace, joyful in fact. He has discovered a new game.

“Why!” he said. “I believe my Balloon will just go into that Pot!”

“Oh, no, Eeyore,” said Pooh. “Balloons are much too big to go into Pots. What you do with a balloon is, you hold the balloon.”

“Not mine,” said Eeyore proudly. “Look, Piglet!” And as Piglet looked sorrowfully round, Eeyore picked the balloon up with his teeth, and placed it carefully in the pot; picked it out and put it on the ground; and then picked it up again and put it carefully back.

“So it does!” said Pooh. “It goes in!”

“So it does!” said Piglet. “And it comes out!”

“Doesn’t it?” said Eeyore. “It goes in and out like anything.”

“I’m very glad,” said Pooh happily, “that I thought of giving you a Useful Pot to put things in.”

“I’m very glad,” said Piglet happily, “that I thought of giving you something to put in a Useful Pot.”

But Eeyore wasn’t listening. He was taking the balloon out, and putting it back again, as happy as could be. . . .

Eeyore is mesmerized. It goes in and out like anything. Like us wondering who’s on first and what’s on second.

At its simplest, multi-level-headedness plays out on two planes: We’re either participating as insiders or observing from the outside. When things are going smoothly we’re just in it, doing what we’re supposed to be doing. When we encounter resistance, ambiguity, strangeness, or ambivalence, our perspective shifts from being in it to being outside observing it. When a relationship starts to feel less like a groove and more like a rut, we start to think about it rather than merely being in it. A lot of humor plays with the jumps we make between being within it and about it–up out of it. Originally published on Mind Readers Dictionary; www.mindreadersdictionary.org. 4/10/2007 04/10/2007 9884 Lecture: Dr. Christopher Stoughton, Augustine of Hippo and the Cosmologists, 16 April 2007, Villanova, PA, USA

Villanova University is hosting a renowned astrophysicist as part of its Vivian J. Lamb Lecture Series who will speak on: 

“St. Augustine of Hippo and the Cosmologists”

This lecture will be given by:
Dr. Christopher Stoughton of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Monday, 16 April 2007
4 PM

Connelly Center Cinema 
For further information,  call (610) 519-4780 or visit the Augustinian Institute web site at http://www.3.villanova.edu/augustinianinstitute.

———————————————————-
What do St. Augustine and cosmology have in common? In his 4th century writings did this profound thinker reflect on cosmological issues probed by today’s cartographers of the universe? Might this research lead to a correspondence between religion and science? These and other questions will be explored at a free public lecture with a reception with light refreshments will following in the Presidents’ Lounge.

“The enormous success of physical cosmology leads many to profess the philosophy of materialism. This conclusion is far from inevitable,” he added.

Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), which is systematically mapping the night sky by observing one million spectra and hundreds of millions of images. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Columbia University.

The Lamb Lecture Series, sponsored by Dr. Michael G. Lamb, a Villanova graduate and physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, acts as a platform for faith and religion to be in conversation with each other without prejudice or presuppositions. Instituted in 2004, the series has brought leading thinkers in religion, the sciences and philosophy to Villanova to lecture on thought-provoking topics like “Looking for God in All the Wrong Places: Evolution and the challenge from Intelligent Design,” “Why god Won’t Go Away,” and “Philosophical History and the Problem of Consciousness.”

“The role of a Catholic Augustinian university is to provide a forum for the open discussion of these questions. The inspiration for these lectures was St. Augustine’s belief that there is no incompatibility between science and religion – that they all come from God,” Martin added.

Jones, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, ruled in 2005 that the Dover School Board improperly introduced religion into the classroom when it required science teachers to read a statement to 9th grade biology students stating that evolution is “just a theory,” and that there were alternative theories to consider. Since the only alternative theory offered was intelligent design, Jones ruled that the school board was, in essence, incorporating God into the public classroom.

“To be sure, Darwin’s theory of evolution is imperfect,” Jones wrote. “However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom to misrepresent well-established scientific proportions.”

Jones’ presentation follows intelligent design supporter Dr. Michael Behe, professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University and author of “Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution.”

Jones was named one of the “10 Sexiest Geeks of 2005” by the Website Wired News, and was one of Time magazine’s “100 most influential people of the year” in 2006.

“It’s very important that these open dialogues regarding religion and science take place in an environment that promotes both intellectual and spiritual development,” said Dr. Antoinette Iadarola, president of Cabrini. “One does not need to choose between religion and science, and may find a balance between the two.”

 

 

4/12/2007 04/12/2007 9897 Announcement: Prof. J. Wentzel van Huyssteen is the first recipient of the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize for the Best Christian Theological Book by a South African

The Alone in the World?,published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company in the USA.

 /></p><p style=font-family: Arial;><font size=2>This book, with the subtitle <em style=Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology, is an edited version of Van Huyssteen’s Gifford lectures, given in Edinburgh, Scotland, during 2004. Van Huyssteen discusses at length the extremely important issue of the relationship between science and religion. The judges describe it as a “complete book in a way that you rarely see.” Van Huyssteen is at home in theology as well as philosophy, and here he deals with human origins in paleoanthropology in relation to theological anthropology. One could say that the very notion of interdisciplinarity requires specialized skills in more than one field, and professor Van Huyssteen has demonstrated those skills in an exemplary way. What we have in this book is nothing less than a text, which will move the whole issue of the relationship of science and religion a long step forward. Gone are the days, it seems, when the one (leaning towards scientism) tried to make do without the other (leaning towards fundamentalism). Van Huyssteen explored the interdisciplinary dialogue between theology and paleoanthropology, and specifically questions of human uniqueness, by focussing on the meaning of prehistoric European cave paintings as some of the oldest surviving expressions of human symbolic activity. His conclusion is that theology and paleoanthropology converge on the fact that humans, with Die Burger).

Van Huyssteen studied at Stellenboch and the Free University of Amsterdam, was minister of the Dutch Reformed Congregation Noorder-Paarl, and lectured at the University of Port Elizabeth, before he became the James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science at Princeton Theological Seminary, USA, in 1992. Some of his other publications are Duet or Duel? Theology and Science in a Postmodern World (1998), and  src=https://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Portals/0/VisualExplorations/baalshemtovsm.jpg></a> <a href=http://www.tomblock.com/detail.php?id=132><img class=ve_image alt=  src=https://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Portals/0/VisualExplorations/dhulnunsm.jpg></a><br><a href=http://www.tomblock.com/detail.php?id=137><img class=ve_image alt=
 src=https://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Portals/0/VisualExplorations/ibnarabism.jpg></a> <a href=http://www.tomblock.com/detail.php?id=136><img class=ve_image alt=  src=https://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/Portals/0/VisualExplorations/rabiasm.jpg></a> <a href=http://www.tomblock.com/detail.php?id=157><img class=ve_image alt=
(Click each for information and full size image)

©2007 Tom Block

Shalom/Salaam: The Untold Story of a Mystical Entanglement is an interdisciplinary project predicated on the belief that contemporary art, at its best, can move outside of the narrow confines of the art world, approaching the general public through genuinely creative thought and a gentle activism.

Specifically, my Shalom/Salaam Project highlights the strong Sufi influence on the development of Jewish mysticism, following this unfamiliar tale from 11 th century Spain and Egypt, through the Kabbalah and into the Baal Shem Tov’s Hasidism in the 18th century. I believe that the popularization of this positive story can help facilitate the peace dialogue between Jews and Arabs, becoming part of the healing process of that fractured relationship.

Based in my own original research about Jewish and Muslim mystics that studied together, read each other’s texts and openly borrowed ideas from the other religion’s mystical masters, Shalom/Salaam is a unique mixture of art, writing, scholarship and activism. Through a series of art shows, written pieces, forums and other activities, the Shalom/Salaam project introduces this tale of spiritual entanglement to a diverse audience.

Read more about Shalom/Salaam, and see more images in the series, on the artist’s website.

4/23/2007 04/23/2007 9902 Lecture: Dr. Scott Hegrenes, Understanding Evolution: From ‘Missing Links’ to Modern Science, 2 May 2007, Kenosha, WI

The Science and Religion Colloquium at Carthage with support from the Metanexus Institute’s Local Societies Initiative presents  a lecture by Dr. Scott Hegrenes of the Carthage Biology Department, titled:

“Understanding Evolution: From ‘Missing Links’ to Modern Science”

 Wednesday, 2 May 2007
8:00 pm

Niemann Media Theater
Hedberg Library
Carthage College
Kenosha, WI

For more information, contact:
Dan Schowalter
schowa@carthage.edu

4/24/2007 04/24/2007 9903 Website: Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, Launched a New Website, 15 April 2007 The Center for Spirtuality, Theology and Health’s new website just became live within the past week. They have been working to update the form and content on the website for 6 months.  It is now an unparalleled source of information about spirituality and health.

Information on the following topics is available there:

(1) spirituality and health grants
(2) workshops and lectures
(4) spirituality & health membership society
(5) post-doc fellowships
(6) past research on spirituality and health
(7) latest research at Duke and throughout the world from 2000-2007
(8) books
(9) national and international speakers schedule
(10) links to other spirituality and health organizations

Please visit the website at www.dukespiritualityandhealth.org.

Bear with STH since there may be a few kinks that still need to be worked out.

NOTE: There are still a few slots left for the summer research workshops.  The July 16-20 workshop is almost full, although the August 13-17 workshop has about 10 slots available.  The August 4 clinical practice workshop also has slots available.  Information about these workshops and how to register for them can be found on the website above.

In about a week, STH will announce a Request for Research Proposals (RFP) on spirituality and health (seven $200,000 grants), so be alert for that.

4/24/2007 04/24/2007 9904 Call for Papers: SophiaEuropa Project, European Identity: Culture, Technology and Religion,ù 2-4 July 2007, Cracow, Poland Sophia Europa is hosting its 2nd International Conference, titled:


“European Identity: Culture, Technology and Religion”


2-4 July 2007


Conference Place:
                                                                                               
Notification to authors:
Monday, 14 May 2007
 

 The accepted papers will be published in the conference post-proceedings volume.

————————————————————————-

 


– RELIGION & CULTURE
– VALUES & EUROPE
– TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE & VALUES
– CULTURE & VALUES


For a more detailed Conference thematic description, please visit:Program Committee

         Eoin Devereux (University of Limerick, Ireland)

         Zbigniew Kotulski (Polish Academy of Sciences, Instit. of Fund. Technol. Res., Poland)

         Chris Russell (University of Wales Institute, Great Britain)

 

  The full cost of the conference is 360 Euro and covers participation at the conference, coffee breaks during the Conference, 3 nights at the hotel 2/3, 3/4, 4/5 with breakfast, lunches at 3.07 and 4.07, dinners at 2.07 and 4.07, Conference dinner at 3.07.

 
For details, contact the Conference Office, at:

sophiawa@ippt.gov.pl.

         1st International Conference on Culture, Technology and Religion Topic (SophiaEurope Project) – Limerick, May 11-13, 2006 – (http://www.mic.ul.ie/theology/researchcentres.htm).


 

The speaker will be Marco Bersanelli, Full Professor of Astrophysics in the State University of Milan and Chairman of the National Euresis Society.
7.30 p.m.

 

Main Lecture Hall
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
University of Catania
Via S. Sofia, 64
Catania, Italy

 

For more information, please contact:
Prof. Raffaele Bonomo at rbonomo@dipchi.unict.it
or
Prof. Franco Riggi at franco.riggi@ct.infn.it

————————————————–

 

Marco Bersanelli will speak about the relationship between human reason and physical reality from the viewpoint of an astrophysicist engaged in research in the field of cosmology at the forefront of contemporary science. 

This conference is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Metanexus Institute through the LSI grant project, and the University of Catania.

4/24/2007 04/24/2007 9906 Lecture: Michael Ruse, ìThe Evolution-Creation Struggle: An American Story,î 9 May 2007, Madison, WI

The Isthmus Society Presents:  

“The Evolution-Creation Struggle: An American Story”

A public lecture by Michael Ruse, Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at FSU

Wednesday, 9 May 2007
4-5:30

325/326 Pyle Center
UW-Madison
702 Langdon Street
Madison, WI


This event is FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC.

Dr. Andrew Newberg, Program Director of the newly formed multidisciplinary center, the University of Pennsylvania Center for Spirituality and the Mind is pleased to announce the 10th Annual Spirituality Research Symposium. 

 

———————————————————  This symposium will also consider the more global role of spirituality in health care service delivery.

 

Jean Kristeller, Ph.D., received her doctorate in clinical and health psychology from Yale University in 1983.  Previous appointments have been at Harvard University Medical School and the Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School.           

  At Penn he has taught courses in spiritual belief and in alternative healing traditions since 1979.Rev. Paul Derrickson is an ordained Presbyterian minister who has served at the Hershey Medical Center since 1981 as the Associate and as Coordinator since 1995.  Paul’s primary focus has been developing and articulating the new role for chaplaincy in the changing health care environment.Gail Morrison, MD, is Vice Dean for Education and Director of the Office of Academic Programs at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.  She developed and implemented Curriculum 2000® and Virtual Curriculum 2000® — an innovative, integrated and modular four-year curriculum for students of the 21st century.  She was one of the five founding members of the Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine, and was recently appointed Chair of the AAMC Medical Student Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee.  She interned in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel in Boston and completed her residency at Georgetown Hospital.           

  She currently teaches courses on humanistic medicine, holistic healthcare and therapeutic writing.  As a research assistant professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, she was the principal investigator of a study on spirituality and mental health.  She is the co-editor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Older Adults a compendium of articles on holistic approaches to healthy aging.Andrew Newberg, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and is director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind.

4/24/2007 04/24/2007 9908 Lecture: Dwight Hopkins, Ecological Justice/Environmental Racism, 25 April 2007, Chicago, IL, USA The Zygon Center for Religion and Science is hosting an Earth Week Lecture, titled:

“Ecological Justice/ Environmental Racism.”

Dwight Hopkins, Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School

Wednesday, 25 April 2007
7:00 to 8:30 p.m.


 

—————————————————

 

Hopkins is Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School.  He researches and writes on contemporary models of theology, black theology, and liberation theologies.  The book is titled:


“Neuroscience and Philosophy:  Maxwell Bennett, Daniel Dennett, Peter Hacker, and John Searle with an introduction and conclusion by Daniel N. Robinson
 

BUY ONLINE

$24.50
cloth
240 pages
10 halftones, 0 color illus., 0 line drawings, 0 tables
ISBN: 0-231-14044-4

For more information, please contact Customer Service.
 

  Introduction, by Daniel Robinson – The Argument, Selections from Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience – Neuroscience and Philosophy, by Maxwell R. Bennett – The Rebuttals – –

“If you can get two sworn and unrestrained philosophical enemies such as Daniel Dennett and John Searle to join forces against you, you must at the very least be described as the controversialists of our time.”

—Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy and director, Heyman Centre for the Humanities, Columbia University

 

Neuroscience and Philosophy presents the thought-provoking intellectual exchange on the conceptual presuppositions of cognitive neuroscience that took place at the 2005 meeting of the American Philosophical Association in New York.  It aroused widespread interest and was chosen for an “authors and critics” debate at the APA.  In the impassioned debate that ensued, fundamentally different conceptions of philosophical method, cognitive-neuroscientific explanation, and human nature clashed.

The themes discussed in this engaging and highly readable confrontation have a wide range.  It is left to the reader, as it was left to the audience of the original debate, to decide which conception is appropriate.

In his conclusion, Daniel Robinson (Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University) summarizes the arguments and makes clear why the debate is so crucial for the understanding of neuroscientific research.
About the Authors
1

This way of thinking is always concrete, local, and contextual, but at the same time reaches beyond local contexts to transdisciplinary concerns. The overriding concern here is as follows: while we always come to our interpersonal and cross-disciplinary conversations with strong personal beliefs, commitments and even prejudices, a postfoundationalist approach enables us to realize that, in spite of our radically different reasoning strategies, there is also much that we share in terms of our rational resources. An interdisciplinary approach, carefully thought through, can help us to identify these shared resources in different modes of knowledge so as to reach beyond the boundaries of our own traditional disciplines in cross-contextual, cross-disciplinary conversation. It can also enable us to identify possible shared conceptual problems as we negotiate the porous boundaries of our different disciplines.

One such shared interdisciplinary problem is the concern for human uniqueness, and how that may, or may not, relate to human origins and the evolution of religious awareness. It is, therefore, precisely in the problem of ‘human uniqueness’ that theology and the sciences may find a shared research trajectory. Our very human capacity (or mania?) for self-definition can most probably be seen as one of the ‘crowning achievements’ of our species. As we all know today, however, no one trait or accomplishment should ever be taken as the single defining characteristic of what it means to be human. Morever, what we see as our humanness, or even our distinct human ‘uniqueness’, ultimately implies a deeply moral choice: we are not just biological creatures, but as cultural creatures we have the remarkable but dangerous ability to determine whom we are going to include, or not, as part of ‘us’(cf. Proctor 2003:228f.). Talking about human uniqueness in reasoning strategies as different as theology and the sciences, therefore, will always have a crucially important moral dimension. We do seem to have a profound moral responsibility when defining ourselves, for naming ourselves always assumes a specific kind of reality that gives shape to the worlds we create and experience. It is also important to ask, however, how reasonable (or not) it might be for a theologian, after immersing him/herself in the challenging contemporary debates in paleoanthropology and archeology, to expect scientists to provide a starting point, or important links, for an interdisciplinary discussion of issues like human origins, human nature, human uniqueness, and even human destiny. And last but not least: how realistic is it for a Christian theologian to expect scientists to take theological contributions to these crucially important topics seriously?

An interesting part of our self-perception is that it is often the less material aspects of the history of our species that fascinates us most in the evolution of modern humans. We seem to grasp at an intuitive level that issues like language, self-awareness, consciousness, moral awareness, symbolic behavior and mythology, are probably the defining elements that really make us human (cf. Lewin 1993:4). Yet exactly these elements that most suggest humanness are often the least visible in the prehistoric record. For this reason paleoanthropologists correctly have focused on more indirect, but equally plausible material pointers to the presence of the symbolic human mind in early human prehistory. Arguably the most spectacular of the earliest evidences of symbolic behaviour in humans are the paleolithic cave paintings in South West France and the Basque Country, painted toward the end of the last Ice Age. The haunting beauty of these prehistoric images, and the creative cultural explosion that they represent, should indeed fascinate any theologian interested in human origins.

At first blush there does in fact seem to be a rather remarkable convergence between the evolutionary emergence of Homo sapiens, and Christian beliefs in the origins of the human creature (cf. García-Rivera 2003:9). In a sense the famous ‘cultural explosion’ of the Upper-Paleolithic, although in no sense the ‘beginning of a new species’, does exemplify the most distinctive traits of our species much as the creation myths of the Abrahamic religions refer to the arrival of a new species, created in the ‘image of God’3.

Against this background it is already clear that certain themes naturally emerge as seminal for the interdisciplinary dialogue between paleoanthropology and theology. It is in these scientific discussions that theologians need to find transversal connections to their own discipline(s). Scholars like Steven Mithen (1996), Ian Tattersall (1998), Merlin Donald (1991; 2001) and Paul Mellars (1990) have all argued that knowing the prehistory of the human mind will provide us with a more profound understanding of what it means to be uniquely human. It certainly helps us to understand a little better the origins of art, technology, and of religion, and how these cultural domains are inescapably linked to the ability of the cognitively fluid human mind to develop creatively powerful metaphors by crossing the boundaries of different domains of knowledge. Iain Davidson has argued that early humans worked out their relationship with their environment and with each other precisely through paleolithic ‘art’, and he sees the burst of image making after 40,000 BP as reflecting the way that these ancestors of ours explored the limits and possibilities of the power of their recently discovered symbolically based communication. Because of this, most scholars in the field would take the Upper Paleolithic as the standard for recognizing symbolism (cf. Davidson 1997:125; cf. also Diamond 1998), although powerful and convincing arguments have now been made by Christopher Henshilwood and his team for a more gradual emergence of modern human behavior in Africa, most notably by the discovery of personal ornaments from around 75 thousand years ago at the Blombos Cave in South Africa (cf. Henshilwood, C., d’Erico, F., Vanhaeren, M., van Niekerk, K., Jacobs, Z., 2004:404f.). For Iain Davidson any kind of symboling power is tied directly to the origins of language: it would have been impossible for creatures without language to create symbolic artifacts, or to hold opinions about the making or marking of surfaces that would eventually turn them into imagery or ‘art’. For this reason Davidson argues that it is precisely the exceptional artistic artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic that give us unique insights into evolutionary processes, into the evolution of human behavior, and into the very nature of what it might have meant to become a modern human.

The important question now is, what does the origin of language mean for our understanding of prehistoric imagery? For Davidson one of the most distinctive features of language is the arbitrariness of symbols, and how that necessarily results in inherent ambiguity, especially when compared to pre-linguistic communication systems (cf. the complex calls of Vervet monkeys) which have no possibility of ambiguity because they have been honed by natural selection. One way to cope with the proliferation of this kind of ambiguous creativity was to produce emblems or signs which we, even today, can recognize as in some sense iconic (cf. Davidson 1997:126f.). I believe that successful communication, therefore, requires means of identification that the utterances or images are trustworthy, and in some sense represent a recognizable continuity. We should, therefore, not be surprised to find these kinds of emblems among early language users. We should also not be surprised, I think, that we too are still fascinated by the enigmatic character of these symbolic images and signs, especially since they still appeal to our own aesthetic and symbolic capacities.

This argument that paleolithic imagery or ‘art’ is symbolic, and not just decorative, is considerably strengthened by Margaret Conkey’s persuasive arguments against trying to capture the generic ‘meaning’ of paleolithic art as a single, inclusive metatheory, and for a more contextual understanding of the ‘meaning’ of this art as enmeshed in the social context of its time. On this view, the original meaning can only be said to have existed through the contexts in which it was first produced as individual paintings or parts of paintings (cf. Davidson 1997:128). ‘Meaning’, therefore, is not a timeless property of paleolithic imagery in itself, but, as in the case of religious texts, is the result of the interaction, then and now, between the human agents and the material. We also, in our own relational, interactive interpretations of this imagery, discover and produce meaning. Therefore, the symbolism or ‘meaning’ we find in the earliest ‘art’ produced by people like us clearly is a product of our own interpretative interaction with this stunning imagery. What emerges here is an important convergence between theological and paleoanthropological methodology, a postfoundationalist argument for the fact that we relate to our world(s) through highly contextualized, interpreted experience only.

For theology, the most important lesson learnt is that, from a paleoanthropological point of view, all talk of symbolism should be seen as part and parcel of turning communication into language, but the use of symbols separate from language could only have been a product of language (cf. Davidson 1997:153). What this implies is that the prehistoric cave paintings in southwestern France and in the Basque Country of Northern Spain could only have had whatever symbolic, expressive quality they did because of the linguistic, symbolic context in which they must have been created. Hence the imagination, productivity and creativity we associate with humans are very much a product of language, which, in both theology and the sciences, make language and expressive symbolic abilities central to a definition of embodied human uniqueness.

Throughout the history of paleoanthropological research, one of the primary questions has always been, when did humans begin to think, feel, and act like humans? Central to this question has always been the issue of cognition or creative self-awareness, and how it might be recognized in its initial stages (cf. Donald 1991; 2001). Steven Mithen’s answer to this question is an evolutionary approach to the origins of the human mind, and the development of a three stage typology of cognition that follows the evolution of domains of intelligence from the earliest members of the genus Homo through to their final integration in modern humans. Only in the final phase, in Homo sapiens, do we find a dramatic behavioral break, a ‘big bang’ of cognitive, technical and social innovation with the rise of cognitive fluidity as the final phase of mind development (cf. Mithen 1996). William Noble and Iain Davidson, in a slightly different approach, see one development, namely language, as pivotal in the evolution of human cognition. Here social context is seen as a primary selective force, and language, symbolization and mind are integrated into an explanatory framework for the evolution of human cognition, centered on the human ability to give meaning to perceptions in a variety of ways. Ultimately Noble and Davidson see language as emerging out of socially defined contexts of communication, encouraged as a more efficient form of gesture, with the selection of language occurring because of its efficiency and flexibility (cf. Noble and Davidson 1996; also, Simek 1998:444f.).

For Terence Deacon, arguing from a neuroscientific point of view, early symbolic communication would not have been just a simpler form of language; it would have been different in many respects as a result of the state of vocal abilities. Deacon argues that our prehistoric ancestors used languages that we will never hear and communicated with symbols that have not survived the selective sieve of fossilization. And as far as specific Upper-Paleolithic imagery goes, Deacon seems to be in complete agreement with Iain Davidson: it is almost certainly a reliable expectation that a society which constructed complex tools and spectacular artistic imagery also had a correspondingly sophisticated symbolic infrastructure (cf. Deacon 1997:365). Deacon’s argument confirms the transversal impact of paleoanthropology on the interdisciplinary dialogue with theology: a society that leaves behind evidence of permanent external symbolization in the form of paintings, carvings, and sculpture, most likely also included a social, iconic function for this activity. As far as paleolithic imagery goes, then, the first cave paintings and carvings that emerged from this period may not be the first direct expression of a symbolizing mind, but it certainly emerged as one of the most spectacular expressions of the symbolic human mind..

What has emerged from the work of Mithen, Noble and Davidson, Donald, Tattersall and Deacon, and should be of primary interest to theologians working on anthropology, is that human mental life includes biologically unprecedented ways of experiencing and understanding the world, from aesthetic experiences to spiritual contemplation. In a recent article, Terence Deacon makes the important point that the spectacular paleolithic imagery and the burial of the dead, though not final guarantees of shamanistic or religious activities, do suggest strongly the existence of sophisticated symbolic reasoning and a religious disposition of the human mind (cf. Deacon 2003:504ff.). The symbolic nature of Homo sapiens also explains why mystical or religious inclinations can even be regarded as an essentially universal attribute of human culture (cf. Deacon 1997:436), and opens up an important space for David Lewis-William’s persuasive argument for a shamanistic interpretation of some of the most famous of the paleolithic imagery (cf. Lewis-Williams 1997; 2002; Clottes and Lewis-Williams 1996).

In trying to find an adequate explanation for modern human behavior during the Upper-Paleolithic, Lewis-Williams has been highly critical of any over-emphasis on intelligence, and the evolution of intelligence, that might marginalize the importance of the full range of human consciousness in human behavior. This reveals a one-sided focus on ‘the consciousness of rationality’, and has marginalized the fuller spectrum of human consciousness by suppressing certain forms of consciousness as irrational, marginal, aberrant, or even pathological. This is especially true in the case of altered states of consciousness, which in science and even within mainstream religion often has been eliminated from investigations of the deep past (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:121).

In a move closely resonating with Antonio Damasio’s recent work, Lewis-Williams suggests that we think of consciousness not as a state, but as a continuum, or spectrum of mental states that includes a trajectory from shifting wakefulness to sleeping (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:122). In addition to this spectrum of consciousness from shifting wakefulness to sleep, Lewis-Williams also suggests another trajectory that passes through the same spectrum but with different effects. He calls this an intensified trajectory, and it is more profoundly concerned with inward-direction and fantasy. Lewis-Williams argues that dream-like autistic states may be induced by a wide variety of means other than normal drifting into sleep: fatigue, pain, fasting, and the ingestion of psychotropic substances are all means of shifting consciousness along the intensified trajectory towards the release of inwardly generated imagery. At the end of this trajectory there emerges pathological states, such as schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy, that take consciousness along the intensified trajectory. Hallucinations may thus be deliberately sought, or may emerge unsought (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:124).

For Lewis-Williams this second trajectory has much in common with the one that takes us into sleep and dreaming, but there are also important differences. Dreaming gives us an idea what hallucinations are like, but the states toward the far end of the intensified trajectory – visions and hallucinations that may occur in any of the five senses – are generally called altered states of consciousness (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:125). Lewis-Williams argues that this phrase can equally be applied to dreaming and to ‘inward’ states on the normal trajectory, even if some prefer to restrict its use to extreme hallucinations and trance states. Importantly, all the mental states described here are generated by the neurology of the human nervous system, and they are thus part and parcel of what it is to be fully human. In this sense they are literally ‘wired into the brain’, although we have to remember the mental imagery humans experience in altered states are overwhelmingly, although not entirely, derived from memory and thus culture specific. This is the reason why Inuits will see polar bears in their visions, the San see eland, and Hildegard from Bingen experienced the Christian God (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:126). The spectrum of consciousness, therefore, is indeed wired, but its content is mostly cultural.

For Lewis-Williams the concept of a spectrum of consciousness will indeed help us to explain many specific features of Upper-Paleolithic imagery. In fact, it provides us with a neurological bridge that leads back directly to the Upper-Paleolithic, especially if we take a careful look at the visual imagery of the intensified spectrum and see what kinds of percepts (the representation of what is perceived) are experienced as one passes along it. Lewis-Williams identifies three stages on the intensified spectrum of consciousness, each of which is characterized by particular kinds of imagery and experiences (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:126):

– in the first or ‘lightest’ stage people may experience geometric visual percepts that include dots, grids, zigzags, and meandering lines. Moreover, because these percepts are wired into the human nervous system, all humans, no matter what their cultural background, have the potential to experience them. They flicker, scintillate, expand, contract, and combine with one another, and importantly, they are independent of an exterior light source. Lewis-Williams also argues that such percepts cannot be consciously controlled: they seem to have a life of their own. These entopic phenomena (from the Greek ‘within vision’) may originate anywhere between the eye itself and the cortex of the brain. Entopic phenomena should be distinguished from hallucinations, the forms of which have no foundation in the actual structure of the optic system. Unlike neurologically ‘wired’ entopic phenomena, hallucinations include iconic imagery of culturally controlled items such as animals, as well as somatic (bodily), aural (hearing), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell) experiences (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:126f.).

– in stage two of the intensified trajectory, subjects try to make sense of entopic phenomena by elaborating them into iconic forms, i.e., into objects that are familiar to them from their daily life. In addition, in altered states of consciousness, the nervous system itself becomes a ‘sixth sense’ that produces a variety of images, including entopic phenomena (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:128).

– as subjects move into stage three, marked changes in imagery may occur: at this point many people experience a swirling vortex or rotating tunnel that seems to surround them and to draw them into its depths. In fact, there is a progressive exclusion of information from the outside as the subject moves into a more and more autistic state. This tunnel hallucination is often associated with near-death experiences, and sometimes a bright light in the center of the field of vision creates this tunnel-like perspective. In non-Western cultures shamans typically speak of reaching the spirit world via this kind of vortex of hole in the ground. From this Lewis-Williams can then plausibly conclude that the vortex, and the ways in which its imagery is perceived, are clearly universal human experiences (cf. Lewis-Williams 2002:129). Furthermore, in this third and final stage iconic images derive from memory and are often associated with powerful emotional experiences. In this stage subjects may also enter and participate in their own imagery, and it is in this sense that people sometimes feel themselves to be turning into animals and undergoing frightening or exalting transformations.

All anatomically modern people, not only from the Upper-Paleolithic but also from our own time, had, or still have the same nervous system and, therefore, cannot avoid experiencing the full spectrum of human consciousness, refrain from dreaming, or escape the potential to hallucinate. And exactly because our Paleolithic ancestors were fully human, we can confidently expect that their consciousness were as shifting and fragmented as ours, though the ways in which they regarded and valued various states would have been largely culturally determined1. In December 2004, J. Wentzel van Huyssteen delivered the Olaus Petri Lectures at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. This article reflects in summarized version the heart of the argument developed in that series of lectures.

3. Tattersall also argues that, ironically, it is precisely in our notions of God that we see our human condition most compactly reflected. Human beings, despite their unique associative mental abilities, are incapable of envisioning entities that lie outside their own experience, or that cannot be construed from what they know of the material world. For Tattersall the notion of God is just such an entity. And even with our dramatic increase in knowledge about the unimaginably vast expanse of our universe, our concepts of God – even when expanded commensurately – remain resolutely anthropomorphic (cf. 1998:202). We continue to imagine God in our own image simply because, no matter how much we may pride ourselves on our capacity for abstract thought, we are unable to do otherwise.

Importantly, from a theological point of view, however, this does not imply the illusory character or the non-existence of God, but in fact might actually reveal the only intellectually satisfying way of believing in the kind of God with whom we might have a humanly comprehensible personal relationship at all.

1

This leads to consideration of yet another theodicy, Manicheanism, in which the universe is the site of the titanic struggle of roughly equal forces of good and evil. For Manicheans there is no necessary reason why the transhumanist development of human capacities could not contribute to the struggle for good. As with arms races in temporal reality, if the forces of good refuse to avail themselves of all the means at their disposal the forces of evil will be guaranteed to use those powers to gain advantage. A Manichean bioconservative may believe that all enhancement technologies are poisoned pills which will doom the user, and that the only armaments necessary in the battle are spiritual. But many contemporary Manichean evangelical Christians – those who inveigh against the wiles of Satan as if he was God’s co-equal – have no problem using television, medicine, computers and so on in their battle for the Lord. So presumably some will also soon see the spiritual necessity for Christians to be as smart, wired and long-lived as the agents of Beelzebub.

The transhumanist philosopher Mark Walker is probably the leading writer on reconciling transhumanism with Christian theology. In his essay “Becoming Gods: A neo-Irenaean Theodicy” (Walker, 2002c) he argued that the theodical position of a Polkinghorne (2000) or Hick (1977, 1981) – that God gave us free will in order to give us the opportunity to struggle for self-improvement – can be applied to a transhumanist theodicy:

it is not the mere possession of free will that guarantees the production of evil, rather it is free will in conjunction with our finite nature that leads to the production of moral evil. Thus, it is our duty to attempt to move beyond our merely finite selves, to become gods. When, and only when, we have discharged this duty will evil be expunged, only then will the problem of evil be fully answered. (Walker, 2002c)

Walker notes that since we are considered God’s children rather than God’s pets that the expectation should be that we are being nurtured and encouraged to become adults and not to remain in perpetual pet-itude.

If God is an ideal parent His mission must be to allow us to develop to become type identical with Him. (Walker, 2002c)

Walker goes on to argue that the transhumanist project, applied to the moral improvement of humanity as well as to the usual goals of longevity, super-intelligence, post-biology and emotional regulation, would be the fulfillment of such a Christian theodicy.  Peters makes a similar point about humanity being in Imago Dei, the image of God; doesn’t this imply that we are enjoined to also be god-like in all our attributes, instead of only our spiritual virtues? Philippians 3:21 says He “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” Couldn’t transhumanist technologies be part of the working out of the divine plan that we become godlike as well?

While some Christians insist that humanity was created as we are today, and that no evolution has taken place or should take place so that we remain in Imago Dei as intended, many other Christians have no problem imagining that Creation was simply a prima causa of the Big Bang, or a sparking of life on Earth. Christians who accept that humanity has evolved since Creation should also have no problem believing that we can remain in Imago Dei as posthumans. For instance Robert Schneider notes in “Evolution and the Image of God”:

If this is the biblical understanding of what it means to be created in “the image of God,” then does it require a separate creation for human beings, that is, for H. sapiens, to be made in this image? …”That God created human beings (Gen. 1:27; Ps. 100:3) does not imply instantaneous action.  God’s creation of humanity encompasses past primate history, the present, and whatever is to come.  The sweep of human evolution illustrates how God’s work of creation is a continuing relationship of dependence between the world and God, a continuing act of God’s will, an eternal covenant relationship”…Genesis itself implies that humanity and all the other living beings are made of the same stuff and given the same breath of life (Gen. 2:7, 9, 19, cf. Eccl. 3:19-21; Miller 1993), and modern science has shown that we share the same DNA and other molecules with virtually all living things…It does not denigrate either God or humanity to hold that God’s creative evolutionary processes brought humanity to a point where it would be capable of expressing those qualities that both Scripture and theology have associated with the “image of God.” (Schneider, 2007).

In summary, in theodicies as in metaphysics, there is no inconsistency between most religious views and transhumanist aspirations. In the next section I will consider some of the soteriological positions on virtue and transcendence that are similarly consistent with a transhumanist project of radical human enhancement.

 

Virtue, Happiness and Soteriology

Patrick Hopkins (2005) argues that both religion and transhumanism are soteriological efforts to transcend animality. Most transhumanists are libertarian in respect to life goals. While they may personally aspire to enlightenment, salvation, moksha or a life of virtue, they have little evangelical or authoritarian impulse to guide others away from vice or self-indulgence. But there is an implicit conception of the good personality in transhumanist thought, from the evolving Extropian Principles, which urged transhumanists to be more rational and dynamically optimistic, to the writings of Bostrom, Walker and myself which have dealt with issues of eudemonia and the benevolent obligation to restrict others from self-harm. A positive moral and political agenda for transhumanism is riskier than strict liberal neutrality about life ends, since bioconservatives already suspect transhumanists of totalitarian ambitions. But given the types of moral and psychological harms people could cause themselves and society with future neurotechnologies a pro-active theory of the good posthuman personality is inescapable.

The idea of linking transhumanism with moral improvement and soteriology has developed rapidly in the last couple of years in reaction to the growing body of evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetic explanations for religion (Boyer, 2001, 2003, 2004), and the emerging fields of positive psychology, neurophilosophy and neurotheology (Seligman, 2004; Alper, 2006; Hamer, 2004; Newberg, 2002). If our impulses for virtue, vice and religiosity are in some part determined by genetic, hormonal or neurological predispositions why then shouldn’t we redesign ourselves to have better impulses, superior moral reasoning and more frequent experiences of meditative or prayerful transcendence.

In Walker’s essay “Genetic Virtue” (2003d) he argues that there is a growing body of evidence to support genetic predispositions for friendliness, which has been generally considered a virtue. The literature he cites is based on the “five factor” personality model, which shows that everyone’s personality can be described as a mix of five basic characteristics, all of which are substantially set at birth and stable across one’s life: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Kerry Jang at the University of British Columbia has found that the agreeableness or sociability trait is especially strongly influenced by genes (Jang, 1998). People who score high on sociability are more compassionate, trusting and helpful while people low in sociability are uncooperative, unsympathetic and easily irritated. Genetic enhancement to make people more compassionate, trusting and helpful, Walker argues, will therefore be both ethical and commendable.

One drug that has been shown to increase our capacity for trust and cooperation is the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is released during breast feeding, orgasm and the infatuation period of romance, contributing to bonding. In experiments in Switzerland Ernst Fehr and colleagues have found that subjects covertly dosed with oxytocin were more cooperative and trusting in laboratory experiments (Kosfeld, 2005). 

Similarly applying psychopharmaceutical, genetic or cybernetic control to our vices would also be commendable. Substantial research suggests that our predispositions for addictions, anger, self-absorption, gluttony and sexual promiscuity have a neurochemical basis which can be treated with drugs and potentially gene therapies (Medina, 2000).

Most religious critics of transhumanism assume however that no such biomedical enhancement of human virtue is possible. For instance Christopher Hook wrote in Christianity Today that:

Transhumanist philosophy claims that technology can correct the fundamental problems of humankind. As Christians, we know that our elemental problems arise from the corruption of the human heart (Mark 7:21-23). Sin is real, observable, and unexplained by empirical tools. All technological innovations will not only fail to produce true happiness but also will be corrupted intrinsically by sin.  (Hook, 2004)

Nonetheless, the recent controversy over the proposal by Baptist theologian Albert Mohler that Christian parents would be obliged to fix their gay embryos’ sexual orientation in utero shows that the idea of genetic or cybernetic moral enhancement will be compelling for even those religious who are otherwise bioconservative:

Research into the sexual orientation of sheep and other animals, as well as human studies, points to some level of biological causation for sexual orientation in at least some individuals.  Given the consequences of the Fall and the effects of human sin, we should not be surprised that such a causation or link is found. After all, the human genetic structure, along with every other aspect of creation, shows the pernicious effects of the Fall and of God’s judgment….If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.  (Mohler, 2007)

If sinful genetic predispositions are the mark of the Fall of Man in the genome, why stop with the correction of just the impulse to same sex relationships and not include predispositions to greed, anger, lust, gluttony, sloth and pride? Since Adam’s loss of longevity was his gravest punishment in the Fall, wouldn’t correcting genes for aging be a means to redress genetic sin?

General cognitive enhancement of intelligence will lead to improvement in some virtues, such as more sophisticated moral reasoning (Colby, 1983) and our ability to predict the consequences of our behavior for others. But enhancing our capacities for empathy, compassion and cooperation will require different interventions. “Emotional intelligence,” our understanding of our own and other’s feelings, is not correlated with IQ tests (Gardner, 1993). Autistics can display high levels of intellectual ability, while being completely incapable of understanding or empathizing with the emotions of others, and we are coming to understand that damage to specific “mirror neurons” are the cause of autists’ disabled empathy (Oberman, 2005). Similarly our ability to perform moral decision-making, our capacity to experience outrage at lying and injustice, and our feelings of love and shame, appear to depend on specific brain structures (Allman et al., 2001).   Developing drugs, gene therapies or devices which enhance the functions of these structures would have profound effects on our moral sense, potentially making us more ethical and compassionate people.

The growing field of positive psychology has developed a meta-cultural model of the six basic, pancultural virtues, and is working on the balance of congenital and environmental factors that determine your virtue orientation on each one. In turn one’s level of each virtue, like several of the congenitally set personality traits and one’s basic happiness set point, all influence one’s level of happiness. People who are congenitally set to be friendly, trusting, energetic and not neurotic are happier than they would otherwise be given their happiness set point. Happily, virtue – energy, diligence, friendliness and so on – leads to happiness (Seligman, 2004).  As yet, the positive psychologists have focused on behavioral and cognitive interventions to modify individual virtues, but their work also provides a model for a complementary neurotechnological approach.

If enhancement technologies could suppress our vices and enhance our virtues, is there any reason to believe they would interfere with salvation, grace or enlightenment, the other component in most soteriology? In his 2005 essay “Trans-Spirit: Religion, Spirituality and Transhumanism” Zen priest Mike LaTorra argues that the emerging investigations of neurotheology  (Alper, 2006; Newberg, 2002) – the genetic and neuron-physiological bases of meditation, rapture, awe, sudden insight and contentment – should be the basis for new neurotechnologies to enhance these capacities. David Pearce and the “abolitionist” school of transhumanism are researching neurotechnologies that provide a consistently high level of contentment, and other desirable altered states of consciousness.  The Council on Spiritual Experiences (Forte, 1997), and a growing network of “entheological” researchers (Hoffman, 2000; Smith, 2000; McGraw, 2004; Economist, 2004), are documenting the effects of “entheogens,” traditional psychedelics and novel psychopharmaceuticals that appear to induce spiritual experiences. In Michael Persinger’s (2001) research on transcranial magnetic stimulation to temporarily suppress activity in specific parts of the brain he has been able to generate the feeling that a spiritual being was in the room with the subject, and brain lesions have been linked to out of body experiences and “religious reverie.”

There is a frequent religious objection to the notion of “push-button Zen” that I think is cogent, and it goes to the transhumanist rejection of the myth of authenticity. Kass et al.’s Beyond Therapy, Fukuyama’s Our Posthuman Future and Sandel’s The Case Against Perfection all argue that enhancement technologies will rob us of a sense of accomplishment, an argument that often bleeds over into the idea of learning through suffering.  While I do not think this complaint is an argument for sickness, aging and death, or poverty and injustice for that matter, I do think some people will feel differently about their spiritual health if they overcome their licentiousness or drug addiction with a pill rather than through arduous self-examination. The person who has spent twenty years meditating to achieve a satori experience of oneness with the universe will feel differently, and get different benefits, than the person who is able to induce such an experience with a brainjack. Spending years in community with fellow seekers, talking about your life, your struggles, and sitting on a cushion to master the drunken monkey of mind is not reducible to transient, inducible experience.

Perhaps some of us will still choose to forego engineered virtue and push-button enlightenment, and persist with the spiritual slog, just as people still like to ride horses even though they have cars, or climb mountains when they could take a helicopter. Nonetheless many mountain climbers appreciate having the latest camping gear, GPS locators, climbing boots and a cell phone to call in a helicopter just in case they need one. Similarly, when we have neurotechnologically enabled virtue, grace and transcendence I believe it will be up to each seeker to decide their own combination of technological and pre-technological methods.

Perhaps the ability to use neurotech to occasionally taste contentment and transcendence will provide a little motivation for those who prefer mostly non-technological methods. Those who don’t feel the need to slog slowly up the mountain, generosity, patience, self-control, energy and even enligthenment will be easily available.

 

Eschatology

Reflecting on the likely capacities of emergent superintelligence in this century and in the far future has led a number of secular transhumanist thinkers to develop eschatologies. These eschatologies are structurally and psycho-culturally isomorphic with religious eschatologies, reflecting the recurrent logic of questions of origins, interruptions and endings. As the religious come to see these similarities they will understand them as a scientific secular validation of their prophesies and visions, with superintelligent humans and machines, and the rest of the transhumanist project, cast as prophecied parts of the eschatological narrative.

The Singularity as Techno-Millennialism

Joel Garreau’s (2005) psycho-history of accelerating change, Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies-and What It Means to Be Human, is structured in three parts: Heaven, Hell and Prevail. In the Heaven scenario he focuses on the predictions of a coming Singularity of transhumanist inventor Ray Kurzweil, summarized in Kurzweil’s 2005 book, The Singularity is Near. The idea of a techno-millennial “Singularity” is usually associated with a 1993 paper by mathematician and science fiction author Vernor Vinge. Vinge projected the millennial/apocalyptic consequences of the emergence of self-willed artificial intelligence, which he projected would emerge within the next couple of decades. In physics “singularities” are black holes, within which we can’t predict how physical laws will work. In the same way, Vinge said, greater-than-human machine intelligence, multiplying exponentially, would make everything about our world unpredictable.

Since 1993 a “Singularitarian” subculture has emerged within the transhumanist movement predicated on anticipation of the dramatic abruption of history by technological acceleration.   Most Singularitarians, like Vinge and Kurzweil, have focused on the emergence of super-human machine intelligence. But the even more fundamental concept is of exponential technological progress, with the multiplier quickly leading to point of either catastrophe or a transition to a new phase of history.

The most famous accelerating trend is “Moore’s Law,” articulated by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965, which is the observation that the number of transistors that can be fit on a computer chip has doubled about every eighteen months since their invention. Kurzweil goes to great lengths in The Singularity is Near to document that these trends of accelerating change also occur in genetics, mechanical miniaturization, and telecommunications, not just transistors. Kurzweil projects that the “law of accelerating returns” from technological change is “so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history.” For instance Kurzweil predicts that we will soon be able to distribute trillions of nanorobots in our brains, and thereby extend our minds, and eventually upload our minds into machines. Since lucky humans will at that point merge with or become superintelligence, some refer to the Singularity as the “Techno-Rapture” or “the Rapture of the Nerds” pointing out the similarity of narrative to the Christian Rapture; those foresighted enough to be early adopters of life extension and cybernetics will live long enough to be uploaded and “vastened” after the Singularity. The rest of humanity may however be “left behind.”

This secular “left behind” narrative is very explicit in the Singularitarian writings of computer scientist Hans Moravec (1988, 1998).  For Moravec the human race will be superceded by our robot children, among whom some of us may be ale to expand to the stars. In Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind, Moravec says “Our artificial progeny will grow away from and beyond us, both in physical distance and structure, and similarity of thought and motive. In time their activities may become incompatible with the old Earth’s continued existence…An entity that fails to keep up with its neighbors is likely to be eaten, its space, materials, energy, and useful thoughts reorganized to serve another’s goals. Such a fate may be routine for humans who dally too long on slow Earth before going Ex.” (Moravec, 1988)  Here we have the Tribulations and damnation, in addition to the millennial utopian outcome. Rather than consigning the late adopters to eternal damnation, however, as in the Christian Rapture narrative, Moravec argues for the far gentler institution of a universal welfare state to provide comfortably, even splendidly, for the ur-humans, revealing less a vengeful damnation of the unbelievers and more of a Universalist embrace of salvation, heaven on earth for the stubborn humans while the posthumans become gods.

While Kurzweil acknowledges hypothetical apocalyptic potentials inherent in these technologies, such as the “Terminator” scenario of malevolent AI and robots intent on wiping out humanity, he is nonetheless recognizably millennialist about the utopian promise of the Singularity. Hence Garreau’s label that Kurzweil’s is a  “Heaven” scenario of the human future. Kurzweil acknowledges his continuity with millennialists by, for instance, specifying the date 2029 as the specific year in which he expects the Singularity, and including a picture in The Singularity is Near of himself holding a sign with that slogan, referencing the classic cartoon image of the EndTimes street prophet.

For most Singularitarians, as with most millennialists before them, the processes that lead to the millennium are seen as autonomous of human agency (Baumgartner, 1999), and little attention is given to ways that war, regulation, energy crises or human incompetence might slow or stop the trajectory. Kurzweil is quite explicit on this point, referencing the continuous curves of technological acceleration that appear to have been unperturbed by wars and recessions in the 20th century. In this sense Singularitarians are more similar to the most familiar Christian millennialism, the “pre-millenialists” who also see the EndTimes coming on God’s pre-ordained timing, not hastened or slowed by human agency. Singularitarians share the premillennialist fatalist optimism that the deus ex machina does not depend on human collective action. Many Singularitarians are apolitical or libertarian; believing that public policy can contribute little to hastening or improving the Millennium, although Luddite regulations may slow it down.

On the other hand, Singularitarianism is also similar to Christian “post-millenialism,” which believes that human agency is required to establish the Kingdom on Earth, to “immanetize the Eschaton” and bring about the EndTimes.  For Singularitarians the millennial event comes at the apogee of accelerating progress, rather than after intense Tribulations, similar to the “post-millennialist” eschatologies.  Some Singularitarians are focused on the fact that continued human economic and social progress is required to create artificial intelligence, and are dismayed at the slow progress of cybernetic science and the prospects for setbacks to technological civilization. Others are more focused on the possibility of a Manichean conflict between good AI and bad AI, and the importance of human agents in ensuring the success of the former.

An example of such concerns is found in the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI). SIAI is perhaps the leading exponent of Singularitarianism, centered on the writings and ideas of the autodidact cyber-philosopher Eliezer Yudkowsky. Yudkowsky and the SIAI hold that the first machine mind to emerge will likely take over the entire world, and therefore it is extremely important that it be “friendly” to humanity. If it emerges spontaneously, without pro-human friendliness having been woven into it’s fabric from the beginning, it will probably either ignore humanity or see us as a competitor for resources, and we could be wiped out. Drawing on films about a future dominated by hostile AIs, some call this the “Terminator scenario.” Therefore for the SIAI it is extremely important that the very few programmers who take seriously the need for friendliness, principally Mr. Yudkowsky and his followers, be the first to produce a machine mind. The SIAI has attracted some support from Silicon Valley philanthropists who share their desire to promote friendliness engineering among AI designers. Like an order of secret warrior-monks performing vital rituals necessary to ensure the incarnation of a divine avatar in order to defend humanity from the forces of evil, the SIAI sees itself as all that stands between humanity and destruction. If the first emergent AI is friendly it will be transcendently benevolent, and only it will have the capacity to solve human problems, from war and hunger to eternal life.  The SIAI worldview is a form of messianism, albeit a more loosely organized, nerdily diffident and nonviolent messianism than its religious cousins.

The SIAI researchers have nothing but contempt for any suggestion of a parallel between their own eschatological beliefs and those of religious believers, and they make a cogent point in response; for medieval apocalyptics there was no danger of fire actually falling from the sky, while today we have nuclear weapons. Fear of an noon-negligible empirical threat, and expectation of a scientifically plausible utopia, is empirically entirely different from fear of fictional supernatural threats and expectations of supernatural salvation. The point is important, but it does not change the psycho-cultural similarities between scientistic seculars and religious with similar millennialist expectations; neither see any reason to plow their fields much less stop climate change. If only the deus ex machina can solve human problems, then all energies must be turned to ensuring its appearance on the stage. Any expectation that we might control or regulate the deus ex machina are absurd.

Other Singularitarians are more explicitly millennial in their thinking. John Smart, founder and director of the California-based Acceleration Studies Foundation, often notes the similarity between his own “Global Brain” scenario and the eschatological writings of the Jesuit mystic Teilhard de Chardin (1959).  In the Global Brain scenario propounded by Smart (2005), Stock (1993) and Bloom (2000), collective intelligence will emerge as all human beings are be linked to one another and to machine intelligence in the emerging global telecommunications web. Again, this scenario is more similar to the “post-millenialist” form of Christianity since the Global Brain will include all or most of humanity, and come as a culmination of social progress. Smart and a growing group of more mystically inclined Singularitarians believe this scenario is similar to Chardin’s idea that humanity would evolve into the global “noosphere,” or info-sphere, leading to a postmillennial “Omega Point” of union with God.

Possible Posthuman Telos in a Natural Universe

The most common transhumanist cosmology is that the universe is impersonal and purposeless. The emergence of intelligence is a chance occurrence, with no inevitability or pre-ordained end. Given our existence and the immensity of time and the universe, however, intelligence must have emerged in many places and is presumably out there now. All intelligence presumably has the capacity to evolve into superintelligence, go star-faring and engage in galactic engineering of some kind. We should be able to perceive the ubiquity of superintelligence in galactic anomalies.

Thus the Fermi Paradox – the puzzling lack of visible evidence of superintelligence in the universe – provides transhumanists with both a mystery and a moral warning.  The mystery is that the telos of evolved extraterrestrial superintelligence may be so ineffable that our expectation that they would be building giant neon signs out of stars, or blasting out radio messages of mathematical formulae in order announce themselves to us may be akin to our intestinal bacteria despairing that we advanced multicellular organisms have not sent an intracellular chemical semaphore to announce our presence to our intestines. We might be swimming in evidence of superintelligent beings who have no interest in communicating with us and not even know it.

The moral warning of the Fermi Paradox is that there are many pitfalls on the path from the chance emergence of life to superintelligence, many “filters” (Hanson, 1998) the passage through which most species never survive. Some astro-biologists suggest that the universe is full of bacteria, but that complex creatures and intelligent species rarely evolve (Ward and Brownlee, 2000). Intelligence may be a rare and not terribly successful evolutionary path. Intelligence may lead inevitably to the creation and use of self-negating technologies and weapons. Superintelligence may tend toward static self-absorption and decline, transforming themselves into inert ecosystems calmly contemplating eternity on their home planets.

We are thus enjoined to take seriously that our posthuman future faces such enormous odds (Rees, 2004) and thoroughly consider all the “existential risks” (Bostrom, 2002) that intelligent species have had to face, and that we ourselves face. Those risks include natural phenomena such as asteroid impacts, supervolcanoes, plagues, and gamma ray bursts (Æirkoviæ, 2003), as well the capricious randomness of evolution, which could run even an intelligent species back into cul-de-sacs and devolution.

In Bostrom’s canonical existential risks paper (2002) he outlines four types of risks:

Bangs – Earth-originating intelligent life goes extinct in relatively sudden disaster resulting from either an accident or a deliberate act of destruction.

Crunches – The potential of humankind to develop into posthumanity is permanently thwarted although human life continues in some form.

Shrieks – Some form of posthumanity is attained but it is an extremely narrow band of what is possible and desirable.

Whimpers – A posthuman civilization arises but evolves in a direction that leads gradually but irrevocably to either the complete disappearance of the things we value or to a state where those things are realized to only a minuscule degree of what could have been achieved.

A “crunch,” the permanent unattainability of posthumanity, is posed by various natural or man-made catastrophes that could permanently end human technological progress, sending us back into a pre-technological state. Bostrom describes several “shriek” risk scenarios involving totalitarian superintelligences, with some narrow, unattractive flaw that eliminates all other evolutionary possibilities. The Terminator scenario is one such “shriek” assuming that the Terminator civilization becomes static and does not go on to develop the dynamic capacities of human intelligence. Another possibility is that a hegemonic superintelligence has a very narrow goal set – to make all living things as efficient as possible for instance – leading it to engineer all the diversity and autonomy out of all inferior beings in order to serve its ends. In the novel Accelerando by Charles Stross (2005), for instance, post-Singularity superintelligences tend to evolve out of computerized trading systems, and devolve into static communicators of buy and sell orders.

The risk that intelligence might willy-nilly end in an evolutionary cul-de-sac, without the imposition of totalitarianism but simply through the results of aggregate free choices, is the final “whimper” risk. This is the island of the lotus eaters, or the Eloi and Morlocks of Wells’ The Time Machine, or any number of other static u/dystopian far futures.

In order to avoid these risks we need not only foresight and posthuman technological mastery over nature, argues Bostrom (2002, 2005b), but also the capacity for collective action through posthuman, hegemonic global governance (a “singleton”). Given the risks of too tight or too loose governance, the global governance system must permit individual and subcultural diversity for the continual evolution of the creative, diverse and dynamic intelligence. 

If we can anticipate and navigate these risks we – we as in all intelligences in the universe, and we human beings, and perhaps we personally –  may be able to evolve to superintelligence and to spread out to manipulate and become one with everything within this universe or even multiverse. No matter how powerful and sublime it becomes, however, intelligence will still be constrained by the impersonal laws of the multiverse. Superintelligence – singular or plural, sublime or autistic –  will either face its end with the heat death of this universe, or achieve some kind of immortality by writing itself into the structure of the universe before the heat death (Kurzweil, 2007) or by building a new and more congenial universe to migrate to as proposed by physicist Michio Kaku (Kaku, 2005; Holt, 2004).

Transhumanist Affinities in Buddhist Eschatology

Buddhist cosmology and eschatology is similar in some respects to Singularitarianism and the standard transhumanist cosmology described above. Buddhism rejects the idea of a created or designed universe, and all beings are subject to the natural laws of cause and effect, impermanence and insubstantiality. After the emergence of this universe, and the first emergence of intelligent beings in the heavens, earth realms and hells, all sentient beings develop dukkha or suffering. In the effort to escape from the cycle of sickness, aging and death, and transcend dukkha, a few rare people begin to discover the path of enlightenment that leads to freedom from causality, Buddhahood. Rebirth into the human realm is especially propitious for working on the path to enlightenment, since the suffering of the hells and hungry ghost realms, and the pleasures of the heavens, are so distracting.  Even the way to enlightenment has many pitfalls however, including millennia-long absorption into meditative dead-ends and spiritual cul-de-sacs. Having navigated all these challenges the Buddha is in a unique position to point them out.

Each Buddha then establishes a lineage of instruction which gradually loses its soteriological potency until no one can achieve enlightenment through it. Then another Buddha appears and the cycle starts again. We are currently thought to be in the period between the last Buddha, Gautama Shakyamuni, and the coming Buddha, Maitreya.

The Buddhist text The Lion Roar of the Wheel-Turning Monarch describes the events that lead to the coming of Maitreya, the next Buddha, a mythos that has been an inspiration for Buddhist millenarian rebellion from Burma to China (Hughes, 1993). First humanity is nearly destroyed by a seven-day war, engulfing the whole world and destroying civilization. The war is followed by a seven-month plague, spread by non-human beings, and an eight-year drought and famine, all resonant with other apocalyptic narratives and projections of the potential consequences of the use of nuclear and biological weapons. The survivors unite and establish a peaceful, united world.

Humans will evolve into a new species. After many generations these new humans will live 80,000 years.  Age of first marriage will be 500 years. The climate will always be good and mild. The earth will be thickly populated, and the scripture comments that we might think such a world to be like the hell of the “Waveless Deep”, crushed by these billions of humans like being at the bottom of the ocean. But rather than an overpopulated, urban sprawl of polluted mega-cities, in this future humanity will pervade the world “as a jungle is by reeds and rushes,” and the countryside will be like “an adorned garden.”  

The people will be tranquil, safe, and free from danger. They will be happy and joyful, enjoying festivals. They will have plenty to eat and drink… In squares at the gates of the city, there will be shining wishing trees: one blue, one yellow, one red, and one white. Divine adornments and ornaments as well as all sorts of wealth and possessions will be hanging on the trees.

The world is ruled by a righteous, nonviolent king, Sankha. The next Buddha, Maitreya, is born into this utopia. Like previous Buddhas he will have 32 distinctive physical characteristics, such as a long tongue, webbed fingers and toes, spoked wheels on his hands and feet,  a spiral lump on his head, his penis hidden in a sheath, arms longer than his knees, unblinking eyes, and 40 even, white teeth. He will be considered beautiful by all.

When Maitreya reaches the age of 8,000 he leaves the householder life to become a monk, but this time accompanied by hundreds of thousands of male and female followers in his flying palace. After a short, intense period of meditation he achieves full enlightenment and becomes the next Buddha. He then travels the world spreading enlightenment. “Seeing people who are ready to be Awakened, he will go 100,000 leagues in a moment to cause them to be Awakened.” On his return to the capital his ministry brings about the final, peaceful “withering of the state.”

The Maitreyan millennial period will also then come to an end, leading to many more historical cycles before the destruction of the universe, which is not described in the official canon. The fifth century Sri Lankan monk Buddhaghosa systematized Theravadan Buddhist apocrypha and monastic commentaries on the canon in his work Visuddhimaggha (The Path of Purity), including a story of the end of the universe. In Buddhaghosa’s account as this universe comes to an end humanity is warned by heavenly beings “who have seen the end of the universe and the new one being born.” We are told to prepare for the end by meditating ourselves into immaterial states that can survive the destruction of all matter.  After the emergence of the new universe, all the immaterial spirits that have survived may re-enter the cycle of samsara as gods, humans, animals and ghosts, continuing their cycles of rebirth until they achieve enlightenment.

A universal human desire to transcend the limitations of human life. The risk of absorption into psychic dead-ends on the road to superintelligence. Radical longevity. A utopian world with eco-friendly wish-fulfilling technology. Flying palaces and teleportation. A superintelligent posthuman avatar of salvation spreading mind vastening. Uploading into hyperspace to escape the death of the universe aided by benevolent aliens. While secular transhumanists are uninterested in prophecy, those who believe in or are inspired by these ancient myths and stories may find their parallels and correspondences to the transhumanist worldview exciting, validating a creative trans-spiritual eschatology.

Posthuman Teleology in a Created Universe

Another, more theistic, correspondence between Buddhism and transhumanism can be found in the mythos of the supernatural bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who decide to remain in samsara after their enlightenment in order to save all beings from suffering. Their salvific mission is focused on human beings since the gods are too besotted with pleasure and power to engage with spiritual growth, and the animals, ghosts and hell-dwellers are too stupid, hungry and miserable. A human rebirth is therefore a rare precious opportunity between much longer periods of spiritual stasis in the other realms.

The supernatural bodhisattva has the power however to make “Buddha lands” which provide a utopian existence with peace, plenty and long lives, but in which these are provided to support and encourage spiritual growth instead of frivolous entertainment and indulgence. The Buddha land is not a terminal paradise, but a kind of Extropian utopia providing the material preconditions for maximum spiritual dynamism until you transcend it and move to the next level of reality. The Pure Land sects of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism are based on worship of Amitabha, the bodhisattva who presides over the Western Paradise.  Amitabha ensures that those who call his name are reborn in his realm in which they are assured to achieve enlightenment.

As discussed in relation to theories of theodicy, the idea of superpowerful superintelligences opens the possibility that this universe could be created, perhaps even with benevolent teleological goals for humanity. One very influential transhumanist text that argued for a version of a created universe teleology was the physicist Frank Tipler in his 1995 book The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead. Tipler attempted to reconcile the then dominant scientific cosmological theory of an eventual Big Crunch, with transhumanism and the Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead. He argued that when the universe began to crush back down in on itself, that it would form an enormous black hole, the “Omega Point.” On the edge of a black hole the laws of time and space twist so that we would theoretically experience an eternity in our fall further down into final annihilation, with a theoretically infinite amount of matter and energy with which work. Tipler further argued that by the time the universe reached this end they would have gathered and recorded information about all the creatures that had ever existed in this universe. With infinite computing resources they would then be able to create infinitely detailed recreations of all the beings to populate the endless stretches of the End Time black hole. Thus, there could be bodily resurrection for all dead at the End of Time.

The subsequent discovery that the universe is accelerating in its expansion without sufficient arresting gravitational mass, leading eventually to a heat death and not a crunch, has not changed Tipler’s convictions; by his current calculations we can still arrest the expansion to heat death, and bring on the Big Crunch, if we can migrate our consciousness into dark matter/energy and destroy all baryonic matter in the universe (Tipler, 2005).

Somewhat more proximate, plausible, and far more disturbing, is Nick Bostrom’s (2003) “simulation hypothesis.” Bostrom calculates that if superintelligences emerge and spread with any frequency in the universe, with 50 billion years before the heat death of the universe, during which time the intelligences will be able to convert all matter and energy into information processing capacity, one of the things that will likely occur to them to do to do will be to play a god-like version of SimCity. Except that these future virtual worlds could be simulated down to the behavior of subatomic particles, back to the beginning of time, and out to reaches of visible light. Or at least the virtual creatures within them would never be quick enough to catch the gaps in the simulation, which could produce a star up for every astronomer and a quark for every atom smasher consistent with the illusion of a material universe.

Not only would such detailed simulations be possible, but uncounted numbers of such simulations could be run in parallel, testing every possible evolutionary trajectory for intelligence, exploring every possible war, art form, philosophy and scientific paradigm. Perhaps the superintelligences will compete in an inter-galactic tournament, with the winners being the simulations whose species succeed in destroying all their virtual baryonic matter and creating their own simulated eternal paradises. Perhaps it is pointless to speculate on the mind and aims of God, and simply to posit that a large number of such simulations are likely before the end of the universe. If so, it is not very likely that we are in an original, authentically material universe, and much more likely that we are in a simulation, merely dreams in the minds of gods.

Bostrom’s simulation hypothesis was then further complicated by Stephen Wolfram’s hypothesis that the material universe itself is a computation, whether simulated or not (Wolfram, 2002). In his book A New Kind of Science, Wolfram proposes that from the quantum level on up the universe builds itself through algorithmic computation. Although he does not propose that the universe was designed, or is intended to compute anything in particular, he does discuss the “scientific pantheistic” implications of his theory in the book, and his ideas have been seized upon by intelligent design theorists and other religionists to argue that the universe is intelligent in its very substance.

In his latest book Ray Kurzweil also finds himself entertaining the possibility of a created universe which may also be intelligent, partly from the observation that the cosmological constants for our universe are set in the very unlikely narrow range which permit intelligent life, and partly as a consequence of his musings on the possibility that superintelligence may upload itself into the quantum flux of all things (Kurzweil, 2007).

So materialist transhumanism can, through certain logical steps, come full circle to the idea that we live in a created universe, perhaps a natural universe infused with the quantum mind of God, perhaps because we are a simulation being run in the mind of gods, or a resurrection of ourselves at the End of Time. None of these materialist ideas of a created or intelligent universe necessarily argue that God is unitary, benevolent or even aware of our existence. As discussed above in theodicy, we may be intended to evolve towards a posthuman apotheosis, or we may choose to become gods ourselves in order to challenge the Creator(s) for dominion. But for those inclined toward a theistic trans-spirituality these cosmologies provide yet another bridge to trans-spirituality.

One such extant manifestation of the religious seeing transhumanist ideas about the Singularity and a posthuman apothesosis as a fulfillment of their religious prophecies is the Mormon Transhumanist Association (MTA). They note in a 2007 document:

Mormon teachings of the Millennium and immortality parallel Transhumanist ideas regarding the Singularity and transhumans in at least the following ways:

First, a period of dramatic and unexpected change is imminent. Although some ridicule and few have recognized its signs, the Millennium approaches, and we should prepare ourselves for the Day of Transfiguration and its attending changes. Likewise, although critics scoff and despite the intuitive linear view of change, the Singularity is nearer than we anticipate, and we should review and mitigate associated risks.

Second, minds and bodies may be changed diversely. In the twinkling of an eye, we and other animals may be transfigured or resurrected to bodies of varying types and degrees of glory. Similarly, information technology may enable genetics, nanotech and robotics to enhance the minds and bodies of humans and other animals.

Third, anatomical changes may extend lives indefinitely. From one transfiguration to another, exchanging blood for spirit, we may attain immortality. Analogously, as transhumans, we may extend or exchange our biological substrate with another to ensure persistence of our identity.

Fourth, our work may contribute to these changes. Transfiguration and resurrection may be ordinances for us to perform for each other. Comparatively, our science may provide technology that enables us to enhance ourselves and attain indefinite longevity.

Others see transhumanism as a fulfillment of the prophecy of a rise of demonic powers, apocalyptic trials and false prophets in the End Times:

A terrifying future thunders toward mankind, an impending fate embodied by monstrous, blasphemous combinations of human and animal genetic materials, of man/machine cyborgs, and of beings not only with increased capacities and extended life-spans, but also with re-engineered morality void of compassion. This future is so abhorrent as to almost defy the imagination. These new beings, and the transhumanists looking forward to their arrival, will not be benevolent. (Quayle, 2003)

In summary, posthumans and other aspects of the transhumanist project are likely to be woven into the eschatological beliefs of the world’s faiths, sometimes as a fulfillment of the promise of a millennial future and sometimes as agents of evil.

 

Conclusions

Improving the human condition is not a criticism of a Creator’s work left undone; it is rather using His free will, and His gifts of the intellect, in fulfillment of our destiny. (Rich, 2003)

While many religious today are skeptical of materialist, atheist transhumanists, and see transhumanism as contrary to the teachings of their faiths, there are already many transhumanists with religious faith who attest to the compatibility of religion and transhumanism. As transhuman possibilities increasingly develop, the compatibilities of metaphysics, theodicy, soteriology and eschatology between the transhumanist and religious worldviews will be built upon to create new “trans-spiritualities.” In this future religious landscape there will be bioconservative and transhumanist wings within all the world’s faiths, and probably new religious traditions inspired by the transhumanist project. We will create new religious rituals and meanings around biotechnological and cybernetic capabilities, just as we did around fire, the wheel, healing plants, and the book. Human creativity will manifest itself not only in technological mastery, but in the ongoing quest to imbue life and the universe with mytho-poetic meaning. I look forward to seeing the results.

 

References

“’I’m not afraid to die, I’ll go to heaven’: 


 

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5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9954 3 6 4 5 7 5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9955 3 67 4 5 7 5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9958 test test 5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9963 Lecture Series:  Shanghai Normal University, “Dialogues among Science, Philosophy and Religion,” April – June 2007, Shanghai, China The LSI Shanghai Workshop of Science and Religious Dialogue at Shanghai Normal University is hosting a lecture series, titled:

“Dialogues among Sciences, Philosophy and Religion”

The series will run from April to June 2007.

All events will be held at:
1002 Lecture Hall
Building Wen Yuan
Xuhui Campus
Shanghai Normal University
Shanghai, China

All events are free and open to the public. 

For more detailed information, please kindly contact the coordinators of Shanghai Workshop for Dialogue between Science and Religion in the Urban Society:

Prof. Gao Huizhu at 
huizhu@shnu.edu.cn

or

Prof. Wang Jianping at
wangjp27@shnu.edu.cn
 

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The following are details about the different lectures in the series:

Title: Sciences and Greek Philosophy in Islam
Speaker: Wang Jianping, Professor of Religious studies, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Politics, Shanghai Normal University.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 9, Wednesday, 2007

Title: World Civilizations and World Religions
Speaker: Zhuo Xinping, Professor of Religious studies, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 10, Thursday, 2007

Title: Taoism and Lifestyle
Speaker: Xu Xiaoyue, Professor of Religious studies, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanity Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 14, Monday, 2007

Title: Confucianism in China
Speaker: Li Shen, Professor of Religious studies, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Politics, Shanghai Normal University.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 16, Wednesday, 2007

Title: Dialogue between Man and God in the Renaissance
Speaker: Zhou Chunsheng, Professor of History, Dept. of History, Faculty of Humanity Sciences, Shanghai Normal University.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 17, Thursday, 2007

Title: The Common Source and Diversity between Tao and Sophia
Speaker: Zhao Dunhua, Professor of Religious studies, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanity Sciences, Beijing University, Beijing.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 22, Tuesday, 2007

Title: Sages and Mystical Monks in Buddhist History of China and Japan
Speaker: Ma Delin, Professor of Philosophy, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Politics, Shanghai Normal University.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 24, Thursday, 2007

Title: The Correlation and Interaction between Religions and Contemporary Metropolitan Cultures in the Context of Chinese Culture.
Speaker: Gao Huizhu, Professor of Marxism Philosophy, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Politics, Shanghai Normal University.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 28, Monday, 2007

Title: The New Religions in Contemporary World
Speaker: Ye Luhua, Research Fellow of Religious studies, Institute of Religious Studies, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 30, Wednesday, 2007

Title: Religion and Sino-American Relation Today
Speaker: Xu Yihua, Professor of Politic Science, Center of American Studies, Faculty of International Relational Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai.
Date: 6:30 pm. May 31, Thursday, 2007

Title: Buddhism and Sciences
Speaker: Master Juexing, Monk of Jude Buddha Temple, Chairman of Shanghai Buddhism Association, Shanghai
Date: 2:00 pm. June 5, Tuesday, 2007

Title: Faith and Religious Behaviors: on Religious Phenomenology of Max Scheler
Speaker: Zhang Zhiping, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Politics, Shanghai Normal University.
Date: 6:30 pm. June 5, Tuesday, 2007

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The Series Lectures of Dialogue among Science, Philosophy and Religion are partly supported by the Local Society Initiative program of the Metanexus Institute, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9964 Conference:  University of Copenhagen, “Religion in the 21st Century:  Transformations, Significance, Challenges,” 19-23 September 2007, Copenhagen, Denmark The University of Copenhagen is hosting a conference, titled:

“Religion in the 21st Century:  Transformations, Significance, Challenges”

19-23 September 2007

Ceremonial Hall, Frue Plads,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark

For more information, contact the conference secretary, Niels Valdemar Vinding, at:
nvv@teol.ku.dk

or visit:
http://www.ku.dk/satsning/religion/copenhagenconference/

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Over the past quarter of a century it has become increasingly clear that religion is and will continue to be a decisive factor in many areas of life in the modern society. Therefore, there is a need for an overall look at the transformations, significance and challenges of religion in the 21st century. The Copenhagen Conference provides an interdisciplinary effort to come to terms with the primary question of the conference: How does religion matter?

Conference Planning Committee:

Ass. Prof. Hans Raun Iversen, Chairperson
Ass. Prof., Dr. Lisbet Christoffersen, Research Coordinator
Dr. Jonas Adelin Jørgensen, Papers Secretary
Niels Valdemar Vinding, Conference Secretary

5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9965 Lecture Series:  LSI group at Innsbruck, “Human Soul,” 10 May – 14 June 2007, Innsbruck, Austria The LSI Group at Innsbruck, “Research group on the Soul and the Naturalistic Challenge” is happy to announce the next talks of the
colloquia series on the Human Soul:

Thursday, 10 May 2007

Prof. Dr. Brigitte Falkenburg of the Institut für Philosophie, Universität Dortmund

“Was heißt es determiniert zu sein? Grenzen der naturwissenschaftlichen
Erklärung.” (What does it mean to be determined? Limits of scientific explanations)

Madonnensaal
Karl Rahner Platz 3, 1
Stock, um 18.00 s.t.

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Thursday, 31 May 2007

Prof. Dr. Uwe Meixner – Philosophisches Institut, Universität des Saarlandes

“Was ist Dualismus? Das Verhältnis von Dualismus zu Wissenschaft und christlicher Religion.” (What is dualism? The relationship of Dualism to science and Christian Religion)

Hörsaal 1
Karl Rahner Platz 3
Parterre, um 18.00 s.t.

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Thursday, 14 June 2007

Univ. Prof. Dr. Brüntrup Godehard – Hochschule für Philosophie, München

“Brauchen wir die Seele? Die Kohärenz des christlichen Materialismus.” (Do we need the Soul? The coherence of Christian Materialism)
Hörsaal 1
Karl Rahner Platz 3
Parterre, um 18.00 s.t.

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For further information about the LSI group Innsbruck, past and present activities and abstracts of the talks please visit the homepage of the LSI group Innsbruck:
http://www.uibk.ac.at/philtheol/lsi-innsbruck/events.html.en

5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9966 Conference:  Lancaster University, “Science & Religion: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,” 23-26 July 2007, Lancaster, UK

The University of Lancaster is hosting a major international conference in honor of John Hedley Brooke, titled:

“Science & Religion:  Historical and Contemporary Perspectives”

23-26 July 2007

Lancaster University
UK

For more information visit the conference website or contact Thomas Dixon at 
t.dixon@lancaster.ac.uk

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This international and interdisciplinary conference is being held to mark the retirement of Professor John Hedley Brooke, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. It will bring together historians, philosophers, scientists, and theologians from around the world to debate the latest research into science-religion relationships. The topics to be discussed range from “Intelligent Design” to scientific naturalism, and from new understandings of the “Scientific Revolution” to the role of teleology in contemporary evolutionary biology. Speakers will include Simon Conway Morris, Frank Turner, Peter Lipton, Nancey Murphy, Wentzel van Huyssteen, and John Hedley Brooke.

The cost of registration for this major international conference will increase after 1 May.
5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9967 Book Announcement:  Bill Kramer, “Unexpected Grace:  Stories of Faith, Science and Altruism,” Templeton Foundation Press, June 2007 The Templeton Foundation Press is releasing a new publication in June 2007, titled:

“Unexpected Grace:  Stories of Faith, Science, and Altruism”

By:  Bill Kramer

Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN:  978-1-59947-112-9
Price: $22.95, paperback
Publication:  June 2007

For more information, contact Diane Glynn Publicity at: 

Tel.: 203.259.4586
or
E-mail: dglynnpublicity@aol.com

About the author:

Bill Kramer is a freelance writer who has written for magazines, nonprofits, corporations, theater, and film.  Several of his plays have been produced, and two of his screenplays have won independent film festival awards. He has traveled extensively in America and throughout the world, including multiple trips to India. For nearly thirty years, he has practiced meditation, and, as a result, is deeply interested in the way individuals attempt to integrate spiritual beliefs with the challenging circumstances of real world social agendas.  Unexpected Grace, his first book, reflects this interest.  Kramer lives with his wife and son in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

“Bill Kramer has given us all a wonderful gift, a visionary, moving, and transfixing guide to the human heart. Unexpected Grace is itself unexpected grace: a surprisingly gripping exploration of the keystones of social harmony, empathy, and compassionate actions.”
Daniel Goleman, author Social Intelligence

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What makes scientists undertake a study?  What are the personal histories they bring to their research?  Who are the participants who volunteer to become statistics in the studies?  And how do the studies impact the lives of those involved with it?

In Unexpected Grace: Stories of Faith, Science, and Altruism (Templeton Foundation Press, $22.95), Bill Kramer explores the human side of scientific research.  He goes behind the scenes of four scientific investigations on diverse aspects of the study of unlimited love and eloquently shares the personal stories behind the research. 

First is the heartrending and inspiring story of Courtney Cowart, who was a part of a group of theologians who met at Trinity Place in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, not knowing her experience would become the subject of a study.  The group’s struggle to survive led to the formation of a practical, effective altruistic community. 

Students from a University of California Santa Cruz psychology department study embarked on a study of the formation of friendship.  Focusing on the dynamics of prejudice and stereotypes, with the goal of learning how intergroup friendship might reduce prejudice, they found their own perceptions changed radically in the course of their research.

The third study, from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, focused on the benefits of religion on mental and physical health, which led its researcher to a fuller understanding of forgiveness, humility, and grace. 

The final powerful story is about a physiology of love study conducted in Iowa City.  Here, a functional MRI is the vehicle for measuring empathy and brings the researcher to wonder, “Is there a point at which empathy shuts down and we turn away?” Ultimately she comes to recognize that past experiences influence our ability to respond empathetically.

Each story candidly unveils the transformations the researchers and their subjects experienced in the course of their work.  This unique behind-the-scenes view of the research process is a powerful testament both to those who do the research and those who participate in the studies.

5/7/2007 05/07/2007 9978 Symposium & Workshop:  University of California-Davis, “Music and the Brain:  From Real World Experience through Laboratory Experiment,” 11 May 2007, Davis, CA, USA
The Center for the Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis is hosting a symposium and workshop, titled:

“Music and the Brain:  From Real World Experience through Laboratory Experiment”

Friday, 11 May 2007
8:30AM – 8:00PM

UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain
267 Cousteau Place
Davis, CA 95618

Registration is free but required.

Information regarding the program and registration is available online at http://tarp.ucdavis.edu/symposium.

or

Contact Dr. Petr Janata at pjanata@ucdavis.edu.

The event is sponsored in part by the Metanexus Institute as part of a Templeton Advanced Research Program project titled, “Music, Spirituality, Religion, and the Human Brain.”

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The program is highly interdisciplinary and targeted toward an educated lay-audience.  It features talks by prominent scholars from the fields of religious studies, musicology, psychology, and neuroscience as well as workshops and discussions delving into research linking music, emotion and spiritual experience.

Program
           
8:30–9:00 –  Registration & Coffee

9:00 – 9:10 –  Welcome and Introduction

9:10–10:00 –  “Music and Spiritual/Religious Experience” – Robin Sylvan, The Sacred Center

10:00–10:30 –  Coffee

10:30–11:15 –  “Synchronization in piano duos” –  Peter Keller, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences

11:15–12:00 –  “Analyzing temporal dynamics in the experience of music:  Differential Calculus, Physics, and Functional Data Analysis Techniques” –  Bradley Vines, UC Davis

Noon–1:30 –  Lunch

1:30–1:50 –  Orientation to workshops –  Petr Janata, UC Davis

2:00–4:00 –  Workshops – Music, Flow, and the Groove

4:00–5:00 –  “Music and the Brain” –  Petr Janata, UC Davis

* PLEASE NOTE: Dr. Ed Large who was originally scheduled to give a talk titled, “Musical Experience and Musical Universals,” had to cancel due to unforseen circumstances.

5:00-8:00 –  Discussion/Reception/Center for Mind and Brain BBQ, with generative music by Custom Mixes

  5/9/2007 05/09/2007 9979 Television Production:  PBS, “A Brief History of Disbelief,”  Premiered May 4th A new  three-part documentary on public television will explore the hidden story of atheism and broaden the belief vs. disbelief debate.  This documentary is hosted by Jonathan Miller and titled:

“A Brief History of Disbelief”

Premiers on Friday, 4 May 2007

Please check the broadcast calendar at http://www.abriefhistoryofdisbelief.org/NewFiles/Disbelief%20Calendar.pdf .

This website lists when the documentary will be aired on different television stations around the country. 

For more information, visit: 
www.abriefhistoryofdisbelief.org

This documentary features Dr. Pascal Boyer an anthropologist and a grantee of Metanexus’ TARP program.  To learn more about Boyer’s work, visit: 
https://www.metanexus.net/tarp

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 This spring the debate over belief-disbelief-atheism intensifies with the national airing of A Brief History of Disbelief on public television stations, premiering May 4. Hosted by Jonathan Miller, the three-part series comes in the midst of the upcoming release of two provocative books on atheism: Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and Joan Konner’s The Atheist’s Bible.

God has rarely been such a contentious issue. Best-selling books The God Delusion, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation and Breaking the Spell have forcefully challenged the sacred cows, doctrines and dogmas of conventional religious belief.

A Brief History of Disbelief is a deeply intelligent and rational journey through the highly divisive topic. A Brief History of Disbelief premiers in the U.S. on most public television stations on Friday, May 4, 2007 (check local listings). The series is presented by the Independent Production Fund, executive director Alvin Perlmutter.

Written and narrated by acclaimed British intellectual Jonathan Miller — author, lecturer, TV producer/host, director of theater, opera and film, and neurologist — A Brief History of Disbelief originally aired on the BBC in the U.K. It was the first-ever historical look at the controversial topic on television. It is only during the last few years in the U.S. that atheism can be fully and widely discussed. Many leaders and celebrities are “coming out of the closet.” Just this week, U.S. Congressman Pete Stark publicly declared that he does not believe in a supreme being.

“This series is about the disappearance of something: religious faith,” Miller says in the opening. “It’s the story of what is often referred to as ‘atheism,’ the history of the growing conviction that God doesn’t exist.”

A Brief History of Disbelief combines an exploration of the origins of Miller’s own lack of belief with historical perspective and interviews with leading authorities, including biologist Richard Dawkins, philosopher Daniel Dennett, recently deceased playwright Arthur Miller, and physicist Steven Weinberg.

“In making this series I have inevitably discovered that the history of faith and doubt is a great deal more complicated that it might seem,” Jonathan Miller declares. Among the program’s surprising revelations is that philosophy, not science as often assumed, played a larger role in the gradual erosion of belief. And contrary to what many Christian fundamentalists today consider America’s founding principles, the first presidents were actually skeptical of religion. A Brief History of Disbelief traces the history of the first  “unbelievers” in ancient Greece through the role of disbelief in America’s founding to its flourishing today.

Part I: Shadows of Doubt

Miller visits the site of the absent Twin Towers to consider the religious implications of 9/11 and meets Arthur Miller and the philosopher Colin McGinn. He searches for evidence of the first “unbelievers” in ancient Greece and examines some of the modern theories around why people have always tended to believe in mythology and magic.

Part II: Noughts and Crosses

With the domination of Christianity from 500 AD, Miller wonders how disbelief began to re-emerge in the 15th and 16th centuries. He discovers that division within the Church played a more powerful role than the scientific discoveries of the period. He also visits Paris, the home of the 18th century atheist Baron D’Holbach, and shows how politically dangerous it was to undermine the religious faith of the masses.

The Final Hour

The history of disbelief continues with the ideas of self-taught philosopher Thomas Paine, the revolutionary studies of geology, and the evolutionary theories of Darwin. Miller looks at the Freudian view that religion is a “thought disorder.” He also examines his motivation behind making the series touching on the issues of death and the religious fanaticism of the 21st century.

A Brief History of Disbelief is presented by the Independent Production Fund, which has produced highly acclaimed information programming for over thirty years. The company and its producers have used television to educate, engage and challenge viewers to consider issues, ideas and public figures from new perspectives.

Major funding for A Brief History of Disbelief is provided by The Center for Inquiry, with additional funding from American Ethical Union, American Humanist Association, Institute for Humanist Studies, and HKH Foundation. 5/9/2007 05/09/2007 9980 Lecture Series:  The Warsaw Research Group Philosophy of Fundamentals of Science, “Science & Theology,” 10 May 2007 and 6 July 2007, Warsaw, Poland The Warsaw Research Group Philosophy of Fundamentals of Science, supported by the Metanexus Institute on Science and Religion,
in cooperation with the Academic Ministry at Campus Crusade for Christ, is pleased to announce and invite you to attend  the lectures on Science and Theology given by Guest Lecturers:

“Modernism and Postmodernism in Crisis” – Dr. Thomas Woodward (Trinity College of Florida, USA)

Thursday, 10 May 2007
1:30 p.m.

Polish Academy of Sciences
Institute of Fundamental Technological Research
Swietokrzyska 21 str., lecture room 108.
Warsaw

Intelligent Design Movement and Theology  Modernism and Postmodernism in Crisis – Dr. Stefano Visintin (Pontifical Athenaeum Sant Anselm, Italy)

Friday 6 July 2007
12:00 p.m.

Polish Academy of Sciences
Institute of Fundamental Technological Research
Swietokrzyska 21 str., lecture room 108
Warsaw, Poland

For further information, contact:
Boguslawa.Lewandowska@ippt.gov.pl

or

visit the Warsaw Research Group home page:
http://sophiawarsaw.ippt.gov.pl/

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Abstracts of lectures:

Modernism and Postmodernism in Crisis – Dr. Thomas Woodward (Trinity College of Florida, USA)

Shows the powerful role of modernism and postmodernism in taking over  the flow of thought in universities, and spotlights the revolution that is now  building against these two philosophical systems as they start to collapse.

Intelligent Design Movement and Theology  Modernism and Postmodernism in Crisis – Dr. Stefano Visintin (Pontifical Athenaeum Sant Anselm, Italy)

The Intelligent Design Movement is trying to explain phenomena of the physical and biological world postulating the existence of an Intelligent Being; and this, it is claimed, following a purely scientific way of thinking. In so doing it wants to give an explanation of our universe and of the origin of life that natural sciences can not explain in a satisfactory way. It also wants to build a bridge between modern natural sciences and theology, reintroducing the concept of a world seen as the plan of an Intelligent Being that has been the main link between these two disciplines from the beginning of modern science.

But is this a correct approach to this kind of problems? Is it really doing a good service to theology? And to what extent? Answering these questions will require clarifying the relation of theology with natural sciences. But this will give also the opportunity to see how theology deals with causality  and motivation.
5/9/2007 05/09/2007 9984 Book Announcement: Stephen Post, Ph.D. and Jill Neimark, “Why Good Things Happen to Good People,” Broadway Books, 2007 Broadway Books is publishing a new book, titled:

“Why Good Things Happen to Good People:  The Exciting New Research that Proves the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life”

By:  Stephen Post, Ph.D. and Jill Neimark

With  a forward by Reverend Otis Moss, Jr.

On sale Tuesday, 8 May 2007
$23.95
978-0-7679-2017-9

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 “In my entire lifetime I have never read a book on the subject of giving and love that presents the truth of its benefits to the giver as a powerful science as well as this book does.”

-Robert H. Schuller, Founder, The Crystal Cathedral

Altruism and charitable giving is a popular new trend among billionaires (think Bill Gates, George Soros and Warren Buffet among others) and regular folks alike. Dr. Stephen Post is at the helm of the new breakthrough science connecting being good and doing well. As the President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, his  research on the life-enhancing benefits of caring, compassion, kindness and altruism has been making headlines since the institutes’ founding in 2001. WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE: The Exciting New Research that Proves the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life  reports the latest findings from neuro-imaging, psychological measures, and major longitudinal studies that show how loving interactions and acts of altruism in our lives add up to big gains in health, quality of life and life expectancy.

WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE is about a love that each and every one of us has at our fingertips: the ability to give, to be generous, to be generative. It is that part of love, new research is discovering, that is the key to health, happiness and a long life. Dr. Post shows us that there is more than one way to give, and none requires you to write a check. In fact, there are ten ways to give, in four domains of life (family, friends, community & humanity), all proven by science to improve your health, and even add to your life expectancy. They include:

– Celebration
– Humor
– Creativity
– Generativity (helping the next generation)
– And more…
 

Dr. Post has taken the research and distilled it into a much-needed inspirational message. WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE movingly tells the stories of lives transformed by giving. What’s more, his unique “love and longevity scale” allows readers to test their own habits of giving, and a chapter by chapter plan teaches readers how to use the ten ways to change their own lives. The connection between generosity and health is so convincing that it will inspire readers to change their lives in ways big and small. This is a groundbreaking book on the new science of “goodness” that reveals how acts of giving add up to big gains in health, quality of life and life expectancy for the giver.

 
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Stephen Post, Ph.D., is Professor, Department of Bioethics, at the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as Senior Research Scholar in the Becket Institute at St. Hughs’ College, Oxford University. He is President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, founded in 2001 with a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The Institute focuses on the scientific study of altruism, compassion and service.

Jill Neimark collaborated with Dr. Post on the writing of Why Good Things Happen to Good People. Her novel, Bloodsong, was a BOMC selection, published in hardcover and paperback, and in five foreign countries. She is a columnist for Spirituality & Health, has published three children’s books and is a former features editor for Psychology Today. Her journalism credits include The New York Times, Readers’ Digest, Discover and many others. 5/9/2007 05/09/2007 9985 Poetry as Revelation of Human Nature

      Whether it is the joy or the despair of love, the celebration of life or the gloom of grief, whether it is anger or anguish or mirth or moaning, every state of the human heart and every mode of the human condition has been brought to words by the poet’s pen. When we read the lines thus constructed,  the nature and pattern of our passions seem unveiled, for the poetic vision exposes the hidden facets of  tears and aches, the unreckoned recesses of laughter and love.  These are as real as any substantial thing, for they too exist, however subtly, in the universe in which the human mind dwells.

      Thus poetic vision creates a worldview which impresses on our very being experiences without material instruments. It incites feelings and emotions from totally intangible entities and happenings. It can also inspire action and activity for no apparent physical reason at all. The poeticic vision is  at the root of much of human culture and civilization. It is certainly one of the  most pristine manifestations of the human spirit. Its impact is inescapable, even on the least poetic among us, because its ancient vestiges are still powerful in human societies, and also because it resonates with our innermost being,  etched, as it were,  in the human psyche through some subtle genetic code. 

      In many ancient cultures poets narrated long stories, cladding  them  in the colorful costumes of  words that was their gift to conceive and concoct. It was thus that the great epics of the human family came to be created. The epics narrated momentous sagas in majestic meters, and the rhythmic lines with descriptions of the world around. They  influenced people’s perception of  the world, as when the Illiad speaks so often of rhododactynos Eos:  rosy-fingered Dawn. But in the process they also infused the listeners with a sense of action and participation, sometimes inspiring them to lofty ideals. Thus, when the heroic Hector declares in the Illiad,

            Let me at least not die without a struggle, inglorious,
            but do some big thing first, that men to come shall know of it,

a value is imprinted in our minds: that we should aspire to do something of significance during our lifetime. Which is what prompted Oliver Taplin to remark  that  “The Illiad is not so much concerned with what people do, as with the way they do it, above all the way they face suffering and death.”

            More importantly, the events and heroes of the epics, to all appearances emerging for the most part from poetic imagination around surviving anecdotal scarps of ancient beliefs and happenings, infused the characters and episodes with historical authenticity by the sheer power of words and rhythms. In the minds of the listeners, the grand narration and vivid descriptions on the lofty canvass of epic poetry were transformed into historical reports of things that  once did transpire. The charming stanzas of Homer paint a myriad facets of that ancient age, but  more significantly, through them the gods of pre-Christian Greece acquired a flesh of reality. The great god Zeus was prolific in progeny, both divine and mortal. Through his wife Hera he sired Ares,  but he fathered many more   through an array of other females also, though for Athena he needed no mate. Artemis and Apollo came to be because Zeus made love to Leto, and Maia was mother to Hermes, another daughter of Zeus. The poet speaks in solemn tones of Helen as born of  Zeus too: but now, it was as a swan that he seduced King Tyndareus’ wife Leda who thus conceived Helen, the fairest of the ancient. The  gods of Greece play their roles in these narrations, engaging in quarrels and conflicts, rivalries and tricks. Though few, if any,  in this day and age take these as anything but stories,  once in the faded past,  Apollo and Hercules were real beings who lived and lasted, the Greek gods  fought and prevailed. But in due course, even as  phlogiston  of eighteenth century chemistry gave way to newer recognitions of heat and fire, other more persuasive visions of the Divine dethroned Zeus and Ouranos, Apollo and Aphrodite, and all the rest of the gods of the ages from their  pedestal of reality, and reduced them to lively beings in the imaginary mythological realm.    

Whether it is the joy or the despair of love, the celebration of life or the gloom of grief, whether it is anger or anguish or mirth or moaning, every state of the human heart and every mode of the human condition has been brought to words by the poet’s pen. 5/10/2007 05/10/2007 9986 Careful Caring: We can’t always care, so why feel guilty when called uncaring?

“Don’t say I don’t care. I do care.”

Like many words, care means different kinds of things. It has its descriptive meaning–its denotation: Caring is a certain kind of behavior. But it also has its prescriptive meaning–its connotation: Caring is good. You should care. Being uncaring is bad.

Combining denotation and connotation you get a rule: if caring , then good ; if uncaring , then bad . Someone who calls you uncaring speaks with the authority of simple description–but smuggled into the description is an accusation that can make you feel guilty.

When you stop to think about the implied rule that caring is always good, it’s obviously absurd. If caring is always good, you should never stop caring about anything and anyone. You should always care about everything and everyone.

Since that’s impossible, we bend either the word’s denotation or its connotation. That is, we redefine caring behavior (“I do care; I just don’t feel like being with or helping you”), or we challenge the assumption that caring is always good (“It’s true, I don’t care anymore; I’ve chosen to move on”). The former is kinder, the latter more honest.

It would be nice if the rule for caring were as simple as always just do it . Realistically, what to care about is about the most important question in your life. And not just your life, but all of life. From evolution to the serenity prayer, it’s all about investing attention and effort in those things that pay off and not in things that don’t. For us humans, that includes caring for people who will care back. Perhaps it also means being careful how we define care, neither accepting nor imposing the absurd rule that caring is always good.

It would be nice if the rule for caring were as simple as always just do it . Realistically, what to care about is about the most important question in your life. And not just your life, but all of life. From evolution to the serenity prayer, it’s all about investing attention and effort in those things that pay off and not in things that don’t. Originally published on Mind Readers Dictionary; www.mindreadersdictionary.org. 5/10/2007 05/10/2007 9987 Poetry Transmission and Vision of Reality

Poetic visions often passed on from age to age through rote repetition. In our own times, not many learn to recite by rote a verse of even a dozen lines. But all the lines of the Iliad and the Odyssey were once transmitted from generation to generation through their imprints on human memory. Hundreds of humans served the cause of cultural continuity in a many societies. Thousands of lines of  the Üligers of Mongolia, lengthy narratives of ancient deeds of glory, used to be recited from memory by native rhapsodists. Here may be found historical personages like Genghis Khan , but also  manggus, the polycephalous monster. Then there were  the Chansons de Geste of the medieval French tongue which raised Charlemagne to lofty heights and spoke of happy days of yore when in the mornings birds would sing sweetly in Latin, and joy inflamed the universe at large:

                                    Et les oiseaux en leur latin

                                    Doucement chantent au matin,

                                    La joie enflamme l’univers.

But equally, in these and in other epics, the themes of the rise and fall and the re-emergence of things occur. For, often the reality exposed by the poetic vision is not so much the scenes or episodes presented, but an underlying pattern or motif in the scheme of things. The particular may be exciting and interesting as we read or listen to the story, but the general principles relating to the human condition are what make the epics insightful and everlasting.

The Anglo-Saxon Beowulf,  presumably born in England, speaks of a hero of another land. Though Grendel, the dragon who kidnapped and devoured warriors from King Hrothgar’s realm, may be sheer imagination for us of this age, medieval times when the work was composed, many common folk believed in their actual existence, with at least as much conviction as some in our own times who swear that the Lochness monster  and UFOs do exist.

The dragon represents in some way the halfway world between  scientific and poetic reality. For, its origins are in the serpents of the world, creatures that inherited the earth long before humans descended to the ground, but whose horizontal alacrity, subterranean habitat and venomous fangs spelled terror in the hearts of many ancient peoples. Poetic imagination, basing itself on stray instances of deaths from snake-bites, drew the image of a fearsome beast, out to wreak havoc on human life. So the Egyptian Ra fells Apophis who ruled a lightless realm, and Hebrews imagined the snake to be the cause of sin. The Gorgons and Hydra of ancient Greece were fearsome no less. But some, like the Romans, tried to appease the serpents in temples like Aesculapius, as was done in Hesperides and in India also, while Adisesha, the primordial serpent served as seat for the great Vishnu himself.  In China, the snake evolved to wingless dragons of mammoth proportions ruling  the air and duly worshiped by  gentle Taoists.  But from Homeric times to much of the Middle Ages, dragons were by and large evil creatures to be overcome by heroes, monsters to be subdued by the righteous and the mighty. Siergmund and Sigurd, Tristram and Lancelot, and a great many more of classic chivalry slew a dragon and won a name.

Today eager children listen the stories with eyes wide open, tasting to the full every moment of the thrill, but there was a time when dragons were no mere beasts of poetic conception. They were as real as the rhinoceros, not mere monsters made by the mind’s eye. As late as in the 16th century,  Konrad Gesner’s monumental Historia animalium listed dragons among the variety of species inhabiting the planet.         

Then there are the great sagas of Iceland telling of rival Norse knights and  magic potions, where Brunhild  in the Volsungasaga has her errant husband Sigurd killed, only to  give up her own life on his funeral pyre, not unlike some wailing widows in the Hindu world .

Deeds of bravery and revenge, acts of glory and heroism; beings strange and powerful, often superhuman; gods and godlings, the recall of events of a distant past: such are the ingredients of the great epics of humankind. The world they created, the personages they fashioned, the beings they conceived, all with the poetic clay, lived on for ages, and some live to this day, as part of what many thinking and feeling mortals regarded and regard as aspects of reality.

Deeds of bravery and revenge, acts of glory and heroism; beings strange and powerful, often superhuman; gods and godlings, the recall of events of a distant past: such are the ingredients of the great epics of humankind. The world they created, the personages they fashioned, the beings they conceived, all with the poetic clay, lived on for ages, and some live to this day, as part of what many thinking and feeling mortals regarded and regard as aspects of reality. 5/22/2007 05/22/2007 9988 Sweating the Petty vs. Petting the Sweaty: Two ways to play the game of life

“Life is a game.”

People interpret the parallel between life and games in two ways. The most common implies that like a game, life is no big deal, so you should just relax. This notion can be a comfort when you’re feeling stressed—stressed, in fact by the other way to take the statement: that in the game of life, you’re really trying figure out how to win, live right, make the world work better for you and others. And sometimes it’s not easy.

The first interpretation counsels looking beyond the game of life, as though the real action were elsewhere. The second interpretation counsels focusing on the game of life as if to say it’s no dress rehearsal.

This week I noticed that, simplifying a bit, the first interpretation reflects Plato’s contribution to philosophy and the second, Aristotle’s. Platonists, including most religious people, turn away from earthly matters to focus on the transcendental perfection of some other realm. Aristotelians, including most scientists, focus on earthly matters—seeing the potential for real action, progress, and improved understanding right here.

Which counts more, life or the afterlife? If religious doctrine is right that earthly life is merely a grubby boot camp test that will decide whether you will spend eternity (eternity!) in heaven or hell, then of course it pays to keep your eyes on the prize, which is elsewhere. Throughout much of history, widespread suffering, stress, and lack of earthly progress have dominated people’s experience. Think of how many people have been whipsawed from disease to torture, oppression to calamity without any prospect of an earthly explanation as to why.  It’s no wonder the Platonic idea that life is a simulation in the service of some higher, fairer realm has had a lot of appeal.

As with any of your life’s particulars—job, relationship, career—there’s no use flogging a dead horse. You shift your attention away from long shots so you can focus on the investments most likely to pay out. In a way, then, Plato and Aristotle squared off over this everyday question applied to life as a whole. If the chances of finding happiness here are vanishingly low, your mind naturally shifts to the potential elsewhere.

It’s also not surprising that the more stressful life is, the more attractive Platonic transcendentalism becomes. This worries me. In the years ahead, facing global warming and other large-scale discouragements, we may flock in ever greater numbers to Platonism, shifting attention away from the potential for earthly improvement just when we need it most. And towards what alternative? To Aristotelians like me, the battles between Shiites and Sunnis, Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Arabs are founded on ridiculously petty theological differences.  All these violent conflicts over imaginary afterlives and which rituals will gain you God’s grace—God isn’t dead, he’s deadly.

By 390 AD most of Aristotle’s writings were lost to the West. Christian leaders, campaigning to stamp out paganism, had burned many books, including Aristotle’s. Plato, commingled with Christianity, prevailed here through the dark ages (476-1000 AD) while Aristotle prevailed in the Muslim centers of learning such as Bagdad. The West rediscovered Aristotle during the Crusades (1095-1291). Aquinas (1225-1274) finessed an integration of Aristotle into Christianity, and the central power of the Papacy helped spread the new Aristotelian Scholasticism that resulted. In the 1600s the Aristotelian vision of continued earthly progress and innovation broke free from the Church’s insistence on a fixed, infallible dogma, and the rest is modern history.

To Aristotelians, Platonists seem obsessed with trivialities. With all the real-world challenges we face, why fuss over the details of some magically perfect, unseen metaphysical realm? To Platonists, Aristotelians seem too content to embrace this flawed earthly existence.

So take your pick: sweat the petty or pet the sweaty. I’d pet the sweaty any day. But then my days aren’t so stressful. I get to experience the extraordinary progress we’re making in the game of life. Good things happen for me every day. So, of course, I don’t sweat the petty details about how I can improve my chances of spending eternity in some alleged other world where good things supposedly happen. I’m Aristotelian because I can afford to pet the sweaty.

People interpret the parallel between life and games in two ways. The most common implies that like a game, life is no big deal, so you should just relax. This notion can be a comfort when you’re feeling stressed—stressed, in fact by the other way to take the statement: that in the game of life, you’re really trying figure out how to win, live right, make the world work better for you and others. And sometimes it’s not easy. Originally published on Mind Readers Dictionary; www.mindreadersdictionary.org. 5/22/2007 05/22/2007 9991 Book Announcement:  Paul Davies, “The Cosmic Blueprint:  New Discoveries in Nature’s Creative Ability to Order the Universe,” Templeton Foundation Press, 1988 Templeton Foundation Press has just re-released a book  first published in 1988 for the first time in paperback.

The Cosmic Blueprint:  New Discoveries in Nature’s Creative Ability to Order the Universe

By:  Paul Davies

978-1-932031-66-9
$16.96
Paperback

In this critically acclaimed book, first published in 1988 and now reprinted in paperback, scientist and author Paul Davies explains how recent scientific advances are transforming our understanding of the emergence of complexity and organization in the universe.

To read more about this book or to purchase, visit:
http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=67#author

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About the Author

Paul Davies is professor of natural philosophy in the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University. His research has spanned the fields of cosmology, gravitation, and quantum field theory, with particular emphasis on black holes and the origin of the universe. He is currently working on the problem of the origin of life and the search for life on Mars. He is a well-known author, broadcaster, and public lecturer and has written over twenty-five books. Among his better-known works are God and the New Physics, The Mind of God, About Time, The Fifth Miracle, and How to Build a Time Machine. In recognition of his work as an author, he was elected as Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature in 1999.

His contributions to science have been recognized by numerous awards, including the 2002 Michael Faraday Prize by the Royal Society and the 2001 Kelvin Medal and Prize from the UK Institute of Physics. In April 1999 the asteroid 1992 OG was officially named (6870)Pauldavies in his honor. His most significant award was the 1995 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, the world’s largest prize for intellectual endeavor.

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About the Book

 Melding a variety of ideas and disciplines from biology, fundamental physics, computer science, mathematics, genetics, and neurology, Davies presents his provocative theory on the source of the universe’s creative potency. He explores the new paradigm (replacing the centuries-old Newtonian view of the universe) that recognizes the collective and holistic properties of physical systems and the power of self-organization. He casts the laws in physics in the role of a “blueprint,” embodying a grand cosmic scheme that progressively unfolds as the universe develops.

Challenging the viewpoint that the physical universe is a meaningless collection of particles, he finds overwhelming evidence for an underlying purpose: “Science may explain all the processes whereby the universe evolves its own destiny, but that still leaves room for there to be a meaning behind existence.”

“ A provocative book that should be widely read.”—Library Journal

“ Unquestionably, Paul Davies has established himself as one of the most felicitous writers on physics at the frontier.” —Abdus Salam, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Nature

Highlights

    * An origin-of-the-universe classic, back in print
    * Insightful theories clarified for both lay readers and scientists
    * Perfect for classroom use

5/23/2007 05/23/2007 9992 Book Announcement:  Nicolaas A. Rupke, “Eminent Lives in Twentieth-Century Science and Religion,” Peter Lang GMBH, 2007 The Peter Lang Publishing Group has recently published a new book, titled:

Eminent Lives in Twentieth-Century Science and Religion

By:  Nicolaas A. Rupke (ed.)

Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2007.
255 pp.
ISBN:  978-3-631-56803-3

€ 38 / $ 49.95 / £23.10

For more information or to purchase the book, visit:
www.peterlang.de/index.cfm?vID=56803&vLang=E&vHR=1&vUR=2&vUUR=1

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Book Synopsis

Can science and religion coexist peacefully, even symbiotically? Or is conflict inevitable and are the enterprises mutually exclusive? In this volume an international team of distinguished scholars address these enduring yet urgent questions by examining the lives of eminent twentieth-century biologists, chemists and physicists whose careers were marked by the interaction of science and religion: Charles Coulson, Theodosius Dobzhansky, R.A. Fisher, Julian Huxley, Pascual Jordan, Ivan Pavlov, Michael Pupin, and E.O. Wilson. The team’s rich empirical studies show a diversity of creative engagements between science and religion that defy efforts to set the two at odds.

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Contents

Contents: Nicolaas A. Rupke: Introduction: Telling Lives in Science and Religion – Arie Leegwater: Charles Alfred Coulson: Mixing Methodism and Quantum Chemistry – Jitse M. van der Meer: Theodosius Dobzhansky: Nothing in Evolution Makes Sense Except in the Light of Religion – James Moore: Ronald Aylmer Fisher: A Faith Fit for Eugenics – Peter J. Bowler: Julian Huxley: Religion without Revelation – Richard H. Beyler: Pascual Jordan: Freedom vs Materialism – Torsten Rüting: Ivan Petrovich Pavlov: From Russian Orthodox Monastery to Big Science Laboratory – Edward B. Davis: Michael Idvorsky Pupin: Cosmic Beauty, Created Order, and the Divine Word – Mark Stoll: Edward Osborne Wilson: The Gospel According to Sociobiology – Ronald L. Numbers: Epilogue: Science, Secularization, and Privatization.

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About the Editor

Nicolaas A. Rupke is professor of the history of science and director of the Institute for the History of Science at Göttingen University. With a doctorate from Princeton, he has held research positions at Oxford and the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University. His latest study of scientific biography is Alexander von Humboldt: a Metabiography (2005). Rupke is a fellow of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. 5/23/2007 05/23/2007 9994 Conference Call for Papers:  St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute, “Epistemological Paradigms of Science & Theology,” 14-18 November 2007, Moscow, Russia St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute is issuing an invitation and a call for papers for an international conference, titled: 

Epistemological Paradigms of Science and Theology:  Historical Dynamics and Universal Foundations

14-18 November 2007

Moscow, Russia

Abstract are due:
Saturday, 1 September 2007

For more information, visit:
www.standrews.ru

This international conference is supported by The John Templeton Foundation. 

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Since 2000 St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute with the support of the John Templeton Foundation has organized four International Conferences on the theme of religion and science dialogue: “Science and Theology” (2000), “Theology and Science: An Anthropological Perspective” (2003), “Responsibility of Religion and Science: Technology, Environment, Bioethics” (2005), “Ultimate Purposes of Theological and Scientific Understandings as Explored in Cosmology, Creation, Eschatology” (2006). Our next conference is devoted to epistemological paradigms of science and theology.

The Conference will take place in Moscow from 14 to 18 November 2007. Leading theologians, philosophers and scientists, who made important contributions into the development of religion and science dialogue are invited. The conference will include plenary and sectional lectures, discussions and cultural events.

THEME OF THE CONFERENCE

Epistemological issues have always been of great importance for the Christian thought. The problem of correlation between faith and reason, of connection between the divine revelation, rational discourse and empirical experience was a subject of constant discussion for theologians and philosophers. In the new time, one aspect of this problem, namely the question of relationship between science and religion, came to the fore. After Kant’s destructive criticism of metaphysics and rational theology, the Ockham model, separating the sphere of rational and empirical knowledge from that of divine revelation, seemed to be the best option. Science became an autonomous area with its own epistemological principles, independent of theological and metaphysical conceptions. Thus the ways of science and theology completely diverged. Science was considered a sphere of objective description of the observable spatial-temporal reality, whereas theology pretended to explicate the eternal divine truth. However, they had one thing in common. Both science and theology pretended to some pure knowledge, whose content is taken from an immutable source and does not (or, at least, should not) depend of particular circumstances of human existence. For science such a source was the world, for theology the divine revelation. Epistemological strategies of science were supposed to represent universal principles of knowledge, remaining the same for all epochs, cultures and societies. Theology did not develop its own epistemological principles, but it also claimed that its doctrines had universal character. At least its methods of argumentation, as well as formulated theological opinions (especially dogmas) were supposed to be independent of language and culture.

Modern philosophy of science does not allow holding this ideal of knowledge any more. Relatively short history of science demonstrates a quick change of world pictures and epistemological paradigms. Together with changes in culture, style of communication and social practices, epistemological principles and patterns of research change too. Methods of scientific research and criteria of plausibility turn out to be tightly connected with values and norms shared by the scientific society. In producing its results, science rests also on extra-scientific ideas. Therefore, even if we agree that there exists only one truth about the world, we must acknowledge that explication of this truth depends on the character of an epistemological paradigm shared by the scientific society.

To what extent does this situation apply also to theology? Is not theology dependent, like science, on cultural preconditions, communicative norms and social values? Many 20th century theologians addressed this issue and today it is clear that theology not only explicates divine truth but also expresses human attitude to it, which cannot be formed outside of a certain social and cultural context. In this sense it would be interesting to draw a parallel between changes of epistemological paradigms in science and theology, e.g. as these changes are described by Thomas Kuhn (for science) and Hans Küng (for theology). The most important question is how to explicate universal and immutable aspects of science and theology, acknowledging at the same time historical dynamics of scientific and theological paradigms.

Within the framework of the conference, a wide-ranging discussion will take up issues connected with paradigm approach to science and theology. In particular, the following questions will be addressed:
· Are there universal principles and norms of scientific and/or theological investigation?
· Is it true that different cultures predefine the character of scientific and theological paradigms?
· How does language influence the character of scientific knowledge and theological argumentation?
· To what extent does the content of theological doctrines depend on cultural peculiarities of the epoch when they were formulated?
· What is the role of the personal factor in scientific and theological investigation?
· How important is the aesthetical criterion in building scientific theories and theological constructions?
· How does contemporary science influence the character of theological argumentation?
· Do theological preconditions influence epistemological strategies of science?

The given list does not exhaust all the aspects of the topic announced in the title of the conference but provides a focus for the expected discussion.

KEY SPEAKERS

Adrian Lemeni, Ph.D
Professor of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology at the University of Bucharest. Secretary of state in the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs

Nancey Murphy, Ph.D., Th.D.
Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. Ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren. Member of John Templeton Foundation Board of Advisors.

Rev. Canon Keith Ward, D.D., FBA
Gresham Professor of Divinity, Gresham College, London, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the University of Oxford. Member of John Templeton Foundation Board of Advisors.

Michael Welker, Ph.D.
Chair for Systematic Theology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Director of the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum der Universitat Heidelberg, a center for international and interdisciplinary research. Member of John Templeton Foundation Board of Advisors.

Grigoriy Goutner, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Chair of Philosophy at St. Philaret’s Orthodox Christian Institute, Moscow. Professor of St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute. Author of a number of publications.

Alexei Nesteruk, Ph.D.
Researcher in cosmology and quantum physics in the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, England, and a research associate in the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge, England. Visiting Professor of St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute, Moscow.

Vladimir Porus, Ph.D., D.Habil.
Professor, Chair of Ontology, Logic and Epistemology at Moscow Higher School of Economics. Author of numerous books and articles. Chairman of St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological College monthly academic seminar “Theology, Philosophy and Science”.

PAPERS AND PUBLICATION

Those who wish to present a paper should send a summary (1000 words at most) by e?mail to St. Andrew’s by 1 September 2007. The Organizing Committee selects papers for the Conference and sends invitations to the speakers. The full text of all the papers selected will have to be submitted by 1 October 2007. However, it will be possible to participate without a paper (some priests, teachers, and students are expected to be present). The working languages of the conference will be Russian and English.

Upon arrival at the conference every participant will receive summaries of all the papers presented and the conference programme. Plenary and sectional papers are scheduled for 30 minutes each. Some papers will be published in St. Andrew’s quarterly Pages: Theology, Culture, Education and we will publish a collection of papers in a separate volume. Summaries and papers should be sent to:

Mikhail Tolstoluzhenko
St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute
Jerusalem St. 3, Moscow, 109316, Russia
Tel/Fax: +7 495 6702200; +7 495 6707644
E-mail: info@standrews.ru

ORGANIZATION AND ACCOMMODATIONS

The Conference will assemble on Wednesday, 14 November for a reception and opening ceremony in the evening. Participants will depart after breakfast on Sunday, 18 November. The price of a single room and full board will be approximately €70 per day.

REGISTRATION

Numbers are limited and early registration is strongly advised. Registration will become effective when the registration form and the full conference fee have been received and acknowledged by the registration officer. The conference fee covers registration, accommodation, meals, participation in all conference activities, excursion, conference dinner and entitles the participant to receive summaries of all conference papers.

Early conference fee (before 1 July 2007):
– accommodation in single room  €395
– accommodation in double room  €305
   
Late conference fee (after 1 July 2007):
– accommodation in single room  €435
– accommodation in double room  €345

A limited number of scholarships will be provided – mainly for speakers from Eastern European countries. Should you cancel your registration before 1 October, €30 will be deducted and the remainder of your conference fee will be refunded. No refund is possible after 1 October. Payment of conference fees may be made by bank transfer or by check in US$, EURO or UK pounds.  Please write to the registration officer for advice.

All registration forms must be sent to the registration officer:

Ms. Olga Bogoslovskaya
St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute
Jerusalem St. 3, Moscow, 109316 Russia
Тel./Fax: +7 495 6702200; +7 495 6707644
E-mail: info@standrews.ru 5/23/2007 05/23/2007 9995 Lecture, “Society for the Integration of Science and Human Values (SISHVa), “Organ Transplantation, Ethics & Religion,” 1 June 2007, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka The Society for the Integration of Science and Human Values (SISHVa) is hosting a lecture, titled:

Organ Transplantation, Ethics & Religion

By:  Arjuna Aluwihare – Emeritus Professor

Friday, 1 June 2007
11 AM – 12:30 PM

Arts Faculty Seminar Room
University of Peradeniya
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 5/23/2007 05/23/2007 9996 Workshop:  University of Lincoln, “The Religious Roots in Information Systems (RRIS),” 24-26 May 2007, Lincoln, UK The University of Lincoln is hosting a three-day workshop funded by the Metanexus Institute, titled:

The Religious Roots in Information Systems (RRIS)

24-26 May 2007

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, pleas contact the Editorial Team at:
editorialteam@lincoln.ac.uk

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The main activity of RRIS is exploratory discussions aimed at developing a new approach to insight into the tensions in the field of IS that arise from religious presuppositions. Such questions include the issue of artificial intelligence; diversity of information and communication technology (ICT); development of systems and artefacts; problems in methodological development of IS in relation to historical and contemporary shifts in determinism to freedom in cultural, religious, and scientific endeavour; the difficulty in predicting and ensuring the benefits of technology; and ICT, technological determinism and society.

This group joins together scholars of philosophy, information systems, gender studies, Christianity and contemporary culture, critical theory, biology, and ethics in technology to collaborate in understanding information systems (IS) through the lens of philosophical and theological thought.

This workshop intends to open up and explore the general area of faith influences within IS and organisational practice. The workshop aims to explore the religious roots of information systems and the link to the tensions that emerge as a result of religious motivations.

We welcome attendees from all backgrounds who are interested in these debates and would also like to extend an invitation to individuals interested in submitting papers or hosting discussion groups.

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Timetable of the Workshop

Thursday 24th

– Introduction to the workshop by Carole Brooke and Andrew Basden
– Group Discussions
– Dinner at ‘The Bowlful’ restaurant 6:30 for a 7:00pm start

Friday 25th

9:30 – 12:30 Presentations and discussions
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch (Will be provided by the University)
13:30 – 16:30 Presentations and discussion
Dinner at ‘Café Zoot’ restaurant 6:30 for a 7:00pm start

Saturday 26th

9:30 – 11:00 Presentations and discussions
11:00 – 12:30 Round-up and summary of the workshops (report to be produced)
12:30 Lunch (Will be provided by the University) and depart

5/23/2007 05/23/2007 9997 Book Announcement:  Beverly Lanzetta, “Emerging Heart:   Global Spirituality and the Sacred,”  Fortress Press, 2007 Fortress Press recently published a book, titled:

Emerging Heart: Global Spirituality and the Sacred

By Beverly J. Lanzetta


Item Number: 978-0-8006-3893-1

Price: $18.00 / CAN $21.50 / UK £9.99
Specs: 5.5” x 8.5”, paperback, 176 pages
 
To order, call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the Web site at www.fortresspress.com.
 
To request review copies (for media) or to inquire about speaking opportunities and interviews with the author, please call 1-800-426-0115 ext. 234 or e-mail toddb@augsburgfortress.org

To request exam copies for classroom use, (professors) go to www.fortresspress.com/examcopy. 

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“Beverly Lanzetta is a powerful voice for those who find truth and beauty in a global spirituality. Emerging Heart presents us with her journey toward spiritual nonviolence and engages the reader with the core ideas of such spiritual teachers as Ewert Cousins, Raimon Panikkar, Mohandas Gandhi, Thomas Merton, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and the Dalai Lama. Readers should be put on notice that this book may well change the way they see the world.”

—Harold Kasimow, George Drake Professor of Religious Studies, Grinnell College

Beverly J. Lanzetta is Research Associate at the Southwest Institute for Research on Women at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She is the author of Radical Wisdom: A Feminist Mystical Theology (2005, 978-0-8006-3698-2).

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Millions of Americans have adopted and adapted spiritual practices and virtues from a variety of traditions. What are they looking for? Theologian and retreat leader Beverly Lanzetta believes that our contemporary world desperately seeks a shared spiritual foundation adequate to meet our most pressing moral, religious, economic, and social issues. We need, she argues, a spiritual vocabulary to describe the unspoken, to interpret our common humanity, and to articulate our earthly concerns in a way respectful and inclusive of all. In her latest book, Emerging Heart: Global Spirituality and the Sacred, Lanzetta provides readers with a powerful exploration of an emerging global spirituality with justice at its core.

Highlighting pioneers of global spirituality such as Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Abraham Heschel, Mohandas Gandhi, Howard Thurman, Bede Griffiths, and Dorothy Day, Emerging Heart shows how a variety of religious traditions emerge from and converge on a divine nature and mystic quality that creates a loving heart. Lanzetta first describes this phenomenon in her own experience and then elaborates on that mystical core, the notion of the divine, the new shape of interreligious dialogue, pioneers of this new global spirituality, and the personal, spiritual, and ethical challenges that it poses to us.

This is a book of breathtaking insight and high moral ambition to restore our sense of human possibility and high purpose.

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“Emerging Heart is an immensely moving account of Lanzetta’s own spiritual experience combined with probing reflections on the mystical heart of world faiths, the significance of interreligious dialogue, and the reality of a newly emerging global spirituality. An inspiring vision inviting to daring ventures.”

—Ursula King, Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Bristol,

Professorial Research Fellow, University of London

“Emerging Heart is Lanzetta’s most personal and most profound book. She weaves together a tapestry of personal narrative, interreligious reflection, and spiritual insight with eloquence and force. This book heralds—and helps to catalyze—the emergence of a global spiritual wisdom grounded on interfaith exchange, contemplative practice, and creative participation in Mystery.”

—Jorge N. Ferrer, Associate Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies

 

 

 

 
5/23/2007 05/23/2007 9998 Publication Announcement:  Basarab Nicolescu (Director) and Magda Stavinschi (Editor), “Science and Religion:  Transdisciplinary Studies,” Curtea Veche The Curtea Veche editing house in Bucharest, Romania is publishing a new transdisciplinary review, titled:

Science and Religion:  Transdisciplinary Studies (SRTDS)

Editorial Board consists of:

– Basarab Nicolescu (Director)
– Magda Stavinschi (Editor)
– Philip Clayton
– Thierry Magnin
– Ioan Chirila
– Radu Constantinescu
– Adrian Lemeni

Our magazine is peer-reviewed. We have the ambition to gradually introduce high standards in the acceptation of contributions. However, at the same time, we wish to keep an accessible level for any cultivated reader and for students from different specialties.

SRTDS comports four sections: Studies, Research Works, Book Reviews and Events. The magazine has the form a book and therefore has not a given periodicity. However, our aim is to publish at least two issues per year.

Contributions can be presented in three languages: English, French and Romanian. English is, beyond doubt, the dominant language today. French is very important in the context of Europe and francophone areas of the world. We accept also contributions in Romanian, in order to encourage the development of the science and religion dialogue in a country still marked by the memory of a totalitarian system which had forbid such a dialogue for a long period of time.

We would be happy if you can contribute to the issue No 2 of  Science and Religion:  Transdisciplinary Studies (SRTDS). The texts must not to exceed 10 pages in Times 12 (single space) and they have to be sent in electronic form to Basarab Nicolescu at nicol@club-internet.fr  or to Magda Stavinschi at magda_stavinschi@yahoo.fr.

Contributions are due:
Saturday, 1 September 2007

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Of course, there are several transdisciplinary magazines in the world, but this is the first one completely dedicated to the dialogue between science and religion. Also, in comparison with the multi- and interdisciplinary magazines in the same field, the present one is focused on the transdisciplinary methodology of the dialogue: identification of levels of Reality, use of the logic of the included middle and full consideration of complexity.

Homo religiosus probably existed from the beginnings of the human species, at the moment when the human being tried to understand the meaning of his life. The sacred is his natural realm. Homo economicus is a creation of modernity. He believes only in what is seen, observed, measured. The profane is his natural realm. The transdisciplinary hermeneutics, natural outcome of the transdisciplinary methodology, is able to identify the common germ of homo religiosus and of homo economicus and to engage them in a constructive dialogue.

The transdisciplinary dialogue between science and religion can not be conceived in isolation from other fields of knowledge, like arts, poetry, architecture, mass-media, economics, social life and politics, so crucial in the science/religion debate. This is the reason why our magazine will be also open to contributions concerning other fields of knowledge.

We acknowledge support, in making possible such a magazine, from the Templeton Foundation (USA), the Association for the Dialogue between Science and Theology in Romania (ADSTR), the Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Orthodoxy (IASSO) and the editing house Curtea Veche.
 
 
   5/24/2007 05/24/2007 9999 Seminar:  AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships Seminar, “The Language of God:  A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,” 30 May 2007, Washington, DC, USA This years AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships Seminar is titled:

The Language of God:  A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

Speaker:
Francis S. Collins, MD, Ph.D.
The Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute

Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Beginning at 6 PM
With a book signing and reception to follow

AAAS Auditorium
1200 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC

Please RSVP by Friday, 25 May 2007 at:
www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=984923873655

 
Please contact Emily MacGillivray at emacgill@aaas.org if you need further information.

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Dr. Collins is recognized for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project (HGP), a multi-institutional, international effort to map and sequence all human DNA.  His accomplishments have been recognized by numerous awards and honors, including election to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.  He is the author of the book “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief”, and he is invited to many settings to discuss his views on Christianity in debates about the existence of God and evolution.
 

  5/24/2007 05/24/2007 10000 Conference:  SophiaEuropa, “Human Persons and the God of Nature,” 3-6 September 2007 SophiaEuropa in association with the Ian Ramsey Centre, Theology Faculty, University of Oxford, UK is hosting a conference, titled:

Human Persons and the God of Nature

3-6 September 2007

Oriel College
Oxford, UK

Supported by Metanexus Institute and The John Templeton Foundation.                

Further details (including the draft programme) and for booking details consult: www.ianramseycentre.org/
or email margaret.yee@theology.ox.ac.uk  (Conference Director)
 

Early booking discounts apply before July 1st

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Speakers and Participants

Prof. John Brooke                                              Dr. Collete Moloney
Prof. Ronald Cole-Turner                                   Prof. Nancey Murphy
Prof. Eamonn Conway                                        Prof. John Ozolins
Ms. Fiona Dowling                                              Prof. Roberto Poli
Prof. Jürgen Ehlers                                             Dr. John Polkinghorne
Ms. Amanda Hayes                                             Dr. Patricia Rehm
Prof. Edward Henderson                                     Prof. Antonio Russo
Prof. Michael Howlett                                          Mr. Colin Tudge
Ms. Angeliki Kerasidou                                        Prof. Stephan Schaede
Prof. Burkhard Liebsch                                        Dr. Eric Weislogel
Prof. Thomas Moellenbeck                                  Dr. Margaret Yee

5/24/2007 05/24/2007 10002 Conference:  Metanexus Granada, “El Conflicto de Racionalidades” or “Struggle of Rationalities,” 20-23 September 2007, Granada, Spain

LSI METANEXUS GRANADA, FACULTY OF THEOLOGY


Leandro Sequeiros, Director of the LSI Metanexus Granada invite you to participate in the meeting about
 

Struggle of Rationalities

 

El conflicto de racionalidades
Organized by A S I N J A
c/ Alberto Aguilera, 23 – 28015 Madrid
Tel. 91 542 28 00 – E-mail:asinja@hotmail.com
_________________________________________________


P R E S E N T A C I Ó N

          El tema que queremos analizar en estas Jornadas es el “Conflicto de racionalidades”, un tema básico para cualquier debate interdisciplinar y, probablemente, una clave de comprensión de buena parte de los conflictos de nuestro tiempo y de las dificultades del entendimiento entre individuos y culturas. Se trata de analizar el conflicto que se puede plantear entre diferentes racionalidades, modos de pensamiento, presupuestos epistemológicos, ideologías (científicas, técnicas, éticas, políticas y religiosas). Nos interesan los temas de controversia, pero, sobre todo, y principalmente, el porqué de dichos conflictos. Cuáles son los elementos que obligan a mantener una postura, unos presupuestos innegociables o una ideología incontrovertible, y cómo ello imposibilita o complica una discusión y hace imposible el entendimiento. Cómo la inmersión en un cierto paradigma condiciona y determina las posiciones. Por qué hay tanta dificultad para flexibilizar las posiciones y escuchar comprehensivamente al interlocutor.

 

P R O G R A M A

 

Jueves 20 de Septiembre
19.00h. Actividad cultural preparatoria: Proyección de película
22.00h. Actividad cultural: Coloquio sobre la película.

Viernes 21 de Septiembre
9.30h. Primera ponencia: “Conflictos de racionalidades en el pensamiento. Perspectiva desde la filosofía”
           Ponente: Mercedes Torrevejano. Profesora de Filosofía. Universidad de Valencia
12.00h. Comunicaciones
16.30h. Segunda ponencia: “Conflictos de racionalidades en el mundo actual. Perspectiva sociológica “
           Ponente: Juan Luís Pintos. Profesor de Sociología. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
19.00h. Comunicaciones

Sábado 22 de Septiembre
9.30h. Tercera ponencia-debate: “Bioética: autonomía y gestión del cuerpo”
           Ponentes:       Javier Sádaba. Profesor de Filosofía. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
                                       Juan Carlos Álvarez. Profesor de Bioética. Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Madrid
9.30h. Exposición ponente 1: “Identidad humana e Ingeniería Genética”
10h. Exposición ponente 2: “Bioética: autonomía y gestión del cuerpo”
13.00h. Comunicaciones
16.30h. Película para debate: “¿Y tú qué sabes?” (What The Bleep Do We Know? 2004)
             Presentador: Leandro Sequeiros. Profesor de Antropología filosófica y de Teoría del Conocimiento.
                                    Facultad de Teología de Granada
19.00h. Asamblea General de ASINJA

Domingo 23 de Septiembre
9.30h. Cuarta ponencia-debate: “Cosmología y teología: sentido o sinsentido de la creación”
           Ponentes:       Luís Joaquín Boya. Catedrático de Física Teórica jubilado. Universidad de Zaragoza.
                                  Manuel García Doncel. Profesor emérito de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Director del     
                                  Seminario de Teología y Ciencias de Barcelona (STICB)
9.30h. Exposición ponente 1: “Cosmología científica: exposición y presentación de puntos de vista de científicos actuales”
10h. Exposición ponente 2: “Sentido teológico de la creación en evolución”
13.00h. Reunión conclusiva: Evaluación y cierre de las Jornadas. Propuestas para el año próximo
——————————————————————————————————————–

COMUNICACIONES PREVISTAS
 
1. Leandro Sequeiros y Cándido M. García Cruz: “Conflictos de racionalidades en las Ciencias de la Tierra, El caso del conflicto de Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) con las ideas darwinistas”
2. Antonio Blanch: “Conflicto de interpretaciones desde una misma fe cristiana”
3. José Luís San Miguel: “Tradiciones culturales, paradigmas e intolerancias”
4. José Ramón García-Murga: “Teología trinitaria, racionalidad, conflicto, empiría”
5. Lydia Feito: “Cerebros de mujeres y cerebros de hombres: ¿conflicto de racionalidades?”
6. José Miró Nicolau: “Una causa racional de los conflictos entre racionalidades”

for further information: Leandro Sequeiros lsequeiros@probesi.org
www.upcomillas.es/centros/cent_asoc_asinja_pres.aspx 

5/24/2007 05/24/2007 10003 Human Evolution from an Anthropic Universe (Report of the Iberia-Network of LSI)

This paper concerns some specific aspects of the combined research promoted by the Iberia-Network of LSI. A general scheme of the combined research was already presented in Metanexus Conference, June 2006: “Human Evolution – Script for Research Project to be carried out by the LSI and the Iberia-Network in Spain.” This is a restricted research project, carried out in parallel to the Sophia-Iberia in Europe Project by a team of approximately thirty university researchers and professors. It will deal with “Human Evolution” using the same general approach as the Sophia-Iberia in Europe Project. This research project will be enriched by the same course of reflections begun by Sophia-Iberia in Europe.

The study of human evolution enables us to obtain a scientific knowledge of the processes and causes which lead to the appearance in time and the constitution of human reality. This knowledge has two aspects: 1) knowing how nature has formed human nature through evolution as a biological system which has a number of psychic faculties and processes (sensation, perception, conscience, attention, memory, knowledge…) which permit specifically human action; 2) the specific products of human action which have constituted and continue to constitute history: the human being uses faculties to produce emotions, perceptions, knowledge, organizing a memory which accesses history, language, etc., and forms culture. This process, as a whole, constitutes human evolution: and this can be expressed very specifically in computational terms as the fact that human evolution occurs in the formation of the “hardware” of the biological system and in the production of the specific “software” with which each individual and each culture has filled his own history with content.

Evidently the theology of any religion always refers to the real man: it is the real man who, using his psychic powers, constructs in his mind, let us say, the “software” of a determined religion in response to the stimulus of his own nature in the universe. Moreover, in the Christian religion, the comprehension of the supposed Revelation in the history of Israel and in Christ is always made by constructing a theology founded on certain idea of the human being (conditioned by the circumstances of a time in the history of culture). Consequently, if the image of human evolution in modern science helps us to draft an image of the real man, this must be considered to be a basic presupposition for a Christian theology which “understands” Revelation from the parameters of modern culture. This new “explanation” (or hermeneutics) of Christianity would be a candidate to substitute the “explanation” generally presented, at least, in the Catholic Church, from within the parameters of Greek Philosophy and its image of man.

Research on human evolution in the Iberia-Network of LSI is oriented towards theology. Therefore, the study of human evolution is a means to present and discuss the type of theology the new image of man in science leads us to. However, in this communication for the 2007 Philadelphia meeting, we are not going to deal with theological conclusions, but with another more specific aspect, which is also related to our research o the human evolution: the roots of human evolution in an anthropic universe. Thus, we limit ourselves to this methodological question.

We use the term “anthropic” in the “weak” sense. We mean that, if man has been produced in the evolutionary process of the universe (and this is the presupposition for the principle of science), thus, the supposition should be established that only an anthropic universe can provide sufficient explanation of the real presence of man in its interior, where “anthropic universe ” is understood to be a universe which includes the necessary, or at least the appropriate, ontological properties so that the evolutionary emergence of man might be possible. Another case would not be justified in science. This is really a question of the classical Scholastic axiom “ab esse ad posse valet illatio” (from the factual being it is possible to correctly infer the possibility of its beginning).

Thus, we say that the universe is “anthropic” but not in the sense that the universe which produces man is a universe which responds to the “design” of a superior intelligence. We address this problem in our research, but not in this communication in which by “anthropic principle” we only understand the initial “weak” presupposition that from the fact (man) it is possible to infer his possibility (in the ontological conditions of the universe).

Human Evolution from an anthropic Universe begins from the ontological conditions of the universe in evolution until the appearance of man with his own psychic faculties and the exercise of these faculties in history. The evolutionary universe constitutes man and man constitutes history as he appropriates himself of objective possibilities. Of especial interest among the past, present and future possibilities opened up by history are the appearance and meaning of religion (theology) within the framework of human evolution.

Consequently, a basic aspect of the study of human evolution must consist of the ontological properties of the universe which have made this possible. In fact, the roots of human evolution in all its aspects must be found in the germinal properties of the universe. This must be “anthropic” in the weak sense. If it were not so, or, and this is not the same, if science were not capable of describing an anthropic universe to us, then, human knowledge would fall into a dramatic state of confusion: or “reduce” the explanation of man without assuming aspects which are essential to our human experience (reductionism), or “postulate” that man is not explained by the universe and is “something else” (dualism). In fact, reductionism and dualism radical adversaries in the theory of man in recent years. This dispute has today been transformed into the struggle between a non-humanistic idea of man (computational reductionism) and another humanistic idea (represented by emergentism).

In any case, the study of human evolution cannot be done properly without taking into account its cosmic roots. These must be analyzed with “anthropic” correction in order to avoid both reductionism and dualism. However, what is the method for studying the anthropic properties of the universe? Evidently there must be a “heuristic” method for searching for anthropic properties.

The objective or finality of Human Evolution from an anthropic Universe is not to make a complete, in depth study of the whole process of human evolution.

Its first objective is selective. First, the selection of evolutionary states: the selection of some important states which contain the keys to the process which makes human evolution possible and enable us to understand its nature. Second, the selection of relevant evolutionary profiles: at each of these evolutionary states and the selection of certain properties, states and processes which, in fact, contribute to the constitution of evolutionary lines which will make man possible. These will be the anthropic profiles, principles, content or properties which make man possible.

Its second objective is synthetic. That is to say, to relate these with each other, coordinating the evolutionary states and the relevant evolutionary profiles in a unit with sense in order to understand how and why and how human evolution makes religion (theology) possible or not possible.

In order to achieve these two objectives, selective and synthetic, we need an epistemological criteria: that is to say, previous principles which make it possible to construct arguments to select the evolutionary states and the relevant evolutionary profiles. This criteria must be epistemological because epistemology is the discipline which tells us which productive method we must follow (methodology) in order to achieve a certain type of knowledge (intention of knowledge). For us, the intention is to scientifically know human evolution and the methodology is the form of the cognitive process which leads us to this knowledge.

The basic criteria is offered by epistemology in the general form of all scientific explanations.

A) In the first place, this always supposes the selection of a natural phenomenon, termed explicandum (what must e explained). It is not possible to explain something if we do not know what we want to explain. Therefore, the explicandum must be first delimited with precision: this task is called “phenomenology” (the objective description of the phenomenon). Science must explain what has made it possible for us to be where we are and where we cannot doubt that we are. Thus, anthropic research of the universe will consist of seeking those properties of the universe which make the “phenomenological man” who constitutes our personal and social experience possible. Which phenomenological characteristics does our human experience present? For the study of human evolution it is essential to formulate these precisely as they constitute the obvious point of arrival: what currently constitutes our personal and social human experience. In a way, these are the “explicandum” of a scientific reconstruction of human evolution: namely the knowledge of the causes which have made it possible to reach here. We will stress four contents which are considered to be essential in our phenomenological experience.

B) However, in the second place, the scientific explanation also supposes knowing the causes (or “reasons”) which make it possible to understand why this phenomenon (explicandum) has been produced in nature: the set of explanatory causes are termed scientific explicans (that which carries out the explanatory function).

Therefore, all scientific explanations consist of referring a phenomenon or explicandum to a system of causes or explicans. The explicandum always carries out a control function in the knowledge process (science) which makes it possible to reach the causes. First control the search for the causes aiming at where they are probably located. Second, once a certain proposal of the causal system is reached, a check must be made whether it effectively enables an “explanation” of all the content and nuances in the phenomenological description of the explicandum. The “facts to be explained” (or explicandum) are thus the appeal court in which to judge the pertinence of the scientific explanations (or explicans) proposed.

However, returning to the objectives of the workshop, we can now specify and order them better, in the light of the epistemological criteria of how a scientific explanation is constructed.

a) For us, human evolution is the explicandum. Therefore, it is not possible to move forward unless we start from a phenomenological description of the fact whose scientific explanation we are trying to construct. Human evolution, or man as the terminal result of his evolutionary process, is the terminal phenomenological experience of a process which leads to man for us. It is a question of proposing the phenomenological description of its content in such a way that its serves as a control to orientate the search for its explicans (the causal system which produces the human phenomenon): both for controlling the search and for controlling the explanatory proposals.

b) The evolutionary states and the relevant evolutionary profiles are the explicans. In fact, the selection of evolutionary states must be made depending on their importance for human evolution. However, the selection of relevant evolutionary profiles, within each one of these states, must be made with the same criteria: its contribution to causing human evolution. Both aspects (states and profiles) must be explained (explicans): what causes have made man, what we see phenomenologically today, and why religion (theology) finally appeared in his mind.

We now refer, first, to human evolution as the phenomenological explicandum where we must start from. Then, in the second place, we refer to both aspects, evolutionary states and relevant evolutionary profiles, as the explicans selected to propose a causal system of human evolution.

Human evolution as the phenomenological explicandum

The human sciences normally understand phenomenological as “reality as it is presented in ordinary experience”. It is not a question of establishing what reality is like in itself, but how it appears before us objectively. That it appears as we verify it cannot be doubted: what must be sought are explanations that it appears as such. These explanations can also lead, perhaps, we do not know, to constructing explanations on what reality is like in itself (ontologically) to a greater or lesser degree.

Therefore, we then make a selection of the phenomenological content or features present in our human experience. We live these as the terminal result of an evolutionary process which finally makes us human. In synthesis they respond to an experience already described at the dawn of Western Philosophy in Greece: the experience of unity and difference.

a) A time-space world of differentiated objects. Each man as a living being has an individual condition (his body), differentiated from other objects, living beings and men, which permits him to occupy a determined place and time in time-space. Thanks to this construction of the universe, known phenomenologically, man can move among things and live his life adapting to physical and social environment.

b) A world of stable, determined events. Both the psychobiophysical constitution and human action are possible because the universe is stable and the changing processes are determined by a number of regularities and laws. Thus, man knows that his body is “reliable”. Moreover, the interactions are firm and man can design his life knowing that the world will behave regularly and his actions will be possible. Furthermore, the human reality as a species which transmits the same human condition by inheritance would not be possible without a world of determinations which functions with stable, genetic regularities.

c) A world which produces holistic states. Human phenomenology shows the evidence that the world produces holistic environments: that is to say, environments in which differentiation seems to disappear and unified wholes are formed. Holism already appears at different levels (a body, although it is differentiated and located in time and space, it is holistic). However, it is in psychic experience that a more stunning type of holistic experience appears: the experience constituted from the systems of sensation-perception-consciousness, principally in self-perception and in vision (as described in the phenomenology of the American Psychologist, James J. Gibson).

d) An open world of indetermination and freedom. The experience of what it means to be a man goes together with the experience of being in an open universe where human freedom can plan several vital routes: all are possible and dependent on being taken, that is to say, assumed by human freedom. Thus, the phenomenological experience situates us in an open universe which creates its own future through choices, therefore, it is partly absolutely indeterminate (indetermination compatible with the part of determination mentioned above). This flexible oscillation regarding the choice of the future by “creative self-determination” is known intuitively by extension throughout all of nature, especially in the animal world.

e) A world open to the emergence of reason. In the human experience of the phenomenological exercise of reason, can be seen the unity of the four phenomenological contents mentioned (points a-d). Reason would not be possible without a stable and determined world which forms the solid ground on which reason may walk. However, reason is in itself the experience that this world of stable determinations has generated in reason itself as the power to weigh up, criticize and choose a future through free, responsible options. This is the synthesis of creative determination and indetermination.

In conclusion, we can say that the phenomenological experience unifies and lives the contents we have just summed up: differentiation, determination, holism, indetermination-freedom and reason, as simultaneously possible and factually non-contradictory. The phenomenology of human self-experience is not only an isolated psychic experience of the “world”, but is rather the unitary experience of a physical body among objects in a differentiated world of fields of time-space interactions, energy, stability, in which psychism occupies a congruent place and makes existence possible. It is a personal and social experience, agreed to inter-subjectively; This consensus gives meaning to society and culture.

Man is conscious of his phenomenological self-experience in this way (explicandum) and this means that human evolution has been the process which makes this possible. Therefore, the scientific explanation of human evolution must know the system of causes (explicans) which have produced this. If the universe was produced from primordial matter which derived towards its organisation as universe and as life, it is not possible to doubt that we are factually obliged to admit that the real matter-universe-life system has anthropic properties: that is to say, they make life possible as this would not have occurred with something else. These anthropic causes are essential to know the nature of human evolution.

If the expectations of science is that all that has been produced in the universe is explained from the same dynamic properties of matter in evolution, then, undoubtedly science also has the interdisciplinary expectation that all that man sees in his psychobiophysical constitution (by phenomenology) has been produced from the germinal properties of the matter whose organization has given rise to the universe.

Therefore, it is evident that physics as disciplinary scientific knowledge can methodologically dispense with biology, psychology, philosophy and anthropology. However, from an interdisciplinary perspective which seeks the unity of knowledge (an eminently scientific pretension), physics cannot dispense with being firstly “bio-pic” and, in the end, “anthro-pic”. That is to say, must first make life intelligible and, then, man. Otherwise, it would not be an acceptable science.

If physics does not achieve this “living” and “human” intelligibility, it would place the interdisciplinary project of science in a serious position: having to accept a view which is non-congruent with cosmic facticity (life and man), and would have to retreat towards reductionism or dualism. However, science, correctly understood, must flee from this radicalism in order to adapt its image of matter and the universe and provide them with congruence with the facts and explanatory capacity regarding life and man. That is to say, when the physical image of matter and the universe becomes interdisciplinary science, it must become an “anthropic” image.

Thus, the heuristic approach of our research on human evolution assumes that understanding the evolutionary emergence of the human being cannot be achieved without reference to the ontological roots of this evolution in the ontology of matter and in the construction of the universe –world as the human habitat. Consequently, the study of human evolution logically commences by “anthropic” physics: the physics which endeavors to collect the properties of the matter-universe which make man possible and explain essential aspects of human ontology and its psycho-bio-physico functioning.

The phenomenological aspects mentioned connect with properties which are recognized in the ontology of matter-universe: intense holism from quantum mechanics, the differentiation of matter and genesis of the classical macroscopic world, the persistence of intense or holistic environments in the classical macroscopic world, determination and legality, indetermination, either by the classical, chaotic, probabilistic, statistic way, etc. Drafting the “anthropic” profiles of the physical image of matter-universe in this way is the first step in a study of the human evolution which can, as we have said, form the basis of the subsequent argumentation of a theology of science.

Evolutionary states and relevant evolutionary profiles as explicans of human evolution

Where is this system of evolutionary causes which lead to the constitution of humans found? The control of where to search and the pertinence of the causes found depend on human phenomenology, and these must lead to where we are now. The project has made a selection of evolutionary states where the relevant evolutionary profiles can be sought and these will make it possible to explain human evolution. In a way, human evolution has been possible because our universe was formed in accordance with certain anthropic conditions (which made man possible). The explanation and evaluation of human evolution and the nature of man cannot be achieved without understanding these anthropic conditions at the different evolutionary states.

These are the following:

a) Matter. This is the first evolutionary state from which everything is produced. A certain type of matter would not have made human evolution possible. What are the properties of matter which lead to the production of life and man?

b) Universe. The organisation of mater is produced in the form of the universe. What are the anthropic conditions of the universe which make man possible?

c) Life. Life arises from the physical universe. It represents a first evolutionary step towards the remote anthropic properties of matter/universe. Life emerges really and proximately within the universe in an intermediate stag which in turn generates new anthropic properties, more proximate to the emergence of humans.

d) Man/Neurology. The evolutionary appearance of man through the formation of his mind by his neuronal system becoming more complex is the result of anthropic evolution of matter/life/universe. What evolutionary possibilities does the human mind lead to?

e) Formal Sciences. Formalisation is one of the most relevant products of the human mind. The formalising capacity of the mind makes it possible to probe the hyper-complex profiles of future human evolution.

f) Religion/theology. Another of the historically more relevant products of human evolution is the metaphysical, religion, theology. Why did the human mind create theology? Will current scientific knowledge of human evolution permit the human mind to be occupied in the construction of theology? What type of theology does the image of human evolution in science lead to?

Each one of these six points responds to a part of the project. The first five evolutionary states will make it possible to discuss the relevant profiles which constitute the evolutionary appearance of man as described phenomenologically. In the sixth state, the way in which human evolution enables access to the evolutionary state in which the human mind opens up to the metaphysical can be studied within the framework of religious and theological speculation.

 

This paper concerns some specific aspects of the combined research promoted by the Iberia-Network of LSI. It deals with “Human Evolution” using the same general approach as the Sophia-Iberia in Europe Project.

The study of human evolution enables us to obtain a scientific knowledge of the processes and causes which lead to the appearance in time and the constitution of human reality. This knowledge has two aspects: 1) knowing how nature has formed the human being through evolution as a biological system which has a number of psychic faculties and processes (sensation, perception, conscience, attention, memory, knowledge…) which permit specifically human action; 2) the specific products of human action which have constituted and continue to constitute history: the human being uses faculties to produce emotions, perceptions, knowledge, organizing a memory which accesses history, language, etc., and forms culture.

The theology of any religion always refers to the real man. Research on human evolution in the Iberia-Network of LSI is oriented towards theology. Therefore, the study of human evolution is a means to present and discuss the type of theology the new image of man in science leads us to. However in this communication we are not going to deal with theological conclusions, but with another more specific aspect, which is also related to our research o the human evolution: the roots of human evolution in an anthropic universe. Thus, we limit ourselves to this methodological question.

We use the term “anthropic” in the “weak” sense. We mean that the supposition should be established that only an anthropic universe can provide sufficient explanation of the real presence of man in its interior, where “anthropic universe ” is understood to be  which includes the necessary, or at least the appropriate,The anthropic research of the universe will consist of seeking those properties of the universe which make Human evolution as the phenomenological explicandum: a) a time-space world of differentiated objects. b) A world of stable, determined events. c) a world which produces holistic states. d) an open world of indetermination and freedom. e) a world open to the emergence of reason.

The project has made a selection of evolutionary states where the relevant evolutionary profiles can be sought that make it possible to explain human evolution. These are the following: a) matter. b) universe. c) life. d) man/neurology. e) formal sciences. f) religion/theology.

5/24/2007 05/24/2007 10004 From Quarks to Human Communities, Towards the Triune God.  A Transdisciplinary Integral Approach of the Evolutionary Creation

1.- Introduction

There are solid evidences of the way the Universe evolved from the initial Big Bang to human beings ruled by different physical laws and by natural selection of random mutations. Atheists are convinced that natural laws and chance are enough to explain our existence. On the contrary, believers are convinced that the Universe was created by God in an act of love, although there are different theological theories about the action of God after that initial moment. There is the question whether the Creator made an unique initial divine act, and after that the Universe is evolving by its own physical laws, as defended by deists, or, on the contrary, there is a continuous divine influence on it. Even more, Creationists will defend that not only there is a continuous influence, but also a direct interventions with definite purpose, but we scientist believe that the physical laws of nature are not violated by the Creator.

This question is difficult to explain and it is easy to fall into many difficulties. For instance, if God does not exert His action, there is no room for Divine Providence, and if we can not interact with Him, there is no way to express the reciprocal love between Creator and creatures.

On the other hand, if we accept a direct Divine intervention, the problem of evil arises. For example, if God is driving evolution through gene mutations, why He selected an eye with myopia instead of selecting a better one not needing glasses? or why He designed a genetic code prone to mutations that can cause cancer?

In this paper we will review different alternatives to these questions specially by three different authors (Karl Rahner, Karl Schmitz-Moormann, and Denis Edwards) always keeping in mind that God does not ordinarily violate the laws of the nature, and that evolution is perfectly compatible with creation. But first we will take a look at the way our cosmo-bio-evolution is happening.

2.- Scientific view of cosmo-bio-evolution

Only 50 years ago, it would be impossible to even pose fundamental questions that we are trying to answer now. Our knowledge about how are beings able of thinking in the universe is based on a limited amount of observational data, together with accurate enough theories, trying to explain them.

An enormous amount of work has been done in many different areas, as quantum and gravitational physics, biochemistry, biology, and mathematics, and new theories have been proposed. Different discoveries, as the inhomogeneities in the cosmic microwave background radiation or the DNA structure, are corroborating our theories. Also the development of mathematics and the use of powerful computing simulation programs are helping in obtaining models for the evolution from big-bang to humans. Nevertheless, there are still huge gaps that we can not explain. Of course, scientists are not still, and newer concepts have been developed, as chaos theory and emergence. Despite our ignorance in many aspects, there is also large consensus in a lot of them.

It is widely accepted that initially it was something like a big explosion and only pure energy existed. We do not know what happened in the initial point, we can not even ask about that moment, as there are no physical theories describing it. We can only explain from an initial time tp, called Plank’s time that is in the order of 5´10-44 seconds.

After this initial moment, different structures began to appear. It is important to point out that in each step of evolution a higher degree of complexity emerged. In principle these complex states are not inferred from the elementary constituents. From the point of view of information, each new state can accommodate more information than the single constituents by themselves. Also, each state of complexity implements new ways of communication among the different elements, and again, this new ways of communication are not inferred from the single parts.

In short, the cosmo-bio-evolution is based in the standard Big Bang theory and in the Darwinian evolution theory, and we can distinguish the following steps:

1) Physics domain
Universe emerged from an extremely dense and hot singularity 1.37×1010 years ago. We do not have information about what was before Planck’s time. From that moment space and time appeared and the universe started expanding at the speed of light. Only energy existed at the beginning, but soon quarks, that is, matter was originated from energy. Also gravitational force is differentiated from the rest of forces.

Later, at about 10-36 seconds, strong force is also decoupled. From 10-36 to 10-32 an extremely fast expansion, called inflation occurs, like a universe phase transition. At this moment it was only energy —that is, photons— quarks and antiquarks, and the exchange particles, named gluons. Due to the high energy density, quarks can not bind to form larger particles (baryons) and form what has been named quark-gluon plasma. Later, at about 10-12 seconds, weak and electromanectic forces are also separated, yielding to the final four forces, as we observe now.

As the universe continued growing in size, the temperature dropped, and quarks can combine to form protons and neutrons (baryons) at 10-5 seconds. All the different types of particles that are a part of the present universe were in existence, even though the temperature was still too much high for the formation of nuclei. At this point a not well understood symmetry breakdown occurs, and the equality between matter and antimatter is unbalanced. As a result of this process, a small excess of ordinary matter over antimatter remains, and it is the matter we are made of and we observe nowadays.

As the universe becomes colder, below 109 K, elements start to be formed. Initially only deuterium and helium in a process called primordial nucleosynthesis. Around 200,000 years, gravitation starts having importance, gas clouds, galaxies, stars, planets are formed. Later, heavier elements are formed inside stars: C, O, N, … At 380,000 years, matter becomes neutral atoms and radiation is decoupled from matter, the Universe becomes transparent, leaving behind the cosmic microwave background radiation.

In summary, at this physics level, the only basic building blocks we can observe are the elementary particles. The information is identified with the support, and the only information is the particle itself.

A preliminary way of information exchange or interrelation can be identified in the four forces of the nature: gravitational, strong, weak and electromagnetic. These forces act by means of virtual boson exchange between particles. Table 1 shows the complete set of elementary particles and forces. There is also a complementary set of anti-particles, not present in nature, only observable in laboratories.

Particles

Leptons

Quarks

e (electron)

ve (electron neutrino)

u (up)

d (down)

m (muon)

nm (muon neutrino)

c (charm)

s (strange)

t (tau)

nt (tau neutrino)

t (top)

b (bottom)

Forces

Force

Exchange bosons

gravitation

graviton

strong

gluons

weak

W+, W-, Z0

electromagnetic

photon

Table 1: types of elementary particles and forces

2) Chemistry domain
After the explosions of supernova, with the formation of secondary stars, with planets rich in bio-elements already formed and the temperature low enough it is possible to form complex entities by combining atoms. The earth was formed 4,600 million years ago. Then, during a phase of slow cooling of planets, with high pressures, and moderate temperatures, simple inorganic molecules, as silicates or carbonates appear by means of chemical bonds that are mediated by interchange of photons, electrons or protons (Hydrogen nucleus forming a hydrogen bridge). These primary molecules were necessary for the next evolutionary step, the formation of complex molecules.

At this level, there is a new source of information as in addition to the chemical formula, the spatial arrangement of atoms, driven by chemical bonds in molecular orbitals which is key for the chemical activity.

3) Biochemistry domain
Biomolecules are complex molecules composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen along with nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. Other elements also form part of biomolecules, but in very small proportions. This biomolecules are the chemical compounds that naturally occurs in living organisms The main classes are carbohydrates, amino acids and proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, and nucleic acids, as shown in Table 2, and they are often long chains,

Small molecules

Monomers

  • Lipid, Phospholipid, Glycolipid, Sterol
  • Vitamin
  • Hormone, Neurotransmitter
  • Carbohydrate, Sugar
  • Disaccharide
  • Amino acid
  • Nucleotide
  • Phosphate
  • Monosaccharide

Polymers

Macromolecules

  • Peptide, Oligopeptide, Polypeptide, Protein
  • Nucleic acid, i.e. DNA, RNA
  • Oligosaccharide, Polysaccharide
  • Prion

Table 2: Types of biomolecules

The particular series of amino acids that form a protein is known as that protein’s primary structure. Proteins have several, well-classified, elements of local structure and these are termed secondary structure. The overall 3D structure of a protein is termed its tertiary structure. Proteins often aggregate into macromolecular structures, or quaternary structure.

At this stage of complexity we can identify a new source of information in the folding of the macromolecules. For instance, in the case of proteins, the particular linear series of amino acids that form the proteins configures its primary structure. There is a secondary structures made by local amino acid arrangements (in helices or sheets). The overall 3D structure of a protein is the tertiary structure. And often there is a quaternary structure when proteins aggregate into macromolecular compounds.

This macromolecules interact and eventually replicate in adequate environments by means of chemical reactions.

4) Biology domain.
Biomolecules combine, and the structure of surface membrane is developed. From it, between 3,900 to 4,100 million years ago, a new structure appears: the cell with the genes. It has a very high complexity level, and has the capability of growth and self-reproduction. We can say that for the first time in the cosmo-bio-evolution history living organisms, with the capacity of reproduction, exist. Initially cells were simple prokaryotes, without nucleus.

In a simplistic way, a unicellular organism is a series of complex chemical reactions, nevertheless, to reduce life to mere chemistry is an error. It is the entire organism, as a whole that determine their adaptation to the environment and their survival.

Organisms are semi-closed chemical systems. Although they are individual units of life they are not closed to the environment around them. Each cell interact with to its neighbors by chemical interchange, and a new degree of relationship and complexity emerged.

1,400 million years ago, more sophisticated cells with a nucleus (eukaryotes) appear. And later, 700 million years ago, multi-cellular organisms emerged on the earth, starting cell specialization. A group of specialized cells form a tissue. Several types of tissue work together to form an organ to produce a particular function. Several organs functioning jointly conform an organ system. Finally, many organisms are composed of several organ systems which coordinate to allow for life.

Domains

Archaea

Bacteria

Eukaryota (divided in four Kingdoms)

 

Fungi

 

Plantae

 

Animalia

 

Protista

Table 3: Domains and Kingdoms of living organisms

The organism information is stored in DNA molecules located in cell nucleus, constituting the genome. This information is also transferred to descendents. The DNA information can mutate by influence of external media: temperature, chemicals or radiation, in a random process.

The information is written in an alphabet based on four different letters, that are nucleotide bases named: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T). In RNA, thymine (T) is replaced by uracil (U).

A typical cell has about 10,000 different proteins, and it has about 1 million molecules of each kind in average (it can range from 10,000 to 10 millions), this means 1010 protein molecules.

The genetic information written in the DNA molecules of the cell genome is translated into proteins by means of a genetic code. Every set of three nucleotide bases (named codon) determines one of the 20 different amino acids that in long sequences form proteins. This genetic code is shown in table 4.

 

Amino acid code

Amino acid name

RNA codon

Ala

Alanine

GCU, GCC, GCA, GCG

Arg

Arginine

CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, AGG

Asn

Asparagine

AAU, AAC

Asp

Aspartic acid

GAU, GAC

Cys

Cysteine

UGU, UGC

Gln

Glutamic acid

CAA, CAG

Glu

Glutamine

GAA, GAG

Gly

Glycine

GGU, GGC, GGA, GGG

His

Histidine

CAU, CAC

Ile

Isoleucine

AUU, AUC, AUA

Leu

Leucine

UUA, UUG, CUU, CUC, CUA, CUG

Lys

Lysine

AAA, AAG

Met

Methionine

AUG

Phe

Phenylalanine

UUU, UUC

Pro

Proline

CCU, CCC, CCA, CCG

Ser

Serine

UCU, UCC, UCA, UCG, AGU, AGC

Thr

Threonine

ACU, ACC, ACA, ACG

Trp

Tryptophan

UGG

Tyr

Tyrosine

UAU, UAC

Val

Valine

GUU, GUC, GUA, GUG

START

 

AUG

STOP

 

UAG, UGA, UAA

Table 4: The genetic code

All living organisms share the same cellular structure and genetic code, so there is a solid evidence that all living organisms share a common ancestor, from which all of them evolve.

5) Zoology domain
In further evolution steps, from chordates to vertebrates, animals with a true neural system and a brain appeared. Having a new complexity level, new ways of information appear, vertebrates manipulate information using neurotransmitters and electrical pulses inside the nervous central system. There is also communication between individuals by chemical compounds as pheromones.

6) Ethology domain
Primates. They have superior brain functions that are unveiled for example in their ability of self-recognition. For the first time in evolution there are entities that feel themselves as individuals. There are some polemics if other mammals as elephants or dauphins also can recognize themselves, but to fix from which degree of brain development this is true is not relevant. Primitive forms of culture also appear in apes, teaching and learning can be observed, that is, there are primitive ways of transmitting information between individuals. There are also primitive languages based on gestures.

7) Psychology domain
At the top of the evolution, the humans appear. The most relevant aspect is self-consciousness: for the first time the creation is thinking about itself. In terms of information, language means a breakthrough. Information is stored outside the living organisms in books or other physical supports, and information reaches a planetary scale.

8) Sociology domain
Humans are not fully developed unless they live in relationships with other people. Humans are social animals, and it is in communities where we reach the highest degree of development by means of interpersonal love. Civilizations are a higher degree of evolution. Humans are a symbiosis of genes and culture. But humans are something more. Already in very primitive humans (Homo neanderthalensis) we discover burials that denote an idea of transcendence and religious sense. We can say that humans are capable of God and are able to respond the initiative of the Creator.

9) Information domain
From the point of view of human development, certainly the previous step is the last one. Nevertheless, from the point of view of information maybe we can consider a new one in computers and Internet, although in my opinion this is arguable.

Even though it is not yet fully developed, Internet introduces ubiquity and immediacy. It is not difficult to imagine, in a not so distant future all the people, on Earth interconnected all the time and having access to huge amounts of information. But it is important to point out that the information has been created by humans. Computer can help humans, but not develop its own conscious.

Information in general, in contraposition as its support, has to be considered non material. In the history of evolution, we observe that information is step after step less material, more effective, more spiritual. With humans, new concepts as beauty, mysticism and religious beliefs appear.

3.- Scientific theories

The previously described cosmo-bio-evolution is based on well established theories, the main of them are:

1) Gravitation or general relativity
It describes the geometrical structure of space and time. With current physical instruments, the accuracy of the theory has been proven up to one part in 1014, which is really amazing. This theory is used to calculate gravitational attraction and trajectories of bodies for example. In principle it is a deterministic theory, but if a systems offers chaotic behavior it is impossible in practice to predict the evolution of it. Simplifying, chaotic systems are systems very sensitive to initial conditions and small changes on them yield big differences in the final state.

2) Quantum theory
It describes the behavior of elementary particles or very small bodies. The most relevant point is that it introduces the notions of uncertainty and probability. Instead of corpuscles with their observable physical magnitudes we consider systems with their states that are represented by a wave function. The wave function does not correspond to definite values for each of the observables, but to a probability distribution of them.

This uncertainty is ontic, and not due to our ignorance of the state of the system. When quantum systems interact in a way that a magnitude should be fixed, in a process called measure, one possible states is randomly fixed. We call this process wave function collapse.

The interpretation of this theory is not yet clear. Some scientists think that it is an incomplete theory, but all the experiments point in the direction that there is no a hidden mechanism, but pure randomness. The main consequence is that it is not possible to predict the future of quantum systems as they are randomness in the evolution of them.

Although these theories are able to describe with very high precision many aspects of the world, they still have many unknowns. Gravitation and quantum are not compatible among them, and there are no satisfactory ways to mix both in a unified Quantum Gravity.

For complex organisms it is not possible to apply quantum theory directly. If they are many different bodies the wave function is not useful as the total uncertainty is too big. Then we have to appeal to statistics. We can mention two theories based on statistics.

Statistical mechanics
On top of these two physical theories we also have a statistical theory named statistical mechanics that reinterprets thermodynamics. Is does not introduce new natural laws, but offers a mathematical description of the behavior of systems with an extremely large number of elements. The main prediction is that entropy, interpreted as improbability or disorder, always increases in closed systems (those that do not exchange energy, matter and entropy with the exterior). To increase the order (or decrease entropy) we have to expend some energy and also expulse some entropy to another place.

Usually statistical mechanics is limited to closed systems in equilibrium, but living organisms are open systems not in equilibrium, and therefore it can not be used to describe them. Nevertheless, there are attempts to extend the theory. Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003) proposed the dissipative system as an attempt to address the behavior of systems far from equilibrium. A dissipative system is an open system which is operating far from thermodynamic equilibrium. A dissipative system is characterized by the spontaneous appearance of symmetry breaking and the formation of complex, sometimes chaotic, effects.

Darwinian evolution theory
Is a biological theory proposed by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) in 1859, which tries to explain how living organisms evolve from one species to another. It is based in species evolution by means of natural selection and random mutations through self-replication (inheritance). Evolution does not act in a linear direction towards a pre-defined target, it only responds to various types of adaptive changes.

Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975), in 1937 proposed the Synthetic evolution theory or neo-Darwinism, that is a combination of Darwin’s concept of natural selection, Mendel’s basic genetics, along with the facts and theories of population genetics. It was later modified with the discovery of DNA double helix and the ulterior studies of molecular biology and genetic code.

Nevertheless, it is a controversial theory, as it has several unclear points. Many people questions if only chance can produce the continuous progress in the speciation, as nature shows a clear but never explained tendency towards complexity. Also there is the problem of lack of continuous intermediate species.

Dobzhansky, in his book The Biological Basis of Human Freedom (p.68) in 1956 proposed the “genetically controlled adaptive plasticity of the phenotype” as a complement to Darwin’s theory applicable to the evolution of superior primates to humans.

Another step towards the knowledge of speciation was the publishing of the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium en 1992 by the biologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) that is a theoretical model of evolution in which species remain unchanged for long periods of time and then at times rapidly change as a result of major alterations in the environment and, subsequently, in natural selection.

Emergence and self-organization theories
Emergence is the appearance of new properties in complex system that can not be traceable to their components. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And we call self-organization this increases in complexity produced without any guidance by an outside source, but as a result of internal properties of the complex system. The motivation is well explained by Anderson:

“The ability to reduce everything to simple fundamental laws does not imply the ability to start from those laws and reconstruct the universe. The constructionist hypothesis breaks down when confronted with the twin difficulties of scale and complexity. At each level of complexity entirely new properties appear. Psychology is not applied biology, nor is biology applied chemistry. We can now see that the whole becomes not merely more, but very different from the sum of its parts.”(Anderson 1972)

For the biologist and complex system researcher, Stuart Kauffman (1939- ), it is necessary something more than natural selection to explain biological evolution. He looks for a previous organizative order previous to selection. This leads him to the study of life as global phenomenon of complex systems in regions of order close to deterministic chaos and to the search of general purely statistical laws of self-organization that show the characteristics of life. As an example, he describes cellular life as a collective self-catalysis. Cellular life is studied with simplified mathematical models of graphs in which the points represents the different proteins (in some cells more than 10,000 different), linked by chemical reactions (synthesis and division) controlled by catalytic enzymes, that are, in turn, proteins of the system (the cell). It is a complex system of molecules whose presence or absence depends on the presence or absence of others, leading to chaotic systems, with their attractors.

The physicist Per Bak (1984-2002) introduced a theory to explain the non-continuous rhythm (as the Darwin’s model predicts) of speciation and extinction of species that corresponds to avalanches that follows a classical statistical law (Frequency = k/Intensity) that could explain the Punctuated Equilibrium of Stephen Jay Gould.

Self-Organized Criticality (SOC): it is known that in artificially imposed critical situations, order is created (phase transitions), but Bak proposes that there are other natural criticalities that are self-organized. A typical example are sand piles formed by a sequential fall of sand grains in random locations. Avalanches are produced when the last grain fall in a critical location, but it is produced naturally by the previous grains fallen. The magnitude of avalanches is governed by a reverse law with the probability of occurrence. A similar law is found in many other natural phenomena.
4.- Metaphysical perspective
We can observe from the evolutionary history that each time a more complex entity appears, it is more than the sum of its parts. Karl Schmitz-Moormann (1928-1996) in his book Theology of Creation in an Evolutionary World, chapter 2, with a brave philosophical view, changes our traditional metaphysics of being in a metaphysics of becoming through union. It is inspired in the Union Metaphysics by Teilhard de Chardin:

Plus esse = plus a pluribus uniri

That is, being more means being more united from more elements.

This explains the continuous growing of the evolutionary progress previously presented. He points out that, in this continuous growing, there are evolutionary steady states, as the landings in a stair, that are the states of successive “uni-totalities” (an English neologism translating German Ein-Ganzheit) or “united totalities”.

This metaphysics fits our knowledge of the evolutionary science. The elements are richer and richer, and the unions more and more perfect. Going back to our scientific cosmo-bio-evolution, we can present the list of “united totalities” in table 5.

 

Domain

United totalities

Union

Physics

elementary particles, atoms

boson (gluons, photon) exchange

Chemistry

molecules

chemical bonds

Biochemistry

biomolecules

chemical compounds

Biology

cells

complex chemical interchange

Zoology

animals

neural system

Ethology

primates communities

gestures

Psychology

humans

self consciousness

Sociology

human communities

interpersonal love

Table 5: “United totalities” along cosmo-bio-evolution

5.- Theological perspective
In our classical theological view, creation is an act from God. God creates everything:

“We believe in one God, the Father the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen”

And, in consequence, all that has been created has to be good as it proceeds from an act of God. This view contrasts with our knowledge of the Universe originated in a Big-Bang and continuously evolving.

God could have chosen to create a finished world, but instead he choose to given existence to an universe that creates by itself, developing even human beings. In this way, humans have total freedom and are capable of loving other humans and God or to reject Him.

In order to allow the human freedom, God should avoid presenting Himself in an epiphanic way. Believing in God is not the result of a formal logic deduction, it is a matter of faith. Nevertheless, I believe that we can find the lovely call of God in the creation from the evolution.

Karl Rahner (1904-1984), the German catholic theologian, proposed a new view of the causality for explaining evolution inspired in his Transcendental Metaphysics. Aristotle had proposed a transient causality based on four different causes: material, formal, efficient and final. This view was dominant over many centuries. All these causes are external, coming from outside of the effect.

Aristotle could not see anything about evolution, he could perhaps observe the larva transforming in a chrysalis and finally in a butterfly, but this ontogenetic example can not help to understand the evolution of species.

The scholastic tradition, based in the Genesis description and this philosophical Aristotelian view of causality, could not consider a creation with evolution. Creation is an initial making of things followed by their conservation. A process of progressing evolution or a sense of spontaneous improvement or overcoming is not easily considered.

Rahner (The Problem of Hominisation, 1961) therefore, in his philosophical and theological reflections on evolutionary vision, considered an immanent causality, acting on the same agent or efficient cause. And this immanent causality enriches the agent itself. As an example, if a person has an idea, the idea originates from inside the person, and remains inside himself (the idea could be later separated from him and even publish, but this is not relevant now). The human being with the idea is more that the human being alone. It has been a process of growth.

We can now question what is it needed for this growth. Where is the origin of the enrichment? And the answer from Rahner is God’s action. But not a “categorical” action of God, that is, a direct production of this growth by an irruption of God in our world that directly produces the effect. It is not God who places the idea inside the person’s brain. If so it would be a God’s idea, not a person’s idea. It is enough a “transcendental” action of God. This Transcendental action of God is an action that sustains the created agent and its capability of causing, and is common on all creatures because of their contingency.

This is the Rahner’s explanation of why it can be something new:

person + idea > person

The origin of this growth is the support of God. But for the person, the growth is a “self-overcoming”, a “dynamical self-transcendence”, sustained by the transcendental action of God.

This self-overcoming operates in the becoming of every “united totality” of the universe, from the initial Big-bang. It operates from quarks interacting by means of gluons to form protons to persons expressing the interpersonal love in human communities, passing through all the stages in our evolution. The transcendental action of God operates even in the case of catastrophes or when somebody is sinning, but this is the cost of world autonomy and human freedom.

The crucial thesis of Rahner concerning this paper is that the dynamical self-transcendence sustained by the transcendental action of God is enough to explain all the cosmo-bio-evolution, including hominization. Other theologians claim for categorical actions of God, at least in the hominization, but following Rahner, these actions are no needed.

The others say that in the evolutionary context the hominization is just the emergence of spirit from matter. But following Rahner, although spirit is clearly different from matter, this emergence can be defended because of the existing “kinship” between them. This kinship is proven by philosophical and theological reasons (the latter grounded in the common becoming of matter and spirit in the creation, Incarnation and eschatology). To express this kinship, he even calls the matter “frozen spirit”.

Rahner, nevertheless, explains from his point of view the traditional doctrine of “the immediate creation of the human soul”, both in the evolutionary hominization and in present procreation of human beings. This creation can not mean a categorical action of God, independent from the action of the parents, but it means the transcendental action that sustains it. We could analogously speak on the creation of life, but we refer only to the mentioned traditional doctrine of the human soul because of its theological relevance: the emergence of a human being capax Dei, a being able of entering in communication with God.

Karl Schmitz-Moormann, as we have seen, presents his theology of creation in the context of the evolution and in the metaphysics of union inherited from Teilhard de Chardin. He does not distinguish a primordial creation and further conservation, but he explains it as a unique and eternal continuous creation of God unfolded in time. He also mentions Rahner’s concept of dynamical self-transcendence, widely spread in the theological literature. But he vividly presents his own concept of continuous creation under three different aspects in the chapter 6 of his cited book.

Continuous creation is a “creatio appellata“, a “called creation”, in which God pronounces His creative call. This, more than a fiat lux (“let there be light”, Gn 1, 3) is a “come!, approach to Me!” not locally, but ontically understood: “approach to My richness of being”. In this way He invites both the not-yet-being and the evolving beings to constitute “united totalities” more and more perfect, and more and more alike to the “Supreme United Totality” that constitutes our Trinitarian and Creator God. Trinity, which we conceive as Persons united by interpersonal love (using analogically these concepts of person, totality and love).

In this view, each emerging “united totality” in the evolutionary process constitutes a trace or footprint of the Creator, and the interpersonal totalities united by love bonds constitute a true image of the Creator (“God created man in His image; in the divine image He created him; male and female He created them”, Gn 1, 27).

Continuous creation is also “creatio informata“, a progressive creation of information, which means a continuous spiritualization of the world making it more similar to the “Supreme Information” that is God. This allows the Creator to transmit his information to the world by means of “top-down causality” (also conceived as “whole-part causation”).

Downward causation is the way a process at higher levels of complexity influences those at lower levels, (for example, the mind that can move the arm). Schmitz-Moormann proposes an analogous mechanism for the exercise of God’s Providence in the world: God transmits only information, and does not violate any of the laws of nature, in particular, the energy is conserved.

Continuous creation is finally a “creatio libera“, a creation that respects the autonomy of the world and the human freedom. This freedom emerges at the expense of wastefulness and physical evil. But the Creator wants it because only free beings are responsible and capable of love. And, as stated in the Christian Anthropic Principle of George Ellis, the purpose of the creation is that love can exists beyond the eternal interpersonal relations of the Trinity, in the human persons among them and in relation to Divine Persons.

We present finally the proposal of the Australian catholic theologian Denis Edwards (1943- ), that has strongly influenced the science and religion dialogue, specially by instilling the Trinitarian concept of God as “persons in communion” instead of the philosophical concept of actus purus (pure actuality).

Inspired by Rahner and his concept of dynamical self-transcendence to explain the evolutionary process, he develops a theology of the Holy Spirit as Creator in his recent book Breath of Life. The book is based in two building blocks: the view of modern cosmo-bio-evolution and the doctrine about the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil from Caesarea (c. 330-379). Although Saint Basil died two years before the council of Constatinople (381), his work had a great influence in the formulation of our Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

We have traditionally conceived the Holy Spirit as the Koinonía or Communion both in the Trinitarian relations and in Christian human assemblies. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is also the Divine Breath of Life which is immanent in all creatures, at the bottom of their hearts, and is the Giver of life (Zoopoiuntos, maker of life).

Edwards reasons that we can conceive the Holy Spirit today as the support of the creation in his existence and his capability of progressive evolution (presented by Teilhard and Schmitz-Moormann as the enrichment of the successive totalities by union), and formulates his central thesis: “The Spirit of God is the Source of the new in an emergent universe“. This corresponds to the same transcendental action of God, from Rahner, but presented in a theological Trinitarian view.

6.- Final considerations
The former Theological reflections do not fix clearly the combination with natural laws. There is the question of how it can be combined the Divine Call and the Holy Spirit action with the laws, without violating them.

We think that the Universe is open in the sense that not everything is defined in it since the beginning. Quantum uncertainty, and probably also chaos theory, opens the door to new information creation. That is, the Universe admits new information entering on it without violating any law. And this new information could come from God. This uncertainty is also the key point for human freedom. We are not pre-destined, we have some control on our acts, and we also have the freedom to approach God by means of love or not.

We do not know the physical mechanism of this Divine action, and we will not speculate with anyone in this paper. Some authors propose different options, as for instance wave function collapse induced by God. There is also an open question on energy balance. The input of new information from God has to be done without any energy consumption, or there would be a violation of energy conservation principle. The Universe would allow that input through quantum probabilities, for example. It is compatible as long as there is not a categorical intervention, but just an invitation.

This Call of the Holy Spirit could also explain Divine Inspiration through an action in the brain. The way the brain creates thoughts is a mystery, but we want to point out that some authors, as the physicist and mathematician Roger Penrose (1931- ), sustains that brain thought is based on quantum behavior of neurons. If this was true, the brain would also be open to input of information, and we could feel the Divine invitation to join Him.

It is also missing in this theological view of Rahner, Schmitz-Moormann and Edwards to distinguish when the divine action is purely the transcendental action that supports the creation and its growing and when it is an action of the Holy Spirit, that, as Rahner’s “Non-created Grace”, truly raises the human creatures to a supernatural order. It would be necessary to define the transition from one kind of action in the whole world to the other one proper of human beings.

7.- Bibliography
Anderson, P.W. “More is Different: Broken Symmetry and the Nature of the Hierarchical Structure of Science”, Science 1972 (177) 393-396.

Dobzhansky, Theodosius. The Biological Basis of Human Freedom. Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1956.

Edwards, Denis, “Breath of Life”, Orbis Books, New York, 2004.

Edwards, Denis, “The Discovery of Chaos and the Retrieval of the Trinity” in Russell, R. J., Murphy, N. and Peacocke, A. R. Eds. Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action, Vatican Observatory and Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 1995.

Heffner, Philip. The Human Factor: Evolution Culture and Religion” Fortress Press Minneapolis, 1993 (especially chapter 7).

Overhage, Paul & Rahner, Karl, “Das Problem der Hominization”, Quaestiones Disputatae, 12/13, Herder, Freiburg, 1961. English translation: “Hominisation”, Herder and Herder, 1965.

Schmitz-Moormann, Karl, “Theology of Creation in an Evolutionary World”, Pilgrim Press, 1997.

 

 

There is solid evidence of the way the universe evolved from the initial Big Bang to human beings ruled by different physical laws and by natural selection of random mutations. Atheists are convinced that natural laws and chance are enough to explain our existence. On the contrary, believers are convinced that the universe was created by God in an act of love.

In this paper first we take a look at the scientific cosmo-bio-evolution. Initially it was something like a big explosion and only pure energy existed. After this initial moment, different structures began to appear. In each step of evolution a higher degree of complexity emerged. We classify these steps as 1) the physics domain, 2) the chemistry domain, 3) the biochemistry domain, 4) the biology domain, 5) the zoology domain, 6) the ethology domain, 7) the psychology domain, 8) the sociology domain, and 9) the information domain.

Next we review the main nature laws or scientific theories: Gravitation or general relativity, quantum theory, statistical mechanics, Darwinian evolutionary theory, and the new emergence and self-organization theories that are trying to explain how very complex systems, as living organisms, can appear from nature. Then we present a short metaphysical perspective following Karl Schmitz-Moormann concept of united totalities, and we show a list of them corresponding to the different evolutionary steps.

Later we study different theological perspectives to explain the influence of God in the evolution by three different authors (Karl Rahner, Karl Schmitz-Moormann, and Denis Edwards). First, the crucial thesis of Rahner concerning this paper is that the dynamical self-transcendence sustained by the transcendental action of God is enough to explain all the cosmo-bio-evolution, including hominization. Second, we present the theology of creation from Karl Schmitz-Moormann framed in the context of the evolution; he explains the process of creation as a unique and eternal continuous creation of God unfolded in time, and presents his own concept of continuous creation under three different aspects: “creatio appellata”, “creatio informata”, and “creatio libera.”

We present finally the proposal of Denis Edwards, based on the Trinitarian concept of God as “persons in communion” instead of the philosophical concept of
Stage:

cosmochemical

geoch.-prebiot.

hominidic

 

 

Evolution

Evolution

Evolution

 

Location

<— only Earth (since life is known only from there) –>

Start / bottleneck

Red Gi ants/
Supernova

origin of the Earth

east-africa
depression

 

Transit. frequency

~1020

1x ?

103 – 105

 

Duration so far

~13 billion years

4.6 billion years

~4 million years

 

Trans. temperature

~2 * 108 K

103 – 104 K

310 K = 37°C

 

Transition density

> 10 5 g/cm³

2 – 12 g/cm³

~1.1 g/cm³

 

transitional method

determ./testing

complex testing

specific testing

 

Object of evolution

heavy gases / dust

E a r t h

mankind

      

Addit.relevant laws

cosmochemical laws

geochem./prebiotic l.

Neuronal.laws

 

Scientific field

(cosmo)chemistry

(geo+bio)chemistry

(anthro)paleontogy

 

Increase of order by

nuclear/chem.power

gravitation/radioactiv.

s u n / oxidation

 

number of particles

1.4 *10 75

4 * 1049

4 * 10 36

 

total mass

Z>4 2*1052 g

6 * 1027g

4 * 10 14 g

      

 

O 50 %

core: Fe 34%

O 62%

 

com-

C 30 %

Ni 2%

C 19%

 

po-

N 8 %

mantle: O 30%

H 9%

 

sition

Mg 2 %

Mg 15%

N 5%

 

 

Si 2 %

Si 12%

Ca 1.4%,S, P.64%

 

 

Fe 2 %

Ca , Al 1%

Na,K .24%,Cl .18%

 

 

S 1 %

 

S others<0.1

 1What the Buddha realized was described by him as profound, difficult to see, difficult to understand, but yet appeasing, pleasant, not obtainable by speculation, subtle and knowable by the wise.3 Among the ten grounds rejected revelation, sacred scriptures, tradition, authority of venerated teachers, and speculative reason are some of the typical examples. All of them could broadly be classified into two categories as external authority and speculative reason. In the Saïgārava Sutta, when the Buddha was questioned about the ground on which he propounded the principles of a holy life, he distinguished between three groups of teachers who were known to him at the time and identified himself with the third group.5 The third group with which the Buddha identified himself consisted of those who depended on some kind of personally acquired higher knowledge. What is evident here is that the Buddha considered total dependence on the authority of tradition and the deliverances of speculative reason as unsatisfactory and insisted on the importance of direct personal knowledge.

 

While noting the inadequacy of traditionally handed down authoritarian teachings and speculative reason the Buddha is also known to have cautioned people against certain emotional and subjective factors that distort people’s vision into truth. In the Ca ïkī Sutta he points out to a learned Brahmin youth, who was well versed in Vedic learning, and was firmly convinced that all the truth that is needed to be known is contained in the sacred scriptures, that if not even a single person in the successive generation of teachers who have traditionally accepted those teachings had not known personally and directly those teachings to be true, the whole successive line of teachers are comparable to a string of blind men of whom neither the foremost, the middle nor the hindmost sees.7 In a discourse of the Buddha called the Minor Discourse on the Elephant’s Footprint (Cū¯ ahatthipadopama Sutta) a procedure by which a tentative hypothesis should be confirmed in the light of one’s own experience is laid down.9 Under the Buddhist analysis of the physical and the psychological components of a person saññā is recognized as one of the four psychological components. It is explained in Buddhist psychology as a product of the interaction between the six senses, enumerated as the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind and their respective objects, material forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile things and thoughts or mind objects. In the standard description of the cognitive process occurring in the Pali canon, the dependent arising of saññā is stated as follows:

“Depending on the eye and material forms there arises visual consciousness. With the coming together of these three, arises sense impingement. Depending upon sense impingement arises sensation. What one senses, is cognized in the saïïā way.”11 According to this description of phenomenological experience, there are three progressive levels of saññā represented as (1) saññā at the level of sensuous consciousness (kāma saññā), (2) saññā at the level of mere form (rūpa saññā) without sensuous consciousness, as in the four meditative states of mind from the first to the fourth meditative absorption (jhāna) and (3) saññā at the level of formless experience (arūpa) wherein no ideas or notions of space, matter or a plurality of finite objects remain in consciousness. The most refined experience of consciousness in this hierarchy of meditative experience is called the experience of neither perception nor nonperception (nevasaññānāsaññā). However, Buddhism does not identify even the subtlest kind of conceptual experience as identical with ultimate reality. They are yet conceptual constructions. They arise dependently and being conceptual constructions that arise dependently, they are not permanent realities. The unreality of these phenomena and the possibility of transcending them all are indicated by the final step in the meditative cultivation of the mind recognized in Buddhism. This is referred to in the Buddhist scheme of meditative training of the mind as the experience of cessation of sensation and perception (saññāvedayitanirodha).

The Buddha is represented in the scriptures as having practiced all the then existing methods of mind development in the search for what is ultimately real. Most religious teachers of the time pursued the search for an ultimate essence in existence that could be the permanent basis of ultimate bliss and happiness. Whatever is transient and subject to change was considered by them as unsatisfactory, and they turned inwards to seek for some spiritual essence in man which transcends change and mutability. They were impressed by the various subtle experiences of meditative culture of the mind and interpreted them as the ultimate experience of the immutable essence of things, the reality of the inmost self which they conceived as the eternal Ātman. The Buddha, however, was not impressed by this approach, and being disenchanted with those meditative experiences, took a different direction in his search for liberating knowledge. It is on this basis that the Buddha introduced the method of insight meditation in order to supplement the already existing methods of attaining a high level of mental tranquility through the practice of cultivating the subtler forms of saññā.

Saññā from the perspective of the Buddha, does not ensure any liberating knowledge. It functions as the initial step in evoking emotional responses to the perceptual world. Clinging to saññā has to be avoided by the person who is on the path to liberation. Saññā provides the raw material for emotionally colored thought processes. Obsessive thought processes tinged with unwholesome emotions could be the result of remaining at the saññā level of cognitive experience. As stated in the scriptures:

“One thinks about what one cognizes in the saññā way. Obsession (papañca) follows from what one thinks about. Due to this (obsession) a person gets assailed by the ideas of conceptual proliferation with regard to the past present and future material forms which are cognizable by means of visual consciousness.”13 The Mūlapariyāya Sutta, shows that the saññā response to any category of sense experience that includes the four material elements to which the whole of material reality is reduced in the conceptual construction of material reality, all the data of the senses (what is seen (diññ ha), what is heard (suta), and whatever is sensed by the remaining senses including the mind (muta), meditative experiences such as the experience of the ‘sphere of the infinity of space’ (ākāsanañcāyatana) and the rest, and even the highest spiritual category conceptualized as Nibbāna lead to bondage and misery. As stated in this discourse:

“…a monk who is not learned, who has not seen the noble ones, who is not proficient in the noble teaching, cognizes the earth element in the saññā way. Having cognized the earth element in the saññā way, he thinks of the earth element, he thinks through the earth element, he thinks of himself (as coming from) the earth element, he thinks of the earth element as belonging to himself and he delights in the earth element. What is the reason for this? I say that it is because he has not cognized the earth element comprehensively (in the pariññā way)”15Some Brahmanical teachers who depended on sacred revelations denied that human beings in their human capacity can acquire such knowledge. The Buddhists however, argued that those who reject such extraordinary capacities to know are comparable to blind men who reject that there are visible forms, physical objects like the sun, moon and stars, colors and lights, because they do not observe them. A similar skeptical reaction to Buddhist claims to extraordinary forms of knowing can be expected of those who subscribe to the epistemology of the modern sciences. Such phenomena do not seem to fit into the materialist paradigm of modern science. They are, therefore, treated as fantasy, superstition and delusion. However, some scientists who are impressed by certain psychic phenomena that occur, however rare their occurrence be, have taken an interest in a field known as parapsychology. Yet it has not gained any recognition so far in the mainstream sciences. A proper scientific attitude regarding these phenomena should be suspension of judgment until further investigation, without dogmatically rejecting them as superstition.

Coming back to our discussion of the terms signifying different modes of cognition in Buddhism, we may now consider the use of the term parijānāti which expresses the idea of comprehensive knowing. Comprehensive knowing involves knowing the nature of things we ordinarily experience without focusing our attention only on a particular aspect of our experience depending on our subjective biases and inclinations. A typical example given of comprehensive knowing concerns our cognitive response to the things of the external world that excite our passions. They are referred to as sensuous objects (kāmā). One who is subjectively affected by passions is capable of grasping only the delightful aspect (assāda) of sensuous objects. They become oblivious to the reality of the transient nature of those sensuous objects, and are unaware of the harmful consequence (ādī nava) of being obsessed with them. As a consequence they cannot have the experience of liberation from the suffering inflicted on self (nissaraõa) by those very objects that at one time became the source of delight. Comprehensive knowledge of sensuous objects involves understanding them in terms of all three aspects of our experience related to them. In like manner such comprehensive knowledge is required to be developed of all the phenomena recognized under the Buddhist analysis of ‘everything’ that is considered to exist. Everything that exists is analyzed in Buddhism to the six sense faculties, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, their respective objects, such as material form sounds etc. and the corresponding consciousness, visual, auditory etc. The reality of the person is analyzed into the five aggregates, as material form, sensations, perceptions, volitional tendencies and consciousness. Each of these items needs to be comprehensively known in order to be released from bondage to suffering. According to the Mūlapariyāyasutta, the person who attains the ultimate goal of the Buddhist way of life and becomes a worthy one, an Arahanta who has eradicated all the cankers is one who has attained such comprehensive knowledge (pariññātaü).

The other mode of cognition connected with liberating knowledge that Buddhism deals with is called paññā. According to a scriptural explanation of the distinction between viññāõa and paññā it is stated that viññāõa is to be known comprehensively (viññāõaü pariññeyyaü) while paññā is a cognitive capacity to be cultivated (paññā bhāvetabbā). Viññāõa is seen as a cognitive experience that anyone who is in possession of unimpaired senses is capable of having. It is not any permanent soul substance residing in the person in the manner of ‘a ghost in the machine’, but the complex stream of conscious experience of the environment through the interaction of the six senses and their respective stimuli. It is the foundation of all our sense cognition. There is no need to cultivate it because wherever there is a sense faculty, a stimulus, and an act of attention it arises dependent upon those conditions. Paññā, however, has to be developed. Like in the case of comprehensive knowledge, paññā requires a reflective direction of the mind. It is insightful knowledge or knowledge gained by a penetrative and reflective understanding of the reality of everything that is given in experience with a composed mind cleared of all biases, proclivities and prejudices, and established in perfect equanimity. It becomes evident from the concept of paññā in the original teachings of the Buddha, as represented in some of the early scriptural sources that it does not represent any mystical intuition into some metaphysical reality. It really represents insight into the observable characteristics of empirical phenomena, which Buddhism expresses in terms of the three characteristics of existence (tilakkhaõa), namely, (1) the transient nature (anicca) of everything material or mental, (2) the tendency of transient objects to produce suffering when there is strong attachment to such objects (dukkha) and the lack of any enduring permanent substantial reality in them which can be identified with some eternal self-existence (anatta). The same world of mind and matter that is met with in cognitive responses of saññā and viññāõa can be dealt with in terms of the cognitive response of paññā as well. In such insightful understanding of the nature of things one observes how things come to be, depending upon conditions. When things are seen as they really come to be, depending upon conditions (yathābhūtaü sammappaññāya passato) cankers become systematically eliminated. The object of paññā is not some eternal metaphysical existence which transcends all the data of sense experience. It is rather the insight into the characteristics of the data of sense experience that give rise to human suffering and bondage due to a deluded response to them. The culmination of liberating knowledge in Buddhism is the realization of this truth about all phenomena and the transcendence of all distorted and deluded responses to them. This insightful knowledge transforms the person and leads to disenchantment with everything that one is usually obsessed with. It releases the mind leading to what Buddhism calls the eradication of cankers. It is in this sense that the Buddha is referred to in the Buddhist tradition as the knowing and seeing, perfect and fully enlightened one (jānatā passatā arahatā sammāsambuddhena) who taught people a way of liberation.

Paññā represents an insightful understanding of all mental and material phenomena. The objective of such understanding is the release of the mind from unwholesome emotions that produce suffering. The kind of knowledge desired in the modern sciences (perhaps apart from some forms of applied psychology as in the modern psychiatric practice) is not directed to such a goal. Buddhism has restricted its search for knowledge within the confines of the goal of alleviating human suffering, mainly the suffering that occurs in the form of mental insanity. The development of paññā involves a systematic discipline of the total person. Buddhism refers to certain psychological factors as hindrances (nī varaõa) that cloud the mind and weaken a person’s capacity to exercise paññā (paññāya dubbalī karaõe). Therefore, a graduated path of training has to be undertaken by anyone who wishes to acquire the insight that conduces to the Buddhist goal. Responding to a question regarding the kind of turmoil under which people suffer due to inner mental conflicts and conflicts that occur in the outside world (antojañ ā bahijañ ā) the Buddha explains that it is a person who establishes oneself on good conduct, and cultivates the mind and insight who is capable of escaping such turmoil.17

A discourse of the Buddha that states the scheme of threefold training consisting of moral conduct (sī la), mental composure (Samādhi) and insight (paññā) shows how the mind could be directed to knowledge and insight (ñāõadassana) that results in the eradication of the cankers after systematically cultivating the three stages. The five hindrances of the mind described as (1) desire for sensuous gratification (kāmacchanda), (2) maliciousness (vyāpāda), (3) flurry and worry (uddhacca kukkucca), (4) sloth and torpor (thī namiddha) and (5) perplexity (vicikicchā) are to be removed in the initial stages of the practice. When the mind is thus prepared for further cultivation and refinement the aspirant of the goal is required to strengthen two qualities of the mind, mindfulness (sati) and equanimity (upekkhā) through the development of the meditative absorptions known as the four jhānas. Mindfulness provides the necessary alertness to understand one’s own inner nature, and equanimity provides the necessary objectivity that prevents any superimposition of one’s own subjective biases in the observation of the nature of reality. The Buddhist scriptures describe the mind that is so readied and prepared for insightful understanding in the following terms:

“When the mind is thus composed, purified, cleansed, freed of taints, freed of defilements, and made immovable, steady and pliable one inclines the mind to acquire (liberating) knowledge and vision.”19The second principle is what is recognized as the Golden Rule of morality, which involves treating others in the way that one would expect others to treat oneself. According to this account observation and experience regarding matters of empirical fact are relevant to our moral judgments. Buddhism does not make a sharp distinction between fact and value but attempts to integrate them in its discourse. Accordingly, Buddhism does not confine the sphere of human knowledge only to a body of material or physical facts, but extends it to knowledge of how we ought to live our lives, what kind of human conduct is right or wrong, good or bad and what goals in life ought to be pursued by intelligent human beings.

A large part of the Buddhist teachings dealing with the nature of human existence can be considered as having a psychological significance. The above mentioned approach of Buddhism to avoid the separation of facts from values is to be noted in its psychological teachings as well. In Buddhist psychology, most of the terms used consist of a combination of descriptive and evaluative meaning. There is no term that corresponds exactly to the value neutral psychological term ‘emotion’ in the Buddhist psychological language, but there are numerous terms such as kilesa, (defilements) āsava (cankers) nī varaõa (hindrances) that signify human emotions considered in Buddhism to be unwholesome. In Buddhism, the evaluative perspective is not disregarded in the very act of naming, classification and conceptualization of emotions.

The essence of the Buddha’s teaching presented as the Four Noble Truths contain nothing outside the domain of psychology. The truth of suffering (dukkha) evidently refers to common human experience. However, when Buddhism presents ‘suffering’ as a truth, it does not deal with bits of suffering, but with a synthetic view of the total human condition. It maintains that unenlightened living involves suffering. The second truth also presents a psychological explanation of suffering. Suffering is produced by three kinds of craving, called craving for sense gratification, craving for eternal existence, and craving for annihilation. The third truth recognizes the possibility of attaining appeasement within, a state of complete mental sanity by the removal of craving, and achieving the destruction of the three roots of evil called greed, hatred and delusion. The fourth truth lays down a testable path for the achievement of that goal. The Noble Eightfold Path can be conceived in psychological terms as a path of behavior modification ensuring perfect peace of mind as its goal.

However, in terms of the behaviorist approach to psychology that became dominant in the West since psychology broke away from the speculative traditions of philosophers and began to evolve as an empirical science, Buddhist psychology is not likely to be recognized as having a cognitive status. Modern empirical psychology is still tied down to its paradigm of objectivity. If psychology is to become a genuine science, it is maintained that it must consist of data that can be objectively observed. Most psychological analyses in Buddhism refer to the introspectively observable content of inner experience. It is not translated into an externally observable physical language. Buddhism maintains that when the mind is trained to view the inner reality without the influence of subjective bias, but with firmly established mindfulness and equanimity one could have an objective view of the inner life. The Buddhist method of reflective analysis recommended in the discourse on the establishment of mindfulness (Satipaññ hāna Sutta) shows how such objective observation could be carried out. Such observation (anupassanā) is also described as the direct path to the attainment of liberating knowledge. From the Buddhist point of view, the statement that greed, hatred and delusion produce suffering is not a metaphysical statement. It is a statement about a psychological matter of fact, and hence a statement having cognitive status. It is evident to anyone familiar with the Buddhist teachings that its main emphasis is on the nature of the human mind, how mental processes arise on causal dependence, how such processes result in distress, mental insanity, sorrow, dejection, despair and depression, and how the potential in the human mind itself can be harnessed in order to overcome those consequences. Buddhist psychology focuses attention primarily on the inner experience of mankind. If the inner experience of mankind is excluded from human knowledge the most important area of human knowledge will consequently be excluded. It is precisely the nature of the inner mental experience of human beings that becomes the primary focus of Buddhism in its endeavor to acquire knowledge that has a self-transforming consequence upon mankind.

The Buddha was no admirer of speculative metaphysics. He discouraged philosophical speculation on certain questions about reality for which categorical answers cannot be conclusively obtained. Where conclusions regarding ultimate reality are reached by means of pure rational speculation and the only standard of their truth is that they have been reached by deduction from self-evident propositions, conflicting theories about the nature of reality are unavoidable. The Buddha is known to have left unanswered ten such philosophical questions that were debated at the time. He did not consider the body of truths that he introduced to mankind as based on speculative reason.

However, as already pointed out there is a use of religious language in Buddhism that fall into the category of what contemporary philosophy of religion could consider under non-assertive interpretations of religious language.1 Saüyuttanikāya Vol. V, p.425

3 Aïguttaranikāya Vol. I, p.189

5 Ibid. Vol. 1, p. 426 f. See also Aññ hakavagga of the Suttanipāta

7 Dī ghanikāya Vol. 2, p.93

9 Pali Text Society Dictionary Ed. T.W. Rhys Davids and William Stede (London, 1972)

11 Dī ghanikāya Vol. 1, p.182

13 Suttanipāta verse 847

15 Dī ghanikāya Vol. 2, p.316

17 Dī ghanikāya Vol. 2, p.81

19 Majjhimanikāya Vol. 1, p.415

1 potentially facilitating the re-evaluation of logic in general.

Despite recent developments in paraconsistent and intuitionist logics, the logic underlying work in all scientific fields, with the possible exception of quantum mechanics, continues to be based on classical or neo-classical notions of truth and/or non-contradiction. This is also true for discussions of ethics or morality and high-level human phenomena such as art and creativity. To the extent that logic is considered at all, it is thought to be in some way in opposition to the essential components of spontaneity, imagination and emotion in normal behavior. Although people value “being logical” as a necessary criterion for socio-economic survival and success, formal logic is considered dry and uninteresting, as well as being essentially inaccessible to the average person – a necessary evil. Logic and epistemology, the philosophy of knowledge, share unfortunately well-deserved reputations for using examples and references that are far removed from daily life and its problems.

The Franco-Romanian philosopher Stéphane Lupasco, who deserves a major, still unrecognized place in the history of Western thought (Nicolescu 1999), provided a theoretical basis for the quasi-universal rejection of contradiction and the maintenance of absolute separation between classical pairs of opposites, especially part and whole, simultaneity and succession, subject and object. Lupasco was able to show that such abstract, idealized concepts are also still present in most of current cosmology that is based on Einstein’s ideas of general and special relativity. The weaknesses of this system are beginning to be recognized, one hundred years after its basic formulation, due to recent demonstrations of quantum non-locality and non-separability. However, these new developments in physics and cosmology have not yet received adequate attention from logicians and philosophers.

1. DEFINING TRANSDISCIPLINARITY
In his Manifesto, Basarab Nicolescu (Nicolescu 1996) describes transdisciplinarity as a new philosophical movement. Transdisciplinarity is not a new discipline, but rather has the task of seeing what all disciplines have in common, what lies in, through and beyond them. What they have in common is a basis for “making sense” of a part of human knowledge and hopefully providing a path to a unified understanding of it.

According to Nicolescu, transdisciplinarity is supported by three major conceptual “pillars”: complexity, levels of reality and the logic of the included middle. On these pillars are based the methodology of transdisciplinarity, as well as the validity of Transdisciplinarity as a rigorous system of thought that is relevant to today’s world. The pillars are, however, different kinds of things, albeit closely related ones:

  • Complexity is a property which is exemplified or attached in some way to its instances, the things or systems that are complex;
  • Levels of reality is a categorial concept;
  • The logic of the included middle is a discipline as such.

These subjects are all currently studied within many philosophical disciplines, of which the most important can be defined as indicated (Smith 2003):

  • Ontology is the study of being – what is
  • Epistemology is the study of knowledge – how we know
  • Logic is the study of valid reasoning – how to reason
  • Ethics is the study of right and wrong – how we should act
  • Phenomenology is the study of our experience – how we experience

Metaphysics includes all of the above, as well as science, as it is concerned with the fundamental structure of reality as a whole. Metaphysics is a universal discipline, in which everything, including the status and validity of metaphysics itself, is a proper subject of study (Lowe 2002). One of the interesting consequences of the Lupasco view of reality is that it points toward a convergence of metaphysics and physics and in fact toward the unity of science and of knowledge.

To repeat, transdisciplinarity is not a new discipline, but the number of important individual disciplines that it is necessary to take into account in order to arrive at a more or less complete initial picture of reality is very large. The logic of the included middle, due to its grounding in physics and exemplification of the principle of dynamic opposition, has an essential role in tying together the various aspects of transdisciplinarity. As I will show, this logic is itself a transdisciplinary system, embodying an ontology and an epistemology applicable to both the theories and subject matter of all disciplines dealing with real entities.

2. THE LOGIC OF/IN REALITY (LIR)

In this paper, I refer to the non-propositional, non-truth-functional logic of and in reality that is emerging from the original work of Lupasco, and extended by Nicolescu (1999) by the principle of levels of reality, as Logic in Reality. The term “Logic in Reality” (LIR) is intended to imply both 1) that the principle of change according to which reality operates is a logical principle embedded in it, the logic in reality; and 2) that what logic really is involves this same real physical-metaphysical but also logical principle.

Based originally on the quantum mechanics of Planck, Pauli and Heisenberg, LIR states that the characteristics of energy – extensive and intensive; continuous and discontinuous; entropic (tendency toward identity or homogeneity – 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) and negentropic (tendency toward diversity or heterogeneity – Pauli Exclusion Principle) – can be formalized as a structural logical principle of dynamic opposition, an antagonistic duality inherent in the nature of energy (or its effective quantum field equivalent) and accordingly of all real physical and non-physical phenomena. The key postulate, formulated by Lupasco, is that every real phenomenon, element or event e is always associated with an anti-phenomenon, anti-element or anti-event non-e, such that the actualization of e entails the potentialization of non-e and vice versa, alternatively, without either ever disappearing completely. The point of equilibrium or semi-actualization and semi-potentialization is a point of maximum antagonism or ‘contradiction’ from which, in the case of complex phenomena, a T-state (T for “tiers inclus”, included third term) emerges, resolving the contradiction (or ‘counter-action’) at a higher level of reality. The overall theory is a metaphysics of energy and LIR is the formal part of that metaphysical theory.

The logic is a logic of an included middle, consisting of axioms and rules of inference for determining the state of the three dynamic elements involved in a phenomenon (‘dynamic’ in the physical sense, related to real rather than to formal change, e.g. of conclusions). In the LIR calculus, the reciprocally determined ‘reality’ values of the degree of actualization A, potentialization P and T-state T replace the truth values in standard truth tables. This logic contains that of the excluded middle as a limiting case, approached asymptotically but only instantiated in simple situations and abstract contexts, e.g., computational aspects of reasoning and mathematical complexity.

As a first step, one may capture these concepts and this postulate by rewriting the three axioms of classical logic as indicated:

  • LIR1: (Physical) Non-Identity: There is no A at a given time that is identical to A at another time.
  • LIR2: Conditional Contradiction: A and non-A both exist at the same time, but only in the sense that when A is actual, non-A is potential, reciprocally and alternatively.
  • LIR3: Included (Emergent) Middle: An included or additional third element or T-state emerges from the point of maximum contradiction at which A and non-A are equally actualized and potentialized, but at a higher level of reality or complexity, at which the contradiction is resolved3can be made that have increased explanatory power.

    6.3 Epistemology and the Logic of Religion
    In addition to the natural sciences and humanities, the domain of transdisciplinarity includes religious beliefs, studies and perspectives. Their relevance to a discussion of the unity of knowledge is that the term religion defines or refers to a knowledge that is different in two respects from both scientific and other commonsense knowledge: its object – a divinity – and the validity of the related process of knowing, that is, faith or belief. I will assume that the key aspects of religious experience are 1) the sacredness of natural existence and; 2) belief in a Supreme Being that may or may not be identical to Nature, or is an additional property of Nature. Further, however, that this belief is not limited to a mental process, but can involve all the physical and mental components of the whole person.

    The usual intellectual framework provides little basis for either 1) the sacred or 2) the reality to the believer of his or her belief in that sacred and accordingly of its validity for that individual. Further, the non-believer remains an outside observer, separated from the believer as a consequence of the latter’s mental and physical behavior in this regard.

    It is unlikely, given the evolutionary form of development of religion by different ethnic groups that any consensus could be reached on the nature of the sacred starting from their respective conceptions of divinity. Lupasco suggests that peoples with relatively rigid forms of social organization, such as the Hindu and some meso-American caste systems, that instantiate identity, develop religious systems involving multiple divinities. Nomadic societies tend to be more egalitarian, perhaps because equality enables more flexible responses to external challenges, and to this diversity would correspond a tendency toward monotheism as the contradictorial identity. Further application of this approach to the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics is possible, but will not be attempted here.

    6.3.1 The Sacred and the Real
    The approach to the definition of the sacred proposed by Nicolescu in his Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity (Nicolescu 2001) is that what is sacred in the world is what is irreducibly real. This definition is in principle acceptable to everyone, but leads inevitably to disagreement as to what is to be considered real. In view of the lack of consensus among philosophers on this question, it would appear that we have acquired thereby few additional tools for an analysis of religion.

    In the non-reductionist realism of the logic in reality, the existence of two broad groups of people, believers and non-believers is taken as the given and used as follows. Believers are those who believe that what appears to be real is not, in the sense that a non-apparent divinity is an ultimate ‘more real’ reality. Non-believers, as realists, believe the opposite, that not only is there an underlying reality to what we perceive that is nonetheless independent of us, but that the reality of the believers is an illusion, and any evidence offered of the reality of the divinity is irrational.

    Anti-realists, who deny that what we perceive is independent of our thoughts, theories, etc., can be members of both groups. Logic in reality cuts the debate between realists and anti-realists by pointing to a contradictorial relationship between appearance and reality. To the former, the world is real with the appearance of unreality, due to the limitations of our senses, while to the latter, the world is unreal, with the appearance of reality. In any individual, these aspects are both present but follow the principle of dynamic opposition. Here, this means that when the world seems to be defined by human perception or belief, its physical reality is absent from the forefront of the mind, that is potentialized, but this reality can be rapidly actualized by the banana peel we slip on.

    This argument, however, is not acceptable to the religious believer since he will still insist on his ‘alternate reality’ as more fundamental. In my view, the dialectical relation between appearance and reality provides a common language for discussion of belief by both believers and non-believers. Transdisciplinary logic preserves, across the believer/non-believer gap, the necessary attitude of mutual respect. Later, I will describe the dynamics of belief, and belief that belief is true, and show that application of the principles of LIR ends any infinite regress.

    6.3.2 Transcendental Perception
    The epistemology of the logic of transdisciplinarity describes the dynamics of religious feeling without “denaturing” it, that is, as a transcendental perception by the believer that is at the same time immanent to him or her. I am not a religious believer, in the common acceptation of ‘religious’, but I believe that this statement should be acceptable to one. It is no more (and no less) than a description of the fact that, with very few exceptions, no-one is in a state of transcendent religious experience all of the time. Thus when one set of perceptions is actualized, the other is potentialized. The known exceptions (saints, prophets and so on) might be considered as capable of instantiating an emergent state (T-state), an included middle between immanence and transcendence.

    6.4 Social Science
    For comparison with the transdisciplinary approach of Nicolescu in the area of social science, I will refer to the also broadly humanist view of transdisciplinarity of Aerts (2001). In his realistic model of society, starting from his extensions of the formalisms of quantum mechanics to complex macroscopic phenomena, Aerts seeks ways of closing the gap between free market dynamics and the “state’s correction dynamics”, in order to maximize the contribution of both. His “third way” depends on “introducing the cultural entities considered fundamental to our Western humanist culture into the dynamics of society”, to make the latter “more fundamentally grounded”.

    Aerts’ concepts of actuality and potentiality are not the same as those of Lupasco, but Aerts uses them to develop a realistic model of society as a basis for eventual solutions to the “two fundamental problems with which humanity is confronted in relation to sustainable development.” The first is the incapacity of human talent to control and steer the actual complex world society, to which Aerts proposes some rather idealistic solutions, and the second, to repeat, is the “confusion and misunderstanding that exists in our actual society about the fundamental contradiction between potency and variety versus efficiency and yield.” Aerts’ third way, would tend to eliminate the “apparently irreconcilable duality between socialist and liberal political movements. A simple shift to the center, to a centralist (identifying) organization is not the basis for a better society because

    “It leaves too little space for variety and therefore neglects potential. It is a fundamental law that a robust society can only be built when variety and potential are allowed to develop properly. This profound truth is too little understood. This is mainly because it is in conflict with several aspects of society which in our era are overvalued at the expense of variety and potential, namely, ‘efficiency’ and ‘profitability’.”

    In Lupasco’s terms, the source of the overvaluation of the latter is yet another expression of the prevailing paradigm of logical identity.

    Aerts’ description of his “third way” is compatible with the principle of dynamic opposition and the logic of/in reality. The third way should maintain a variety of political choice and society should be allowed to “evolve in a natural way towards an amalgam of political, economic and cultural niches that exist alongside each other and interact. Duality should evolve towards plurality, and it is only when the third way refers to this sort of plurality that it as a good evolution.” The word amalgam is perhaps unfortunate, as too static, especially as Aerts’ next sentence explicitly mentions the kind of antagonisms that in the LIR view, really exist and are operative: “We must also watch out for the forces that have only an eye to efficiency and yield, not because they are in themselves negative values – they are not – but because they repeatedly endanger variety and potential.” This is equivalent to my position, as is also Aerts’ comment that both likeness and difference should be fostered because they are both fundamental values of reality. If we follow LIR theory, this phrase can be changed to “fundamental logical values of reality”. In a Darwinian survival situation, such as one of constant competition, “stabilizing forces originate in the hidden potency of all the people participating.” In my terms, it is the potential for an emergent resolution of the contradictions involved that may be actualized. (One may still question whether it is a state of peaceful cooperation that corresponds to the deep nature of reality.) In any event, it is in this broad humanist view of transdisciplinarity, the importance of its reflection on the fundamental nature of reality and its objective of increasing the awareness of it that we see a relation to the transdisciplinarity of Lupasco and Nicolescu.

    6.5 The Logic of the Development of Transdisciplinarity

    As noted, transdisciplinarity is about what lies between and beyond the disciplines, and one of those things is the transdisciplinary logic that links them dynamically. But apart from the application of transdisciplinary logic to various disciplines, what can one say about its application to transdisciplinarity itself as a scientific and social phenomenon? In other words, does transdisciplinarity, considered as a developmental process, follow some kind of logic?

    According to the tenets of LIR, all processes do so, but I believe that the origins of the transdisciplinary movement illustrate some aspects of this in a particularly useful way. For example, the career of Stéphane Lupasco was one of continual conflict with the academic establishment in France, which eventually rejected him as not fitting into any one of its convenient boxes – logician, epistemologist, etc. On the other hand, the importance of his central ideas, which I have summarized very briefly here, were intuitively accepted by many other members of the French intelligentsia – artists, writers, poets as well as the physicist Nicolescu and the critical observer of the changes in society René Berger. The founding of the International Center for Transdisciplinary Research and Study was an emergent consequence of the oppositions between the different disciplines practiced by these people, a T-state that includes, without their disappearance, its own sources.

    In my view, this is an example of the essence of the logic in transdisciplinarity as something that is inseparable from experience, that is, the experience of the people involved with it, and from the method of analysis used for its understanding. As Lupasco said, logic, method and experience are one, not one in some reduced and inert identity, but one in which all the individual approaches interact and support one another. These approaches, to be specific, are the more scientific one of the logic, which looks at the interactions and changes as real entities; the set of experiences of the players in which subjectivity is more actualized; and the methodological framework for looking at all the processes from a more formal standpoint.

    There is no conflation here. Individual scientific and philosophical disciplines retain their specificity and their methodology. Nevertheless, some of the traditional boundaries, for example between ontology, epistemology and metaphysics, while not disappearing, become more permeable, Specific characteristic points of view, that one usually associates with, say, ontology as a set of categories of reality, turn out to be not that different – logically – from the metaphysical standpoint of a study of everything that is, once the in my view artificial absolute separation between categories is removed.

    Finally, however, this logical analysis of transdisciplinarity does not exhaust the content of the concept, nor its relation to the unity of science. By definition, it should not and could not. Other papers have indicated some of the many other points of view that are possible. There is also, in transdisciplinarity, a degree of self-reference that should also be discussed. What I have tried to do here is simply give an initial idea of the broad range of application of the principles that are at the heart of the logic first created by Lupasco. My hope is that some of you may perceive some of them as relevant to your own work.

    7. THE UNITY OF SCIENCE
    As noted, transdisciplinarity is about what lies between and beyond the disciplines, and one of those things is the transdisciplinary logic that links them dynamically. Thus the existence of something like a transdisciplinary logic speaks directly to the question of the unity of science.

    If all the sciences, their other properties notwithstanding, have in a common a logic, this logically contributes to the content of that unity. As examples, it suffices to take as widely different disciplines as chemistry and psychology, the latter being one of the group often referred to as the ‘special sciences’, precisely due to the differences they display vs. the physical or natural sciences, as if psychology were not natural.
    What one finds, however, even at a level of reality where the feedback loops and internal systems of representation associated with higher ones are not present, there exist structures that correspond to the basic elements of antagonism. In organic chemistry, for example, there are energy fields, bonding orbitals that bond atoms to one another; anti-bonding orbitals that correspond to repulsive forces; and non-bonding orbitals that are neither attractive nor repulsive, but contribute to the properties of the organic molecule as a whole. When two molecules react, they do so either after absorbing sufficient energy to reach a ‘transition state’ at which neither the original unchanged reactants or the future reaction products are present,
    The conversion of either chemical and psychological entities to new ones, in my view, requires passing in both cases from states in which actualities and potentialities are real energetic states in interaction to states in which these properties, or some of them, are physically and logically, in my sense of logic, inversed.

    The reason there is perhaps no ‘logic of psychology’ per se is doubtlessly to be found in the characteristics of standard logic. Given its limitations to essentially abstract entities, it is not surprising that no specific logic of psychology exists that has been generally accepted. Since the subject matter of psychology to a very large extent deals with pathological, non-“normal” states of mind, the implied irrational nature of the terms suggests that no logic would be applicable to psychological data. LIR provides a transdisciplinary way of naturalizing psychology and the related discipline of phenomenology, that is, making more scientific, some of the first person and other subjective or better subjective-objective data that constitute it.

    8. THE UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE
    The unity of knowledge has been proposed by Nicolescu as the finality of his conception of transdisciplinarity, based on the logic of Lupasco. In the last thirty-odd years, and especially since the advent of the computer, there have been several encyclopedic projects in the spirit of Diderot and others, such as critical theory, whose primary reference is the social sciences are cited as “unifying” concepts. Other recent, purportedly global views of science, logic and society could be mentioned such as the “New Kind of Science” of Stephen Wolfram and the “Consilience” of the biologist E. O. Wilson (Wilson 2000)

    Julie Thompson Klein provided an entry for the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) (Klein 2002), released in the context of the International Conference on Sustainable Development, held in South Africa in July 2002. The title of her text was “Unity of Knowledge and Transdisciplinarity: Contexts of Definition, Theory and the New Discourse of Problem Solving.” Klein is particularly interested in the latter subject and offers a coherent program for the involvement of “actors” or “stakeholders” from all segments of society.

    In a Section entitled “The Relational Pluralism of Transdisciplinarity”, she writes that along with changes in relational learning fostered by “reconfigurations of disciplines, new ways of thinking, new fields and pedagogies”, a comparable relational pluralism is evident in descriptions of knowledge:

    “Once described as a foundation or linear structure, knowledge today is depicted as a network, a web and a dynamic system. The metaphor of unity, with its accompanying implications of universality and certainty, has been replaced by metaphors of plurality and relationality in a complex world. Images of boundary crossing and cross-fertilization supersede older images of disciplinary depth and compartmentalization. Isolated modes of work are supplanted by affiliations, coalitions and alliances. And, older values of control, mastery and expertise are reformulated in rhetorical figures of dialogue, process, interaction and negotiation. This body of images echoes in more specific descriptions of transdisciplinarity.”

    There are several comments to be made about this citation, but the one of most relevance here has to do with the questioning of the concept of the unity of science and/or knowledge. The unity of knowledge, also in Nicolescu’s conception, should not be taken to imply a new, closed ideology. As discussed by Nicolescu, the operation of logic in reality is a guarantee of the openness of knowledge. I will not go further here into Klein’s position. I only wish to point out that the concept of unity requires definition, and may in any case not be universally perceived, especially in areas closer to the social than to the natural sciences, as automatically desirable. Participants and others should take perhaps this into account.

    The EOLSS body of knowledge, according to the mission presented on the indicated website, is

    “inspired by a vision that includes the following paradigm: The sciences should be at the service of humanity as a whole, and should contribute to providing everyone with a deeper understanding of nature and society, a better quality of life and a sustainable and healthy environment for present and future generations.”

    Sponsored by UNESCO, the EOLSS, which is intended to be the “largest on-line encyclopedia”, will be “a source of knowledge for sustainable development and global security to lead to fulfillment of human needs through simultaneous socio-economic and technological progress and conservation of the Earth’s natural systems.” The organizers recognize that “Knowledge is dynamic. It grows and evolves according to the needs of human society. In the past, different civilizations categorized knowledge to suit the cultural paradigm of their times.” They wish to “build on the best of our culture to engender a new attitude towards the quality and sustainability of life on earth. Above all we need to foster a culture of peace.”

    I agree that there must be fundamental changes in education to create the “desire for environmental protection and respect for human dignity and rights, as the two are mutually empowering”, and avoiding the fostering of a culture characterized by narrow vested interests, intolerance, and violence.” The EOLSS will undoubtedly contribute to solidarity between workers in environmental areas and the public. One should, however, be careful to avoid, in this effort, the reproduction, here also, of the prevailing logical, Manichean paradigm of identity, without recognition of the fundamentally contradictory nature of social dynamics. In a phrase, “metaphors” of both unity and plurality are required.

    8.1 Consilience, Gödel and the Unity of Knowledge
    Wilson (Wilson 2000) re-introduced the term “consilience” to describe the unification of disciplines by cause-and-effect explanations (epigenetic rules). The current interdisciplinary discourse is seen as an instantiation of Whewell’s original Consilience of Inductions, “by which science can not only progress but can achieve a type of ‘unity’ in the face of complexity and postmodernism.”

    In my view, such models cannot lead to a new comprehension of nature as long as binary logic and its idealized formulations of cause and effect are maintained. Wilson admits that: “the convergence of the great branches of learning is mostly an empirical process, light on formal logic and theory in its initial stages.” Nicolescu proposed the unity of knowledge as the finality of transdisciplinarity, and it is the logical aspects of transdisciplinarity that support this.
    The unity of knowledge should thus not be taken to imply a new, closed ideology. The unity of science and the unity of knowledge are objectives to be achieved in specific respects for the common good, inspired by a vision that knowledge should be at the service of humanity as a whole. By giving adequate ontological value to uncertainty and Gödelian inconsistency and incompleteness, logic in reality supports the transdisciplinary concept of an open hierarchy of knowledge that avoids all dogmatism or fundamentalism.

    In the absence of any perceived need or reason in science to extend Gödel’s principles outside mathematics, the extensions made or proposed have been largely informal. For example, in his definitive presentation of Lupasco’s contribution to logic and metaphysics, Nicolescu (Nicolescu 2002) states that physicists have neglected Gödel’s theorems and they have been without impact on science despite the fact that physical theories use mathematics and therefore are subject to the conclusions of those theorems.

    The Gödel theorems and logic – as written – do not apply to physical or mental emergent phenomena, but LIR views the principle involved, the duality of consistency and completeness, axiomatically, as another instantiation of the fundamental duality of the universe. This is a leap that Gödel, who was fundamentally conservative, did not make. He rejected, correctly in my view, the more idealist implications of many-world pictures of reality, but did not make the extension of his own ideas to it. The current logical and ontological development undertaken in LIR provides a bridge between prior definitions of the principle of dynamic opposition and Gödelian dualism.

    The relation between consistency (or absence of internal contradiction) and completeness, in mathematics, is between two abstract entities. For any application in physics or other science, what must be recognized is that a similar relation of opposition or dynamic interaction exists in the physical domain between real elements, which can in addition have emergence of new phenomena as a consequence.
    The reason that this desirable result has not taken place is due to the absence of a (transdisciplinary) bridge between the original definition by Lupasco of the principle of dynamic opposition and Gödelian dualism. The current demonstration of the logical and ontological development undertaken in LIR illuminates Gödelian dualism as another expression of the fundamental dynamic opposition at the heart of energy and phenomena.
    This paper will not discuss the merits of the other views, but look for something more transdisciplinary in the terms of the Conference themselves – “unity” and “knowledge”.

    8.2 The Unity of Knowledge
    It should be clear that the unity of knowledge in question is not an identity. All the knowledge subsumed in the various disciplines is not identical. But, as a product of the human mind, it cannot be totally diverse in the sense of lacking something in common that is not unique to a discipline. But nothing requires that this be a datum of knowledge. The LIR view is that the unity in question is a Unity* that emerges as an included middle from both unity and the diversity that are properties of the disciplines, but is itself not separated from them. It is exists, and should be perceived as existing, at the same time as the elements from which it is derived, but not reducible to them. The still intensely argued question of the necessity and utility of philosophical vs. physicalist reduction between theories loses much of its pertinence in my theory, but this aspect will not be discussed further here as it is quite ‘technical’.
    At the same time, neither disciplines nor individual theories lose their identity and specificity. They do not need to be conflated in this Unity*.

    8.3 The Unity of Knowledge
    The logic in and of reality (LIR) describes a dialectical basis for perception and action leading to consciousness, and a contradictorial view of consciousness that leads to a new dynamic view of epistemology in the sense of both what we know, how we know, and how we know that we know. Let us assume that what we know includes different disciplines. Let us assume also that how we know includes both the usually accepted concept of firm knowledge or what Lupasco called knowledge-as-such, something clearly actual, and other vaguer, generally (but not always) weaker ways we can call intuition or belief as discussed above. Standard epistemology quickly leads to the well-known paradoxes of knowledge and justification of belief, that is, that we may think we know something, but that is, for any observer, simply a belief that we know.

    LIR cuts through these debates by relaxing the absolute separation of classical logic between the essential properties of both objects and relations. It is not necessary as in noneism to say that non-existent objects of belief have no mode of being. I focus on the processes of generation of such objects in the minds of their author or reader, for example. Such actualizations define its real aspects, accompanied by their not yet actualized potentialities, which may or may not ever be actualized. The non-existent emergent entity that the processes represent, better, are, e.g., Zeus, is thus both real and non-real, existent and non-existent. The mind moves back and forth between these properties of beliefs and LIR explicates and formalizes such movement. The dialectical relation between appearance and reality provides a common language for discussion of belief by both believers and non-believers.

    The LIR description of the dynamics of belief is in terms of a movement of alternating actualization and potentialization between processes at two-levels – a belief and a belief that that belief is true, and application of its principles can be shown to end the lurking infinite regress. The reason is that LIR accepts the reality of both knowledge and intuition as being two forms of thought related dialectically in the same way as knowledge and knowledge-of-knowledge. When one is actualized, the other is potentialized, but never completely; there is always a part of real knowledge in intuition and vice versa. In addition, however, the two-levels of knowledge and knowledge-of-knowledge exhaust essentially completely the available configuration space. Little or no information is added by postulating additional iterations – knowledge-of-knowledge-of knowledge, and one observes that such iterations stop, or stop themselves, in real life. Thus a belief, in my view, does not imply a requirement for an infinite regress of beliefs that the preceding beliefs are true.

    Regarding the origin of intentionality, I believe the only honest answer is similar to that of the weak anthropic principle of reality: consciousness (Emmeche 2003) is an emergent higher order pattern that has both causal powers and a qualitative phenomenal aspect. In LIR, this dual aspect concept receives a natural explanation. A physical model is provided of the locus of intentionality in the dynamic interpretation of experience, experience of experience and their on-going, continuous and contradictorial oppositions. No independent entities of the kind postulated in the various forms of representationalism are required, due to the interactive relation between internal and external aspects of phenomena. It is the alternating actualizations and potentializations derived from the initial inputs that are our ideas, images, beliefs, etc. Logic in reality does not attempt to give a complete understanding of the origin of individual consciousness. It appears to be an irreducible aspect of the universe as we know it.

    9. FREE WILL
    I will finish this overview of the operation of the principles of my system by discussing a subject – the existence of free will that is generally considered to lie outside the purview of logic. The debate over the existence of free will is, as you know, closely related to the question of determinism vs. indeterminism. Many of the arguments are, however, more or less sophisticated equivalents of the following two models:

    – Free will exists. – Determinism is true.
    – Free will is incompatible with determinism.
    – Therefore, determinism is false. – Therefore, free will does not exist.

    I will show briefly how LIR can be used to cut through such arguments. A highly simplified outline of the standard theory of free will is as follows (Kane 1998): people who believe that free will exists believe that the choices they make are not determined by some other agency, including the totality of their own origins and past experience. Such people are further divided into two groups: incompatibilists, who support a view that free will exists and is incompatible with determinism, and compatibilists, who say that free will, or the most important or desirable aspects of it, is compatible with a generally determined universe. Free will also requires analysis as a self-referential phenomenological datum, that is, our view of ourselves as intelligently exercising free will at the same time as having reasons for making the choices we make.

    The major problems with the above views are the following: 1) incompatibilists have to show that the universe is not deterministic; 2) compatibilists, who accept determinism, must explain the basis for the feeling and/or appearance of freedom. Further, compatibilists would seem to have no obvious basis for individual moral responsibility, whose existence most human beings would like to establish and live by. In other words, if all one’s choices are totally predetermined, it would appear that one would lack responsibility for one’s actions.

    In my opinion, if the problems are given in the above terms, they are insoluble. Another formulation is essentially the same: “Free will is defined as the power of agents to be the ultimate creators and sustainers of their own ends and purposes.” In this theory, although most of our actions can be said to be ‘determined’ in the general sense, by past experience, heredity, or in the worst case by external constraints, every individual will have been, at some earlier point in his lifetime, the locus of some non-determined events or free choices. On the other hand, if phenomenological or folk-psychological descriptions of free will, as efforts made by agents, are eliminated or reduced to a mechanistic, physico-chemical descriptions of mental activity, at least as far as physics and chemistry are usually constituted, then free will would be written out of the world picture. But then, so would also consciousness and intentionality.

    The LIR position is that free will as defined initially does not exist; the universe at all levels of reality is characterized by the appearance and reality of both determinacy and indeterminacy. Mental activity at the unconscious level is constituted by a physics and chemistry that also involves potentialities and is related thereby to activity at the higher, conscious level, and free agency as such does not survive the analysis. There remains, however, the need to find some basis for the sense of individual moral responsibility that some people, at least, still feel. I see free will as a particularly strong and lasting intuition, one that inverts the usual relation between intuition and knowledge-as-such. The phenomenon of free will instantiates several processes explicable by a logic that is transdisciplinary across cognitive science, philosophy and morality:

    • Apparent free will exists, but only as an appearance in the conscious mind of an individual in opposition to and because of her unconscious knowledge of her lack of total ‘freedom’, that is, isolation from other individuals. The issue of compatibility is therefore a false problem; individual responsibility for one’s actions does exist, but its source does not lie in free will, or the absence of it.
    • We are in the presence of a reciprocal mutual instantiation of appearance and reality that corresponds to the contradictorial, LIR interpretation: appearance and reality can never both be fully actualized at the same time.
    • If we as knowers are not totally external to what is known by us, not completely different from it, then I conclude that there are other knowers that are part of our known and vice versa.
    • The source of our dignity is in ourselves as knowers, but if we avoid the error of solipsism, the origin of the sense of moral responsibility can only come from the relation to other knowers, in other words, all human beings, and by extension, other beings. A contrario, one cannot find responsibility in oneself as an isolated agent. Since we are both ‘not-other’ and ‘other’ in the two-tier structure of LIR, a self-interest argument for morality holds.

    The LIR position is thus that, paradoxically, two or more human individuals are entities that are logically non-separable. The categorial feature of non-separability in the LIR ontology provides a logical basis for altruism. In other words, since will possesses both deterministic and indeterministic aspects, which interact, the deterministic aspects do not preclude individual moral responsibility. An individual is no more isolated logically, psychologically and morally than he or she is economically. It is because our will is not free that we must try to insure the viability of the environment and behave in an ethical manner.

    CONCLUSION
    The principles of the ternary, transdisciplinary logic of and in reality enable the functional integration of the contradictorial aspects of phenomena with current advances in science, and offer a supplement to existing methods of inquiry. The LIR framework assigns domains of application of binary and ternary logic to philosophy and real systems in computational and complex non-computational contexts respectively, the latter including evolution, developmental biology and the mental phenomena of knowledge, reasoning and meaning. Such applications of LIR require a shift from the current focus on the axioms and formalism of both classical and non-classical propositional and mathematical logic as the criteria of a valid logical approach. Universal Logic, as the preferred framework for propositional and predicate logics and Gödel’s systems for logic and mathematics (Hintikka 2000) may be considered as special cases to which a broader theory involving a fundamental dialectical principle of dynamic opposition may reduce.

    The logic of transdisciplinarity is a system that is directly relevant to reality, not only to human thought and reasoning, but also to other complex biological and social processes, defined categorically as instantiations of dualities that are non-separable. Accordingly, this logic may have an important role as a framework that is a synthetic complement to the analytic strategies of the standard natural sciences and humanities in complex non-computational contexts including evolution, developmental biology and the mental phenomena of knowledge, reasoning and meaning. It offers a transdisciplinary meta-philosophical perspective that integrates the insights of quantum mechanics and uses them to avoid the on-going problems associated with the standard bivalent approaches based in classical conceptions of logic. The principles of the logic of transdisciplinarity do not guarantee the unity of knowledge, but their presence and applicability in all domains of knowledge suggest that they may be useful tools in defining the transdisciplinary agenda.

     

    REFERENCES

    Aerts, D. et al. (2003), “Quantum morphogenesis: A variation on Thom’s catastrophe theory”, Physical Review E67, 051926, archref and link: quant-ph/0211105

    Aerts, D. (2001), “Transdisciplinary and Integrative Sciences: Humanity’s Mind and Potential”, published as Aerts, D., “Transdisciplinary and integrative sciences in sustainable development”, in the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. Oxford: Baldwin House

    Brenner, J. E. (2005), “Process in Reality”, Logic and Logical Philosophy, Vol. 14 (2005), 165-202

    Brenner, J. E. (?), Logic in Reality, Manuscript for publication

    Carnielli, W. (2005), “Logics of Formal Inconsistency”, CLE e-Prints, Vol.5 (1), 2005

    Emmeche, C. (2003), “Causal Processes, Semiosis, and Consciousness”, in J. Seibt (ed.), Process Theories, pp. 313-336

    Hintikka, J. (2000), On Gödel. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, p. 70

    Kane, R. (1998), The Significance of Free Will. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998

    Klein, J. T. (2003) http://www.eolss.net The entry appears in the sub-topic “Unity of Knowledge” under the main topic “Transdisciplinary Research for Sustainability”.

    Lowe, E. J. (2002), A Survey of Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Nicolescu, B. (1999), “Le tiers inclus. De la physique quantique à l’ontologie” in Badescu, Horia and Nicolescu, Basarab (eds.), Stéphane Lupasco. L’homme et l’œuvre. Paris: Editions du Rocher

    Nicolescu, B. (2001) , La transdisciplinarité. Manifeste. Paris: Éditions du Rocher, 1996, re-edited as Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity. Albany: State University of New York Press, p. 63

    Nicolescu, B. (2002), Nous la particule et le monde. Paris: Editions du Rocher, p. 87

    Poli, R. (2001), “The Basic Problem of Levels of Reality”, Axiomathes, 12, 3-4

    Poli, R. (2003), “Descriptive, Formal and Formalized Ontologies”, in D. Fisette (ed.), Husserl’s Logical Investigations Reconsidered, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 193-210

    Priest, G. (1987) In Contradiction. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff, Chapter 3, p. 49 ff.

    Smith, D. W. (2003), “Phenomenology”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2003 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2003/entries/phenomenology/

    Von Stillfried, N. and Walach, H. (2006), “Living in the Paradox. The Complementarity Principle in Science and Religion”, Metanexus 2006 Conference, Continuity and Change

    Wilson, E.O. (2000), Consilience. New York: Knopf, p. 94-95

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    2 This axiom has been designated as a ‘law of the included middle’ and the original Lupasco logic as a ‘logic of the included middle’, LIM. This term does differentiate it from both the classical logic of the excluded middle and intuitionist logic, in which the law of the excluded middle does not hold. However, since a T-state is ‘included’ only in the sense of being positioned conceptually between opposing elements, I have tended to avoid this locution that carries, incorrectly of course, the idea of two things occupying the same space at the same time.

    1.

    In his contribution, Piaget gives the following description of transdisciplinarity: “Finally, we hope to see succeeding to the stage of interdisciplinary relations a superior stage, which should be “transdisciplinary”, i.e. which will not be limited to recognize the interactions and or reciprocities between the specialized researches, but which will locate these links inside a total system without stable boundaries between the disciplines”3.

    In his contributions, Erich Jantsch, an Austrian thinker living in California, falls in the trap of defining transdisciplinarity as a hyperdiscipline. He writes that transdisciplinarity is “the coordination of all disciplines and interdisciplines of the teaching system and the innovation on the basis of a general axiomatic approach”5. And, of course, this theoretical activity can be formulated, he thinks, only in mathematical language. Lichnerowicz writes: “The Being is put between parentheses and it is precisely this non-ontological character which confers to mathematics its power, its fidelity and its polyvalence.”7 and I developed this idea over the years in my articles and books and also in different official international documents. Many other researchers over the world contributed to this development of transdisciplinarity. A key-date in this development is 1994, when the Charter of Transdisciplinarity9.

    The quantum revolution radically changed this situation. The new scientific and philosophical notions it introduced – the principle of superposition of quantum “yes” and “no” states, discontinuity, non-separability, global causality, quantum indeterminism – necessarily led the founders of quantum mechanics to rethink the problem of the complete Object / Subject separation. For example, Werner Heisenberg, Nobel Prize of Physics, thought that one must suppress any rigid distinction between the Subject and Object, between objective reality and subjective reality. “The concept of “objective” and “subjective” – writes Heisenberg – designate […] two different aspects of one reality; however we would make a very crude simplification if we want to divide the world in one objective reality and one subjective reality. Many rigidities of the philosophy of the last centuries are born by this black and white view of the world.”11

    My line of thinking is in perfect agreement with that of Heisenberg. For me, “beyond disciplines” precisely signifies the Subject-Object interaction. The transcendence, inherent in transdisciplinarity, is the transcendence of the Subject. The Subject can not be captured in a disciplinary camp.

    The meaning “beyond disciplines” leads us to an immense space of new knowledge. The main outcome was the formulation of the methodology of transdisciplinarity, which I will analyze in the next section. It allows us also to clearly distinguish between multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.

    Multidisciplinarity concerns itself with studying a research topic in not just one discipline only, but in several at the same time. Any topic in question will ultimately be enriched by incorporating the perspectives of several disciplines. Multidisciplinarity brings a plus to the discipline in question, but this “plus” is always in the exclusive service of the home discipline. In other words, the multidisciplinary approach overflows disciplinary boundaries while its goal remains limited to the framework of disciplinary research.

    Interdisciplinarity has a different goal than multidisciplinarity. It concerns the transfer of methods from one discipline to another. Like multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity overflows the disciplines, but its goal still remains within the framework of disciplinary research. Interdisciplinarity has even the capacity of generating new disciplines, like quantum cosmology and chaos theory.

    Transdisciplinarity concerns that which is at once between the disciplines, across the different disciplines, and beyond all discipline. Its goal is the understanding of the present world, of which one of the imperatives is the unity of knowledge13 and Helga Nowotny15.

    This version of transdisciplinarity does not exclude the meaning “beyond disciplines” but reduces it to the interaction of disciplines with social constraints. The social field necessarily introduces a dimension “beyond disciplines”, but the individual human being is conceived of as part of a social system only.

    It is difficult for us to understand why “joint problem solving” must be the unique aim of transdisciplinarity. It is certainly one of the aims but not the only aim. The use of singular seems to us dangerous, as allowing unnecessary wars and unproductive dogmatism. Is transdisciplinarity concerning only society, as a uniform whole, or, in the first place, the human being which is (or has to be) in the center of any civilized society? Are we allowed to identify knowledge with production of knowledge? Why the potential of transdisciplinarity has to be reduced to produce “better science”? Why transdisciplinarity has to be reduced to “hard science”? In other words, the Subject – Object interaction seems to us to be at the very core of transdisciplinarity and not the Object alone.

    I think that the unconscious barrier to a true dialogue comes from the inability of certain transdisciplinary researchers to think the discontinuity. I will give an image in order to express what I have in mind. For them, the boundaries between disciplines are like boundaries between countries, continents and oceans on the surface of the Earth. These boundaries are fluctuating in time but a fact remains unchanged: the continuity between territories. We have a different approach of the boundaries between disciplines. For us, they are like the separation between galaxies, solar systems, stars and planets. It is the movement itself which generates the fluctuation of boundaries. This does not mean that a galaxy intersects another galaxy. When we cross the boundaries we meet the interplanetary and intergalactic vacuum. This vacuum is far from being empty: it is full of invisible matter and energy. It introduces a clear discontinuity between territories of galaxies, solar systems, stars and planets. Without the interplanetary and intergalactic vacuum there is no Universe.

    It is my deep conviction that our formulation of transdisciplinarity is both unified (in the sense of unification of different transdisciplinary approaches) and diverse: unity in diversity and diversity through unity is inherent to transdisciplinarity.

    Much confusion arises by not recognizing that there are a theoretical transdisciplinarity, a phenomenological transdisciplinarity and an experimental transdisciplinarity.

    The word theory implies a general definition of transdisciplinarity and a well-defined methodology (which has to be distinguished from “methods”: a single methodology corresponds to a great number of different methods). The word phenomenology implies building models connecting the theoretical principles with the already observed experimental data, in order to predict further results. The word experimental implies performing experiments following a well-defined procedure allowing any researcher to get the same results when performing the same experiments.

    I classify the work done by Michael Gibbons and Helga Nowotny as phenomenological transdisciplinarity, while my own work17, as theoretical transdisciplinarity. In its turn, experimental transdisciplinarity concerns a big number of experimental data already collected not only in the framework of knowledge production but also in many fields like education, psychoanalysis, the treatment of pain in terminal diseases, drug addiction, art, literature, history of religions, etc. The reduction of transdisciplinarity to only one of its aspects is very dangerous because it will transform transdisciplinarity into a temporary fashion, which I predict will disappear soon as many other fashions in the field of culture and knowledge have indeed vanished. The huge potential of transdisciplinarity will never be accomplished if we do not accept the simultaneous and rigorous consideration of the three aspects of transdisciplinarity. This simultaneous consideration of theoretical, phenomenological and experimental transdisciplinarity will allow both a unified and non-dogmatic treatment of the transdisciplinary theory and practice, coexisting with a plurality of transdisciplinary models.

    Formulation of the methodology of transdisciplinarity

    The axiomatic character of the methodology of transdisciplinarity

    The most important achievement of transdisciplinarity in present times is, of course, the formulation of the methodology of transdisciplinarity, accepted and applied by an important number of researchers in many countries of the world. Transdisciplinarity, in the absence of a methodology, would be just an empty discourse and therefore a short-term living fashion.

    The axiomatic character of the methodology of transdisciplinarity is an important aspect. This means that he have to limit the number of axioms (or principles or pillars) to a minimum number. Any axiom which can be derived from the already postulated ones, have to be rejected.

    This fact is not new. It already happened when disciplinary knowledge acquired its scientific character, due the three axioms formulated by Galileo Galilei in Dialogue on the Great World Systems19. Human mathematics constitutes, he says (through Salvati), the common language of human beings and God, while divine mathematics is connected with the direct perception of the totality of all existing laws and phenomena. Transdisciplinarity tries to seriously take this distinction into account. A bridge can be built between science and ontology only by taking into account the totality of human knowledge. This requires a symbolic language, different from mathematical language and enriched by specific new notions. Mathematics is able to describe repetition of facts due to scientific laws, but transdisciplinarity is about the singularity of the human being and human life. The key-point here is, once again, the irreducible presence of the Subject, which explains why transdisciplinarity can not be described by a mathematical formalism. The dream of the mathematical formalization of transdisciplinarity is just a phantasm, the phantasm induced by centuries of disciplinary knowledge.

    After many years of research, I arrived21 emerges from the coexistence between complex plurality and open unity in our approach: no level of Reality constitutes a privileged place from which one is able to understand all the other levels of Reality. A level of Reality is what it is because all the other levels exist at the same time. This Principle of Relativity is what originates a new perspective on religion, politics, art, education, and social life. And when our perspective on the world changes, the world changes.

    In other words, our approach is not hierarchical. There is no fundamental level. But its absence does not mean an anarchical dynamics, but a coherent one, of all levels of Reality, already discovered or which will be discovered in the future.

    Every level is characterized by its incompleteness: the laws governing this level are just a part of the totality of laws governing all levels. And even the totality of laws does not exhaust the entire Reality: we have also to consider the Subject and its interaction with the Object.

    The zone between two different levels and beyond all levels is a zone of non-resistance to our experiences, representations, descriptions, images, and mathematical formulations. Quite simply, the transparence of this zone is due to the limitations of our bodies and of our sense organs — limitations which apply regardless of what measuring tools are used to extend these sense organs. We therefore have to conclude that the topological distance between levels is finite. However this finite distance does not mean a finite knowledge. Take, as an image, a segment of a straight line – it contains an infinite number of points. In a similar manner, a finite topological distance could contain an infinite number of levels of Reality.

    This open structure of the unity of levels of Reality is in accord with one of the most important scientific results of the twentieth century concerning arithmetic, the theorem of Kurt Gödel23, I assert that the different levels of Reality are accessible to our knowledge thanks to the different levels of perception which are potentially present in our being. These levels of perception permit an increasingly general, unifying, encompassing vision of Reality, without ever entirely exhausting it.

    As in the case of levels of Reality of the Object, the coherence of levels of perception presupposes a zone of non-resistance to perception.

    The unity of levels of perception and this complementary zone of non-resistance constitutes what we call the transdisciplinary Subject.

    In a rigorous way, we see that “levels of perception” are, in fact, levels of Reality of the Subject, while “levels of Reality” are, in fact, levels of Reality of the Object. Both types of levels imply resistance.

    The two zones of non-resistance of transdisciplinary Object and Subject must be identical for the transdisciplinary Subject to communicate with the transdisciplinary Object. A flow of consciousness that coherently cuts across different levels of perception must correspond to the flow of information coherently cutting across different levels of Reality. The two flows are interrelated because they share the same zone of non-resistance.

    Knowledge is neither exterior nor interior: it is simultaneously exterior and interior. The studies of the universe and of the human being sustain one another.

    The zone of non-resistance plays the role of a third between the Subject and the Object, an Interaction term which allows the unification of the transdisciplinary Subject and the transdisciplinary Object while preserving their difference. In the following I will call this Interaction term the Hidden Third.

    Our ternary partition { Subject, Object, Hidden Third } is, of course, different from the binary partition{ Subject vs. Object } of classical realism.

    The emergence of at least three different levels of Reality of the Object in the study of natural systems – the macrophysical level, the microphysical level and cyber-space-time (to which one might add a fourth level – that of superstrings, unifying all physical interactions) – is a major event in the history of knowledge.

    Based upon our definition of levels of Reality, we can identify other levels than the ones in natural systems. For example, in social systems, we can speak about the individual level, the geographical and historical community level (family, nation), the cyber-space-time community level and the planetary level.

    Levels of Reality of the Object are radically different from levels of organization as these have been defined in systemic approaches25 and later, in an elaborated form, in 1985, in the first edition of my book We, the particle and the world27. This book had a quite astonishing history: it was written in 1942 but it was published in German only in 1984. I read the French translation of the book in 1998. There is not yet, to my knowledge, an English translation of this book.

    The philosophy of Heisenberg is based on two main ideas: the first is the notion of levels of Reality corresponding to different modes of embodying objectivity in terms of the respective process of knowledge and the second is the gradual erasing of the familiar concept of 3-dimensional space and 1-dimensional time.

    For Heisenberg, reality is “the continuous fluctuation of the experience as captured by consciousness. In that sense, it can never be identified to a closed system […]”29 – writes Heisenberg.

    The incompleteness of physical laws is therefore present in his philosophy, even if he makes no explicit reference to Gödel.

    Heisenberg asserts many times that one has to suppress any rigid distinction between the Subject and Object. He also writes that one has to renounce the privileged reference to the exteriority of the material world and that the only way to understand the nature of reality is to accept its division in regions and levels.

    The similarity with my own definition of reality is striking, but the differences are also important.

    By “region of reality” he understands a region characterized by a specific group of relations. His regions of reality are, in fact, strictly equivalent to the levels of organization of contemporary systemic thinking.

    His motivation for distinguishing regions and levels of reality is identical to my own motivation: the break between classical and quantum mechanics.

    Heisenberg classifies the numerous regions of reality in only three levels, in terms of the different proximity between the Object and the Subject31. But Heisenberg did not draw the logical conclusion concerning this impotence of formal thinking: only the non-resistance to our experiences, representations, descriptions, images or mathematical formalisms can bridge the abyss between two levels. This non-resistance restores the continuity broken by levels.

    The logical axiom: the included middle

    The incompleteness of the general laws governing a given level of Reality signifies that, at a given moment of time, one necessarily discovers contradictions in the theory describing the respective level: one has to assert A and non-A at the same time. This Gödelian feature of the transdisciplinary model of Reality is verified by all the history of science: a theory leads to contradictions and one has to invent a new theory solving these contradictions. It is precisely the way in which we went from classical physics to quantum physics.

    However, our habits of mind, scientific or not, are still governed by the classical logic, which does not tolerate contradictions. The classical logic is founded on three axioms:

    1. The axiom of identity: A is A.

    2. The axiom of non-contradiction: A is not non-A.

    3. The axiom of the excluded middle: There exists no third term T (“T” from “third”) which is at the same time A and non-A.

    Knowledge of the coexistence of the quantum world and the macrophysical world and the development of quantum physics have led, on the level of theory and scientific experiment, to pairs of mutually exclusive contradictories (A and non-A): wave and corpuscle, continuity and discontinuity, separability and non-separability, local causality and global causality, symmetry and breaking of symmetry, reversibility and irreversibility of time, and so forth.

    The intellectual scandal provoked by quantum mechanics precisely consists in the fact that the pairs of contradictories that it generates are actually mutually exclusive when they are analyzed through the interpretive filter of classical logic.

    However, the solution is relatively simple: one has to abandon the third axiom of the classical logic, imposing the exclusion of the third, the included middle T.

    History will credit Stéphane Lupasco (1900-1988)33. You will learn more about the significance of this logic from the talk of Joseph Brenner35

    Our understanding of the axiom of the included middle — there exists a third term T which is at the same time A and non-A — is completely clarified once the notion of “levels of Reality”, not existing in the works of Lupasco, is introduced.

    In order to obtain a clear image of the meaning of the included middle, let us represent the three terms of the new logic — A, non-A, and T — and the dynamics associated with them by a triangle in which one of the vertices is situated at one level of Reality and the two other vertices at another level of Reality (see Fig. 2). The included middle is in fact an included third. If one remains at a single level of Reality, all manifestation appears as a struggle between two contradictory elements. The third dynamic, that of the T-state, is exercised at another level of Reality, where that which appears to be disunited is in fact united, and that which appears contradictory is perceived as non-contradictory.

    Figure

    It is the projection of the T-state onto the same single level of Reality which produces the appearance of mutually exclusive, antagonistic pairs (A and non-A). A single level of Reality can only create antagonistic oppositions. It is inherently self-destructive if it is completely separated from all the other levels of Reality. A third term which is situated at the same level of Reality as that of the opposites A and non-A, cannot accomplish their reconciliation. Of course, this conciliation is only temporary. We necessarily discover contradictions in the theory of the new level when this theory confronts new experimental facts. In other words, the action of the logic of the included middle on the different levels of Reality induces an open structure of the unity of levels of Reality. This structure has considerable consequences for the theory of knowledge because it implies the impossibility of a self-enclosed complete theory. Knowledge is forever open.

    The logic of the included middle does not abolish the logic of the excluded middle: it only constrains its sphere of validity. The logic of the excluded middle is certainly valid for relatively simple situations, for example, driving a car on a highway: no one would dream of introducing an included middle in regard to what is permitted and what is prohibited in such circumstances. On the contrary, the logic of the excluded middle is harmful in complex cases, for example, within the economical, social, cultural, religious or political spheres. In such cases it operates like a genuine logic of exclusion: good or evil, right or left, heaven or hell, alive or dead, women or men, rich or poor, whites or blacks. It would be revealing to undertake an analysis of xenophobia, racism, apartheid, anti-Semitism, or nationalism in the light of the logic of the excluded middle.

    There is certainly coherence among different levels of Reality, at least in the natural world. In fact, an immense self-consistency — a cosmic bootstrap — seems to govern the evolution of the universe, from the infinitely small to the infinitely large, from the infinitely brief to the infinitely long. A flow of information is transmitted in a coherent manner from one level of Reality to another in our physical universe.

    The included middle logic is a tool for an integrative process: it allows us to cross two different levels of Reality and to effectively integrate, not only in thinking but also in our own being, the coherence of the Universe. The use of the included third is a transformative process. But, at that moment, the included third ceases to be an abstract, logical tool: it becomes a living reality touching all the dimensions of our being. This fact is particularly important in education and learning.

    Recent findings in the physiology of the brain give a particularly deep understanding of the action of the included middle. High technology tools, like the single photon emission computed tomography, allow to rigorously visualizing the blood flow patterns in the brain during so different activities like solving a mathematical problem, Zen meditation or Christian prayer. Different specialized zones of the brain are now identified. Of course, the notion itself of “reality” is empty without the brain participation. This does not necessarily mean that the brain creates reality. Merely we can say that we have inside ourselves an apt apparatus of perceiving reality.

    Based on these neurophysiological discoveries, Andrew Newberg and Eugene d’Aquili introduced a series of cognitive operators, which describe the general functions of the human mind37 . The brain constructs in such a way, during the evolutionary process, a binary representation of the world, very useful for survival in a hostile environment. However, culture extended this binary representation, in terms of exclusive contradictories, to ethical, mythological and metaphysical representations, like good and evil, the space-time background of such representations being erased. The binary operator describes, in fact, the neurological operations of the inferior parietal lobe39 The holistic view is also a product of the evolutionary process. When our ancestors where confronted with a wild animal, the binary representations were not sufficient for survival. If our ancestors spent their time in analyzing the different parts of the wild animal and the associated pairs of the mutually exclusive contradictories, they would be simply killed and we would not be here to think about excluded or included middle. The holistic operator erases contradictories and therefore is connected with the action of the included middle.

    The epistemological axiom: the universal interdependence

    There are several theories of complexity. Some of them, like the one practiced at the Santa Fe Institute, with the general guidance of Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Prize of Physics, are mathematically formalized, while others, like the one of Edgar Morin, are not.

    In the context of our discussion, what is important to be understood is that the existing theories of complexity do include neither the notion of levels of Reality nor the notion of zones of non-resistance41, are compatible with these notions. It is therefore useful to distinguish between the horizontal complexity, which refers to a single level of reality and vertical complexity, which refers to several levels of Reality.

    From a transdisciplinary point of view, complexity is a modern form of the very ancient principle of universal interdependence. This recognition allows us to avoid the current confusion between complexity and complication. The principle of universal interdependence entails the maximum possible simplicity that the human mind could imagine, the simplicity of the interaction of all levels of reality. This simplicity can not be captured by mathematical language, but only by symbolic language. The mathematical language addresses exclusively to the analytical mind, while symbolic language addresses to the totality of the human being, with its thoughts, feelings and body.

    It is interesting to note that the combined action of the ontological, logical and epistemological axiom engenders values. The transdisciplinary values are neither objective nor subjective. They result from the Hidden Third, which signifies the interaction of the subjective objectivity of the transdisciplinary Object and the objective subjectivity of the transdisciplinary Subject.

    Transdisciplinarity as methodology of going beyond the science/religion debate

    Transdisciplinarity today

    After a long hibernation of a quarter of century after Piaget, transdisciplinarity is experiencing an accelerated movement in the 90’s. Today, transdisciplinary activities are flourishing in many parts of the world43 . It is precisely this conversion that transdisciplinarity is able to perform. This dialogue is methodologically possible, because the Hidden Third crosses all levels of Reality.

    Technoscience has a quite paradoxical situation. In itself, is blind to values. However, when it enters in dialogue with cultures and religions, it becomes the best mediator of the reconciliation of different cultures and different religions.

    Building a new spirituality

    “Spirituality” is a completely devaluated word today, in spite of its etymological meaning as “respiration”, in an act of communion between us and the cosmos. There is a big spiritual poverty present on our Earth. It manifests as fear, violence, hate and dogmatism. In a world with more than 10000 religions and religious movements and more than 6000 tongues, how can we dream about mutual understanding and peace? There is an obvious need for a new spirituality, conciliating technoscience and wisdom. Of course, there are already several spiritualities, present on our Earth from centuries and even millennia. One might ask: why is there a need for a new spirituality if we have them all, here and now?

    Before answering to this question, we must face a preliminary question: is a Big Picture still possible in our post-modern times? Radical relativism answers in a negative way to this question. However its arguments are not solid and logical. They are in fact very poor and obviously linked to the totalitarian aspect of the political and philosophical correctness expressed by the slogan “anything goes”. For radical relativists, after the death of God, the death of Man, the end of ideologies, the end of History (and, perhaps, tomorrow, the end of science and the end of religion) a Big Picture is no more possible. For transdisciplinarity, a Big Picture is not only possible but also vitally necessary, even if it will never be formulated as a closed theory. The well-known art critic Suzi Gablik, in her book Has Modernism Failed?45

    The first motivation for a new spirituality is technoscience, with its associated fabulous economic power, which is simply incompatible with present spiritualities. It drives a hugely irrational force of efficiency for efficiency sake: everything which can be done will be done, for the worst or the best. The second motivation for a new spirituality is the difficulty of the dialogue between different spiritualities, which often appear as antagonistic, as we can testify in our everyday life.

    In simple words, we need to find a spiritual dimension of democracy. Transdisciplinarity can help with this important advancement of democracy, through its basic notions of “transcultural” and “transreligious”47. This does not mean the emergence of a unique planetary culture and of a unique planetary religion, but of a new transcultural and transreligious attitude. The old principle “unity in diversity and diversity from unity” is embodied in transdisciplinarity.

    Through the transcultural, which leads to the transreligious, the spiritual poverty could be eradicated and therefore render the war of civilizations obsolete. The transcultural and transreligious attitude is not simply a utopian project — it is engraved in the very depths of our being.

    Beyond the science/religion debate: homo religiosus and homo economicus

    Homo religiosus probably existed from the beginnings of the human species, at the moment when the human being tried to understand the meaning of his life. The sacred is his natural realm. He tried to capture the unseen from his observation of the visible world. His language is that of the imaginary, trying to penetrate higher levels of Reality – parables, symbols, myths, legends, revelation.

    Homo economicus is a creation of modernity. He believes only in what is seen, observed, measured. The profane is his natural realm. His language is that of just one level of Reality, accessible through the analytic mind – hard and soft sciences, technology, theories and ideologies, mathematics, informatics.

    This problem of language obviously plagues the science/religion debate, leading it to bad turnovers and finally to a dead end.

    The migration of concepts from one field to another, so fashionable in our period of time, has only a limited ray of action. For example, the migration of elements of the chaos theory in religious studies49 is, of course, interesting and stimulating but it can provoke a violent rejection from both fields, founded on the conviction that such a migration is illegitimate as appropriating the respective notion out of its context.

    In my view, the only way to avoid the dead end of the science/religion debate is to adopt the transdisciplinary hermeneutics. John van Breda will develop in his talk51.

    Homo sui transcendentalis is in the process of being born. He is not some new man but man reborn. This new birth is a potentiality inscribed in our very being.

    His language is generated by the notions of levels of Reality of the Subject, levels of Reality of the Object and the Hidden Third. In transdisciplinary hermeneutics, the classic real/imaginary dichotomy disappears. We can think of a level of Reality of the Object or of the Subject as being a crease of the Hidden Third. The real is a crease of the imagination and the imagination is a crease of the real. The ancients were right: there is indeed an imaginatio vera, a foundational, true, creative, visionary imagination.

    At a more or less long term, we can predict that the transdisciplinary hermeneutics will lead to what Gadamer calls fusion of horizons1. Apostel et al., 1972.

    3. Duguet, 1972, p. 13.

    5. Lichnerowicz, 1972, pp. 130-131.

    7. Nicolescu, 1985.

    9. Descombes, 2004.

    11. Idem, pp. 363-364.

    13. Gibbons, 1994.

    15. Thompson Klein et al., 2001.

    17. Morin, 1999.

    19. Galileo, 1992, p. 192.

    21. Nicolescu, 1996, pp. 54-55.

    23. Husserl, 1966.

    25. Nicolescu, 1982, pp. 68-77.

    27. Heisenberg,1998.

    29. Ibid., p. 258.

    31. Idem, p. 261.

    33. Lupasco, 1951.

    35. Heisenberg, 1971, pp. 241-242 ;

    37. Idem, p. 63.

    39. Ibid., p. 48.

    41. Morin, 1977, 1980, 1986, 1991, 200, 2004.

    43. Nicolescu, 2004.

    45. Pauli, 1999, chapter “Science and Western Thinking”, p. 178. This chapter was first published in 1955, in Europa –Erbe und Aufgabe, Internazionaler Gelehrtehkongress, Meinz.

    47. Nicolescu, 2003.

    49. Cazenave, 2006, p. 53-60 ; Nicolescu, 2006, p. 19-29 ; Staune, 2006, p. 197-202.

    51. Nicolescu, 1996.

    1

    Recent advances in embryo-related research, in particular the isolation of human embryonic stem cells in 1998, have raised the possibility that research involving human embryos might open new fields of scientific research and medicine, with new treatments for many diseases and with economic benefits for those who first develop some of the technologies. This research is already leading to significant new insights in the basic biology of the embryo as the scientific field of embryology or developmental biology explodes with new knowledge.

    The controversy that has arisen over these developments is well known. Advocates of human embryo research point to the value of advancing scientific knowledge and to its potential for medical benefit. Opponents argue that the human embryo must never be used as a mere object of research. It may be treated therapeutically, in ways that advance its own health, but never used for the sake of knowledge or for the treatment of someone else. Often, those who object to human embryo draw on science to support their argument. They point for instance to the joining of egg and sperm to form the complete genomic DNA of life, or to the immediate and complex structure of the fertilized egg, to support their argument that the moral equivalent of a full human being is present from conception.

    The debate between advocates and opponents of research is played out in many political contexts. At least in the United States, politicians adopt one position or another on embryo research, not always on principle, but because it will help them win votes. Whether for principle or for convenience, however, political views on complex subjects like the morality of human embryo research are embedded in political pressures and constraints, which affect the conduct of the debate at every level. The political, in turn, is closely linked with economic considerations, which range from national competitiveness to corporate interests. Which nations, which corporations, which universities will “win” the race to turn embryo-related research into economically valuable treatments? Anyone active in the debate, whether scientist, religious scholar, or policy analyst, knows very well that it is naïve to ignore these political and economic factors. What is not so clear is whether these individuals always realize how their work as scholars is affected by the political context that surrounds them.

    Looking only at the surface of the debate, one might be tempted to say that the opponents of this research are using a transdisciplinary method of reflection. Advocates of research, on the other hand, might be seen as interested only in the science and in what benefits research. As a result, it might be thought that the advocates of research, precisely because they lack a commitment to transdisciplinarity, are guilty of diminished regard for human uniqueness and human dignity, leaving the advance of scientific knowledge and medicine the supreme value. This paper is an effort to dig below these initial impressions.

    Transdisciplinarity: Definitions and Challenges

    As an intellectual method, transdisciplinarity offers the promise of taking various fields of research into account, but also of giving careful attention to the economic, social, and political factors that shape and drive the discussion. In this first section, I ask about the definition of transdisciplinarity, how it calls attention to social and political factors, and what its advocates suggest that it offers us.

    In the effort to define transdisciplinarity, the first point to be made is to distinguish transdisciplinarity from disciplinarity, which of course is the organizing principle of the modern research university. Disciplinary studies allow for the development of discrete approaches to distinct realms, based on a foundation of methodological reductionism that promises advances in human understanding by first isolating each part or level of nature from each other. This approach has been wildly generative of new knowledge, especially in the sciences and in related technologies.

    At the same time, as disciplines sub-divide, the net effect is increasingly unsatisfactory in science and technology itself, with the growing realization that wholes (such as cells and their cytoplasm, the whole genome with its “junk DNA,” tissue niches, not to mention ecosystems and social systems) play determinative roles over the constituent parts, whose behavior cannot be fully predicted based on a thorough knowledge of the part in isolation from the whole. Thus we see not just the study of proteins but “proteomics” (the study of the whole, living system of protein expression within an organism in real time) and not just genes but genomics, even comparative genomics that compares base by base the DNA of one species with another in order to understand the evolution of genetic difference.

    One indicator of this trend is the scientific journal Omics, A Journal of IntegrativeBiology, which “seeks high quality, original-research papers dealing with all aspects of integrative biology, diverse ‘OMICS-es,’ such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, pharmacogenomics, physiomics, etc., and their integration, data analysis, and modeling.”3 According to this definition, interdisciplinary discourse (like transdisciplinarity) moves into the spaces between the disciplines, not confined to the scope of the disciplines themselves and not limited to getting them to talk to each other, but in working through them to unexplored territory. Compare van Huyssteen with this statement from the Charter: “The keystone of transdisciplinarity is the semantic and practical unification of the meanings that traverse and lay beyond different disciplines….In comparison with interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity is multireferential and multidimensional.”5 Here we find a clear statement of the promise of transdisciplinarity, with its anticipation of “the emergence of new data” and the offer of “a new vision of nature and reality.” On the basis of this promise, the distinction between transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity becomes more clear, at least in the hopes of the advocates of transdisciplinarity. Unlike interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity goes beyond the “data” of any of the disciplines and finds its way to what has previously been neglected. The Call also suggests that compared to disciplinary research, transdisciplinarity opens “an even richer vein in a quest for synthesis” that promises to lead to “the emergence of new data.”7

    This statement points in the right direction but perhaps should go even further. Perhaps we should say something like this: transdisciplinarity considers the social, economic, and political context, the “real world” of political power and persuasive rhetoric, and is suspicious of any view of academic work that ignores other disciplines or ignores the political context that supports and uses research. The “Charter of Transdisciplinarity contains a similar statement, also pointing in the right direction but perhaps overly cautious: “The transdisciplinary vision is resolutely open insofar as it goes beyond the field of the exact sciences and demands their dialogue and their reconciliation with the humanities and the social sciences, as well as with art, literature, poetry and spiritual experience.”9

    The first thing to be said about ANT is that this is a hypothetic idea or thought experiment rather than a specific technology. One of the leading documents that promotes consideration of ANT defines it as “a broad conceptual proposal for producing pluripotent stem cells without creating and destroying embryos.”11

    What is the difference between the entity created by ANT and the same sort of entity created by SCNT or, for that matter, by fertilization? According to the advocates of OAR-ANT, the difference is both ontological and biochemical. Biochemically, the product of OAR-ANT and the product of SCNT will be different because the two will express different transcription factors. It is known that zygotes and hESCs express different factors. Detecting these factors is routinely used in the laboratory to distinguish various types of cells in terms of their developmental status.  If some transcription factors expressed in the zygote are known not to be expressed in the pluripotent cell, and vice versa, this fact (according to the advocates of OAR-ANT) can be used to provide reassurance that laboratories are dealing with cells, not embryos. They might even control some of these factors to “ensure that the epigenetic state of the resulting single cell would immediately be different from that of an embryo.”13 In other words, the potency and the ontological status (which in some ways are the same thing) both depend on the presence of certain key biochemical factors, which may in the end be manipulated. What might seem strange about all this is the slender thread of difference between the cluster of cloned cells that make up the totipotent “embryo” and the cluster of cloned cells that are merely pluripotent stem cells. “Transcription factors” is not part of the daily vocabulary of most people, and they are to be forgiven if they fail to see how a difference in the presence of these factors can make such a huge moral difference. “Through systems biology, we are beginning to recognize how even a small change of one or a few genes can affect the entire downstream working of an enormous network of biochemical processes.” This may be true from a scientific point of view, but it represents a new meaning of the word potentiality, in a way this will lead quite predictably to further confusion and debate.

    In fairness, it should probably be said that the public’s view of potentiality is based on a vague notion of an undetermined future, as when young people are routinely told that they have the potential to become whatever they want. This is clearly not what advocates of ANT or developmental biologists have in mind when they speak of the potential of zygotes or pluripotent cells. If there is a deeper reservoir of meaning that lies beneath the surface of the public’s view of potential, it is mostly likely grounded in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition which sees the potential of the embryo as an inherent power of the whole, possessed not in any part but only in the whole.

    The key point to note here is that for the advocates of ANT, the biochemical part is the necessary and sufficient ingredient that determines the potency, ontological status, and moral worth of the whole. Again, Hurlbut: Speaking of the deliberations of the President’s Council on Bioethics, Hurlbut: “We had to ponder what potential capabilities and manifestations of form or function, endow a developing live with human value and inviolability. Similarly, we had to ask what lack of these qualities or capacities reduces a biologic entity to raw material, mere matter and information, to be instrumentally used for projects of the human will.15 What ANT produces never has the “capacity to be considered a human embryo.”

    Talent continues is greater detail: “The entity which ANT could create would produce pluripotent stem cells from a laboratory-constructed cellular source lacking the developmental potential of a human embryo….It renders moot the question of whether human life begins at creation or implantation of an embryo since the entity that ANT could create would not have at its inception the organizational and developmental capability to be considered a human life.”17

    It is clear to Talent himself that not everyone will agree and that some will think he is splitting hairs. After all, the product of ANT will look like the cloned embryo or the product of SCNT. It will have much of the same function as the product of SCNT. Looking at these similarities, Talent insists, is misleading, for “…it fails to account for the possibility, created by Altered Nuclear Transfer and some other alternative methods, that an entity may be ‘virtually identical’ to an embryo in the sense that it has a similar external appearance (and can seem to be developing as it divides) without ever possessing the inherent organizational capability to be rightly considered a human being.”19 The Council, recognizing that this is far from convincing, adds this lengthy paragraph:

    Nonetheless, some critics wonder how the product of that nuclear transfer is in fact essentially different from—and less an embryo than—a fertilized egg into which the same disabling genetic alteration is introduced only after normal fertilization. A person’s perception of the truth in this matter may depend on how easy it is to turn the genetic defect on or off. The easier it is to activate and deactivate the genetic defect, the more this proposal looks like interfering with the normal development of an embryo rather than manufacture of an artificial non-organismic structure. Unless it can be shown that the artifact is not truly an embryo—that is, that it lacks (by design) the possibility of becoming not only a live-born human but an organized, differentiating early human embryo and fetus—there will likely be ethical debate on whether it is permissible to continue “abusing” the embryo-like entity by suppressing the genes it needs for development. Furthermore, even if the artifact were conclusively shown to lack genes indispensable for becoming an organized, differentiating human embryo, some critics might continue to insist that it was destined to become a defective, severely deformed human embryo, the defect and deformity having been deliberately inflicted on it by the scientist. Experimental work in animals, however, might help resolve these questions and allay these concerns. If, for example, the biological begins to grow in ways that resemble unorganized cells in a tissue culture, critics may gain confidence in the non-embryonic character of the product.

    Advocates of ANT are criticized from two sides. Some argue that what they are proposing is the worst of all possible solutions, making embryo research only worse by crippling the embryo first, then brutalizing it in its pitiful vulnerability. Whether they can fend off that attack looks doubtful at the moment, in part because the advocates of embryo research, including those who would limit this research to the use of embryos already created for fertility purposes and destined to be discarded. These advocates of less-restricted embryo research see ANT as a diversion, an impossible solution to an unnecessary problem, which only serves to undermine political support in the United States for more standard approaches to embryo research and nuclear transfer technology.

    Transdisciplinarity in Public Debate

    The public debate over embryo research extends, in rhetoric and theme, far beyond the discussion of potentiality and strategies such as ANT. In this final section, some of these other themes are noted briefly.

    Dead embryos Most closely tied to the ANT debate is the question of the use of “dead” embryos as a possible source of hESCs. The reasoning is that if the embryo is already “dead” in terms of its usefulness in the context of reproductive medicine, then it is “dead” ontologically as an organism. Whatever value or status it may have had is now gone, and its “parts,” such as the cells of its inner cell mass, may be “harvested” without any moral hesitation.

    In terms of totipotency and pluripotency, a “dead” embryo would appear to have lost its totipotency even while its cells maintain their pluripotency. Whether this is true scientifically and whether it could be exploited as a technique that provides hESCs without destroying a live embryo remains to be seen. Advocating research in pursuit of this strategy, U. S. Senator Coleman of Minnesota stated: “The dividing line, though, is whether you have totipotency…” Coleman continues: “What we look at with dead embryos are cells that are pluripotent. I don’t know if it is a great analogy, but even after death we can harvest organs that have the ability to serve the function you want them to serve. So dead embryos are embryos that have no totipotency but have pluripotency. You get pluripotent cells.”21

    Link to IVF More directly than abortion, in vitro fertilization bears immediately on the U. S. debate on embryo research, especially in the way the issue has been put most recently to the Congress. The majority of Americans and of the members of Congress believe that current U. S. policy, set in place in August 2001 by President George W. Bush, is too restrictive. The question, then, is whether to liberalize this policy slightly by allowing U. S. federal funds to support research using hESCs derived from an open (and growing) list of embryos that are donated as unneeded by couples who created them for reproductive purposes. The fact that thousands of these embryos are destroyed annually leads many to think that they would better be donated for research, even if that research also destroys them, and even if taxpayers who objects have no way to avoid their money being used for this purpose. IVF is generally very popular in the U.S., even among many religious conservatives, and it is not likely to be banned.

    One example of the link between IVF and embryo research is made by U.S. Senator Dorgan, who argues that research opponents should just be honest and declare themselves as IVF opponents as well. : “…if someone tries to throw away an embryo, as they do every day, if they try to throw one away, have someone arrest them because you are throwing away a human being. It is, of course, not a human being. It has the potential to become a human being if it is implanted in a woman’s uterus and grown to term.”23 In this statement, Smith argues that his position is consistent with the Scriptures. Most conservative Protestants disagree with Smith, who holds his view largely because of peculiarities in Mormon versus traditional Protestant thought. According to Senator Smith, “Without being implanted in a mother’s womb, an IVF embryo is a group of cells growing in a petri dish….it is the act of implantation within a
    mother that gives them life.”25

    Faith and Science Finally, we can ask how this particular public debate might be perceived by its participants as an episode in a long-running “conflict” between faith and science. Not surprisingly, the answer depends on whether one supports embryo research or not. Rarely, of course, will the opponents of embryo research describe their position as a conflict between faith and science, but they will hint at their sense of a conflict of scientific versus religious values. In a brief speech given by Pres. Bush when he vetoed a bill to liberalize embryo research, the President said that the new law would cross a moral line: “Crossing the line would needlessly encourage a conflict between science and ethics that can only do damage to both, and to our nation as a whole.”27 Seen another way, however, even the political opponents of liberalized embryo research would say that faith and science are not in conflict, as long as science is willing to remain within the moral limits set by religion.

    The situation is obviously easier for people such as Sen. Smith (Oregon). In his final remarks on the subject in the recent Senate debate, he suggested that this discussion is “an issue that brings us right to the edge of science and faith. I have argued for several years now that science and faith need not be in conflict on this issue.”29

    The facts surrounding this book prompt us to ask: when is a scholar also an advocate, and when does an advocate cease to be a scholar? In the spirit of transdisciplinarity, we rightly reject the delusion of a detached, uncommitted scholar, working alone in the pure pursuit of truth. To think this of ourselves is to be blinded to our own prejudices and distortions. Better to be clear about where we stand and to be clear with our readers, too. But once we are clear with ourselves and others about where we stand on complex issues, can we trust our own scholarship to lead us forward, not as partisan debaters for a pre-set thesis, but as investigators seeking further illumination? Can we be honest about the extent to which we are advocates and, at the same time, relentless in our pursuit of intellectual rigor? As scholars, we are also citizens; and as citizens, we our scholars, whose integrity is a unique form of public service. For some of us, these loyalties are compounded further in that we are members of religious institutions, sometimes employed or designated with offices of responsibility. These duties may be in conflict. They will almost certainly be confusing, even conceptually messy. The call to transdisciplinarity, precisely because it is a call to intellectual courage, is also a call to clarity and honesty.

    ——————————-
    2 From the instructions to contributors to the journal, Omics, at http://www.liebertpub.com/manuscript.aspx?omi

    4Charter of Transdisciplinarity , Article 4 and 6, available at http://nicol.club.fr/ciret/english/charten.htm.

    6Metanexus Announcement at www.metanexus.net/conference2007

    8Charter of Transdisciplinarity, Article 5.

    10Hadley Arkes, et al., Joint Statement, “Production of Pluripotent Stem Cells by Oocyte Assisted Reprogramming,” June 20, 2005; the statement is endorsed by 35 individuals.

    12Arkes et al., “Production.”

    14 Hurlbut

    16Talent, “Stem Cell Research.”

    18Talent, “Stem Cell Research.”

    20 U. S. Senator Coleman, S4358.

    22 U. S. Senator Dorgan, speech on the floor of the U. S. Senate, Congressional Record, April 11, 2007, (S4325).

    24 Smith, speech on April 11, 2007, (S4331-4332).

    26 President George W. Bush, “President Discusses Stem Cell Research Policy,” July 19, 2006, available at www.whitehouse.gov.

    28Smith (Oregon), S4368-4369.

    1 According to Snow, science and the humanities have drifted away so far apart that it is not often possible for practitioners in the two fields to communicate, and the difference appears to be irrevocable. Within the same university the scientists and the humanists stay physically close to each other, yet they seldom talk and seldom learn about what each other is doing. And when they do talk with each other, the tone tends to be quite antagonistic, as both sides tend to accuse the other of all sorts of things. Those in the academia might well remember that a few years ago there was a big furor starting from this mistrust between scientists and humanists. Alan Sokal, a noted physicist, wrote a hoax article and was accepted for publication by a famous journal in literary theory.3 This means that there is only one thing. The substance here means God Himself, which for Spinoza is one and the same with reality. God appears at once as one entity and as infinitely many aspects of it. Both subject and object are only aspects of God; hence they are fundamentally one and the same. Minds and bodies are thus essentially the same; it is only through our finite minds that these are conceived as separate entities. In another Proposition (P15), he says “Whatever exists is in God, and nothing can exist or be conceived without God.”5

    The gist of Proposition 12 here is that there is only one thing and that thing is not divided. If the one Substance can be divided into parts, which retain its original nature. That is if the parts are each individual substances, then as Spinoza has earlier argued each part would be then infinite, self causing and possessing different attributes or properties, all of which are contrary to the nature of substance. But if the parts do not have the characteristics of Substance, then the parts do not have the characteristics that the whole has, which is also contradictory. To put it in other words, for Spinoza God or Nature is the one Substance, and it cannot be divided because if it were, then each of the parts would then be an individual substance. As Spinoza has earlier argued that a substance is self causing and is infinite, then there cannot be more than one substance. On the other hand, if the parts do not have these characteristics then they would not actually be parts of the Substance because they do not have the characteristics of the whole. The picture here is that of the whole Nature, which is considered as only one and cannot be separated in such a way that the resulting parts do not belong to each other in any way. For Spinoza that is contrary to reason. The apparent fact that there are many things in the world only reflects the different attributes that Substance has. The facts that people are different, that mountains and lakes are not the same, etc., are only apparent rather than real. All things do indeed belong to Nature in such a way that they are no parts. On the contrary they are in a sense Substance itself.

    Spinoza continues the same line in Proposition 14:

    P14 Except God , no substance can be or be conceived.
    Dem.: Since God is an absolutely infinite being, of whom no attribute which expresses an essence of substance can be denied (by D6), and he necesarily exists (by P11), if there were any substance except God, it would have to be explained through some attribute of God, and so two substances of the same attribute would exist, which (by P5) is absurd. And so except God, no substance can be or, consequently, be conceived. For if it could be conceived, it would have to be conceived as existing. But this (by the first part of this demonstration) is absurd. Therefore, except God no substance can be or be conceived, q.e.d.

    Cor. 1: From this it follows most clearly, first, that God is unique, i.e. (by D6), that in Nature there is only one substance, andthat it is absolutely infinite (as we indicated in P10S).

    Cor. 2: It follows, second, that an extended thing and a thinking thing are either attributes of God, or (by A1) affections of God’s attributes.7

    What this means, in essence, is that space does not exist prior to its characterization. This does not mean, absurdly, that without any human being to characterizes space there is no space and everything collapses onto an absolute singularity. But what is meant is that any type of space as we know it, such that it extends and is commonly thought to be three dimensional and that it provides a framework for measuring distances, and so on, is only possible because the activity of characterizing it. For example, we characterize space by measuring it, which requires that there be things which are located apart from one another. Without these no characterization of space would be possible, and that is tantamount to saying that we human beings would have no connection to space by any means, for all possible action with which we are connected to space (with which space does figure in one way or another in our cognitive acts) presupposes that space depends on our acts of separating things from one another, putting them at a certain distance and devising a system of measuring it. In this way ‘space’ is a relational concept. Without the existence of disparate things in its frame, there would be no way to measure anything and no characterization would then be possible. Space, if anything, is our way to conceptualize distance, so without these presuppositions it would be the same to conclude that there is no space.

    An obvious rejoinder to this interpretation is that all it seems to succeed in claiming is for the necessity of the conception of space depending on the presuppositions, but not space itself, which as a self subsisting entity does not seem to be in such a need. However, Nāgārjuna is clear to point out that ordinary things, those that we do recognize in our everyday life, do in fact depend on conceptualization, and since space is part and parcel of everyday life and is a framework whereby ordinary things can have their places, space does depend on conceptualization. It is true that our conceptualization does not cause space to exist or to cease to exist. But any possible way in which space is related to our concern at all is always through conceptualization or characterization. Hence there is a sense in saying that space does not exist prior to its characterization.

    In the second verse, Nāgārjuna claims that it is not possible for a thing to exist without its characteristics. We can see this point more clearly if we imagine a case where a thing exists but do not possess any characteristic at all. It has no color, no weight, no shape, no taste, no form, nothing. But then what is the difference between the existence of the thing and its non-existence? So the upshot is that a thing depends on its characteristics for its existence. But on the other hand the other way round is also the case, for without the thing, its characteristics would have no place to claim their existence also. A physical characteristic, such as roundness, would not be instantiated were it not for the actual existence of round things. So both the thing and its characteristics do indeed depend on each other.

    In another passage, Nāgārjuna says that any differences among things are only apparent, which bears a striking resemblance to Spinoza as we have seen above:

    Since different things connect to one another,
    But in seeing, etc.,
    There is no difference,
    They cannot connect.

    Not only in seeing, etc.,
    Is there no such difference:
    When one thing and another are simultaneous,
    It is also not tenable that there is difference (MMK XIV: 3-4).1 C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

    3 Spinoza, Baruch de. The Collected Works of Spinoza, Edwin Curley transl. and ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985), p. 419.

    5 Spinoza, Baruch de. The Collected Works of Spinoza, p. 419.

    7 Nāgārjuna, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamādhayamakakārika, (Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 14.

    1 On the other hand, we see multiple crises and problems3. Describing the same complex reality we are being faced with, Manfred Max-Neef uses the term ‘problematiques’5. The consequences of this approach are all too familiar to us. Once the subject–object relation has been severed at the epistemological level, it opens the door for the subject and object to drift further and further apart to the point where there is almost a complete detachment from the world and where there is no more understanding or appreciation of the relationship between our thinking and doing. The logical outflow of this position, in turn, is one of absconding ourselves from any intellectual, moral-ethical or socio-political responsibility and accountability for the consequences of our own thinking and actions. Alternatively, should we accept some form of responsibility and accountability and decide on getting involved in the task of looking for solutions, but still follow the instrumental logic of Cartesianism, we would most probably be inclined to look for techno-scientific type of solutions only. However, the last thing on our minds, literarily and figuratively speaking, would be to change the way we think – or more precisely, changing the way we think about our thinking. There would simply be no need for this as our resolve in the status of our own ideas and knowledge have undergone some spectacular transformation – from the mere dancing images or chimera on the wall inside Plato’s cave, to the absolute certainty of Cartesian mathematical principles, through to the Kantian transcendental thought categories, completely independent from the world and totally self-sufficient in and for themselves (an sich) for their own existence and validity – but always sufficiently removed from the world to, seemingly, have no relation to the crises unfolding in front of our eyes. Therefore, should we continue to allow these assumptions and ideas associated with this type of fragmentary thought into our own thinking whilst looking for the unity of our knowledge, we would certainly be running the risk of perpetuating the very problems of fragmentation we are hoping to overcome.

    Thinking the Complex

    The inseparability of the subject–object relation is the reverse side of the assertion that our detachment from the world and our inability to ‘see’ a connection between our thinking and doing is rooted in the subject <–> object partition. Implied in this argument is another assertion, namely that our re-connection to the world is dependent upon our ability to posit this inseparability of the subject and object as a mutually interdependent relationship. In other words, what is important for us is to imagine our own coming into consciousness as a process in which the subject becomes aware of its ‘otherness’ in the world in a self-affirming and inclusive way. To understand the emergence of this ‘otherness’ in the act of consciousness as affirming, rather than negating, the position of the nonseparability of subject–object relation presupposes what Edgar Morin has been referring to as the ability to ‘thinking the complex’. Whilst accepting the consequences of the subject distinguishing itself from the object in the act of consciousness, it means avoiding interpreting this in terms of the binary logic of Cartesianism. Instead of following this path of dualism, Morin argues that we need to reform our thinking so that what appears as ‘separation’ or ‘partition’ between the subject and object can be imagined as a relationship of ‘interdependent circularity’, or as he puts it: “a thinking that re-links that which is disjointed and compartmentalised …. a thinking capable of conceiving recursive relations”7. Whether we have already reached such a point of no-return or not is a moot point on which the proverbial jury is still out. However, what this does suggest is that there is a sense of urgency behind our attempts to unify our fragmented knowledge-systems. The overcoming of the fractured subject <–> object relation and the consequences hereof for our interpretation, understanding and responses to the world we are living in is, certainly, not of theoretical or philosophical interest only. Consequently, it is then in this context that this particular attempt to develop a transdisciplinary hermeneutics is inspired by a vision of the world in which our knowledge-systems have become unified, where the intellectual and institutional space and framework for complex thinking and learning have been created by an ongoing and truly trans-disciplinary dialogue and where all of this are contributing to the finding of long-term, sustainable solutions to those complex problems threatening our stay on earth if remained unresolved.

    Whether I succeed or fail in this endeavour I will leave up to the reader-listener to judge. However, I ask of the reader-listener to be judged from the point of view of accepting the inseparability of the subject–object relation. I, therefore, ask the reader-listener therefore not to be judged from the point of view of reductionism, where the subjectivist and objectivist positions of idealism and positivism-empiricism reign supreme on either side of the Cartesian chasm. I would also ask the reader-listener not to be judged from the even more problematic position of deconstructionism where the subject–object relation has been imploded as a result of the ‘deconstruction’ of both the ‘subject’ and ‘object’ as mere social reconstructions. I am not suggesting here not engage in rigorous debate with these positions at all, as will become clearer in my defence of hermeneutics immediately below. However, it is my view that both forms of reductionism and deconstructionism are too simplistic for our purposes of understanding and representing the complex unity of the subject–object relation. As has been alluded to so far, this notion of a ‘complex unity’ can only be imagined in terms of a notion of ‘interdependent circularity’ in which the subject, in the act of consciousness, both distinguishes itself from and identifies itself with the object. To the extent that the positions of idealism, positivism and deconstructionism fail to comprehend and represent the complex unity involved in the subject–object relation, by separating or tearing the latter apart, do they render themselves obsolete for our task at hand of developing a transdisciplinary hermeneutics which not only seeks to understand the complexity of our multi-leveled relationship to the world, but to use such understanding for the purposes of finding answers to the unity of our knowledge. It is, then, on this basis of not only seeking to understand the unity, not the separation or demolition, of the subject–object relation that this study will proceed, but also, to the extent that we succeed in doing so, to consider the positive consequences and outcomes of such hermeneutic inquiry to work towards the creation a truly trans-disciplinary dialogue between the sciences and to achieve the ultimate goal of the unification of our fragmented knowledge-systems. 

    2. In Defence of Hermeneutics – Some Philosophical Considerations 

    Why choose a ‘hermeneutical’ approach to focus the attention on overcoming the problem of disciplinary fragmentation? And, more specifically, why try and join ‘transdisciplinarity’ with ‘hermeneutics’ to develop a ‘transdisciplinary hermeneutics’ at a time when the field of hermeneutics has come under such severe criticism from post-modern thinkers such as Foucault and Derrida. Derrida in particular has been scathing in his attack on hermeneutics and has chosen to drop the term all together from his own philosophical vocabulary. In his philosophy of deconstruction and difference, Derrida not only disputes the possibility of discovering any form of ‘truth’, but also argues that there are no thought rules (methodologies or methods) to which we could appeal or that can guide our thinking along the way as it were. ‘Truth’ is not only an illusion as it is only through numerous socially constructed iterations and repetition that we come to believe in the ‘universality’ of these (repeated) ideas, values and principles. However, in the end, these are nothing more than social constructions and it is the task of deconstructionism to be vigilant and guard against treating any notion, including that of the ‘subject’ and ‘object’ per se, as universally true. It is, then, against this background that Derrida launches his fundamental critique of hermeneutics to the extent of getting rid of this notion altogether. For him, hermeneutics is too closely associated with the ‘discovery’ of ‘hidden meaning(s)’ somewhere to be ‘revealed’ to the hermeneut-interpreter9 and emerging quantum cosmologies11. Or, to put it another way, applying the principle of ‘thinking the complex’ to the subject–object relationship is to admit from the outset that current fragmentation of the world and our knowledge-systems constitutes both an epistemological and ontological challenge, at the same time. Attempts to either severe the subject – object relationship will not only end up with two more sticks, each with their own inseparable subject – object ends, but attempts insisting on such separation will lead us back into the trap of Cartesianism or post-modern reductionism with a similar end-result or position of a ‘reification’ in our self-reflective thought – i.e. thinking from a position of severance or detachment from the world – the latter losing any notion of having ontological status, either as ideas / mathematical principles in the mind or as a socially or inter-subjectively reconstructed illusion. In either case, as the subject – object relationship has been severed, our ‘detached thinking’ in itself cannot be conceived of as having contributed in any way to the complex problems of the world. This is thought trapped inside itself and signifies the epitome of fragmented thinking, which has the cunning ability to “ab-stract, that is, to extract an object from a given field, (it) rejects the links and interconnections with the environment, and inserts it in the abstract conceptual zone of the compartmentalised discipline, whose boundaries arbitrarily break the systemicity (the relation of the part to the whole) and multi-dimensionality of phenomena”13. Indeed, following the logic of this mode of thought it would appear that the contours or fissures of our fragmentary thinking have been significantly deepened. Not only have we structured and institutionalised our intellectual life according to definite, almost ‘reified’, disciplinary boundaries, but surprisingly enough the self-critique of our own actions and thinking emanating from within such a fragmented structure seems to display very similar lines of division and separation.

    As already mentioned, I do not wish to enter into a detailed analysis of Derrida’s deconstructionist philosophy any further. The purpose with these few cursory critical remarks is rather to explicate that the choice of a transdisciplinary hermeneutical approach to overcoming the already mentioned problem of fragmentation in our knowledge-systems is in fact a post-postmodern choice. It is to demonstrate that, at some fundamental level of our thinking, we cannot escape the logical impossibility of ‘presuppositionless’ thinking, interpretation and understanding. In fact, the very act of reaching ‘commonality’ or ‘common understanding’ is being made possible because of the presence of our different presuppositions, not because of their absence. Therefore, by bringing the key notions of hermeneutics and transdisciplinarity together holds great potential not only for being able to ‘think the complex’, i.e. the ability of conceiving simultaneously of difference and coherence, of discontinuity and continuity as interdependent recursive relationships, but also being able to demonstrate how, on the basis of this mode of thought, it becomes possible to imagine the emergence of a meaningful trans-disciplinary dialogue as a means of moving beyond disciplinary boundaries. This is a far cry from what might be construed as wanting to introduce or en-force some sort of a ‘meta science’ out of the plurality of existing sciences. ‘Transdisciplinary hermeneutics’ is rather an attempt to investigate the possibilities of not only what happens when we cross disciplinary boundaries, but also how this may happen – including looking into the consequences of this for our understanding of and responding to our unsustainable world. When looked at from this type of hermeneutical perspective, it indeed becomes possible to envisage that such a trans-disciplinary dialogue can materialize in a manner which both respects and transcends disciplinary boundaries and which, in turn, may result in the generation of ‘new’, trans-disciplinary knowledge and solutions to some of the complex problems were currently facing today.

    It is then against this background of a post-postmodern position that this task of developing a transdisciplinary hermeneutics is approached. Hermeneutics originally developed as a general ‘theory of understanding’ with a view to give a systematic exposition of what happens in any act of ‘understanding’, whether such understanding occurs in everyday life and/or in our scientific endeavours. Over time, this general definition of hermeneutics became very closely, almost exclusively, associated with textual interpretation and understanding – whether these texts were of religious, juridical or artistic (literature) nature. However, responding to and wanting to take up the challenge of the ‘unity of our knowledge’ as a prerequisite for finding sustainable solutions to the complex problems facing us, the transdisciplinary hermeneutics envisaged here wishes to return to the intensions and attempts by some of the original thinkers such as Goethe, Schleiermacher and Dilthey to establish a unified hermeneutical foundation for all the disciplines. Indeed, the unprecedented proliferation of disciplines as well as the ensuing vociferous critique coming from the quarters of post-modernism has just about shattered the vision of a unity in our knowledge-systems held and expressed by these original thinkers. However, the challenge to respond to the problematiques facing us today from a position where the disciplinary divide has been overcome, by far outweighs any developments such as the disciplinary ‘big bang’ or the critique weighing down on us and telling us to give up on a ‘dead and buried’ romantic and idealistic dream. To be sure, in this paper the intention is not necessary to agree with the content of the idealistic and romantic philosophies of a Goethe, Schleiermacher or Dilthey. Whilst agreeing with their overall vision of the unification of our knowledge, the idea is, rather, to take a fresh look at how this vision can be achieved from a transdisciplinary perspective.

    Transdisciplinarity, as articulated by one of its eminent proponents Basarab Nicolescu, coming from within the scientific field of quantum physics shows tremendous potential for reviving this original vision of a unity in knowledge in a manner which goes beyond some of the simplistic ideas espoused by the romantic and idealistic philosophies of these original founding figures. Furthermore, when the key ideas of transdisciplinarity are integrated with those from the post-romantic hermeneutical philosophy of someone like Hans-George Gadamer, we are then, I believe, giving a significant step forward in developing a unified ‘transdisciplinary hermeneutics’ which, in turn, may very well have sufficient potential of providing a systematic framework for understanding the intricacies and complexities involved in bridging the disciplinary divide. Such is the task and challenge ahead of us. The way in which I intend to proceed with this task will be two-fold. Firstly, to give a short overview of the three pillars or axioms of transdisciplinarity expressed in the thoughts of Basarab Nicolescu. In this regard, I hope to demonstrate how the notions of different ‘levels of reality’ with their corresponding ‘levels of perception’, the ‘logic of the included middle’ and ‘complexity’ constitute the ontological, epistemological and logical conditions for understanding the possibility of disciplinary boundary crossing. Here, in particular, I intend to focus on the crucial notion of the ‘complex unity’ between the ‘transdisciplinary subject’ and ‘transdisciplinary object’, a notion, which, if correctly understood in its dynamic and multi-dimensional terms is absolutely key in developing a transdisciplinary hermeneutics. Secondly, building onto these foundations of a multi-dimensional ontology and multi-referential epistemology, I intend to demonstrate that, if successfully incorporated and integrated with some of the key hermeneutical ideas developed by Gadamer, we can start to imagine the possibility of the unity of our knowledge through a truly enriched trans-disciplinary dialogue.

    In this regard, I intend to specifically explore the interface between what happens at the epistemological-ontological level and the level of interdisciplinary boundary crossing. The key to understanding this important interface would be to bring together and integrate Nicolescu’s ideas of a complex unity between the ‘transdisciplinary subject’ and ‘transdisciplinary object’ with Gadamer’s notion of understanding as a ‘fusion of horizons’. In this way it becomes possible to comprehend the overlap between the crossing of ‘levels of reality’ and, at the same time, the crossing of disciplinary boundaries. In short, we could then refer to this interface as a ‘fusion of disciplinary horizons’, depicting the fact that the possibility of crossing disciplinary boundaries is rooted in and enabled by our ability to understand fundamentally different ‘levels of reality’. This happens when there is a fundamental process of explicating, questioning, suspending and changing of presuppositions and assumptions that, to use biological language and concepts, the permeability or porous nature of the disciplinary boundaries really become manifest. Boundaries are there, on the one hand, to delineate a certain body of knowledge, and yet, on the other hand, their role and function is to allow for an exchange or flow of ideas and knowledge with other disciplines. To take the usage of these biological imagery and concepts one step further, this notion of a ‘fusion of horizons’ shows some strong similarities with that of ‘symbiosis’15 at the conceptual level of ontological, epistemological and logical reasoning. As already mentioned, it is not inappropriate to use metaphors from other disciplines, especially in this context of trans-disciplinary dialogue, to help bring across rather complex ideas – but not in a way to replace or substitute what needs to be explained at the primary level of conceptual explanation. In other words, once the nature and possibility of the ‘unity of knowledge’ has been explained conceptually at the ontological, epistemological and logical levels, it then becomes possible to understand how at the level of trans-disciplinary dialogue such unity can be materialised. Therefore in order to achieve this, the discussion will turn its focus onto the three ‘pillars’ or ‘axioms’ of Transdisciplinarity, from which and on the basis of which the required conceptual explanation for the possible unity of our knowledge will be conducted. Although three pillars or axioms, I will discuss them under following five headings for the sake of maximum clarity:

    Transdisciplinarity: Multi-dimensional Ontology

    As far as Transdisciplinarity’s conception and definition ‘reality’ is concerned, Nicolescu asserts that there are three important complementary notions to be considered. Firstly the ‘ontological’ definition of reality refers to Nature in the sense that: “Insofar as Nature participates in the being of the world, one must give an ontological dimension to the concept of Reality. Nature is an immense, inexhaustible source of the unknown which even justifies the existence of science. Reality is not merely a social construction, the consensus of a collectivity, or some intersubjective agreement. It also has a trans-subjective dimension, because experimental data can ruin the most beautiful scientific theory.”17 In other words, if all of reality, and especially Nature, was merely social reconstructions there would be nothing to resist, no tension between our ideas, images and representations and what they claim to represent.

    However, we need to immediately add that this notion of a trans-subjective dimension of reality should not be confused necessarily with a materialist ontology. In other words, that which exists ‘out there’ is should not be equated with matter in a tangible, corporeal sense only. The emergence of quantum physics has had some profound effects on our understanding of reality and it is exactly because of the holding onto the assumptions of a materialistic ontology that the new ideas introduced by quantum physics was so difficult to come to terms with. Referring to some of the fierce debates around the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory, Heisenberg reminds us that, “the ontology of materialism rested upon the illusion that the kind of existence, the direct ‘actuality’ of the world around us, can be extrapolated into the atomic range. This extrapolation is impossible, however.”19 It is then only on this basis of accepting the fundamental break, rupture or dis-continuity in the different levels or structure of reality, that we are in a position to assert that reality can be both material and non-material at the same time. At the macrophysical level, reality most certainly manifests all the normal attributes of material corporeality, whereas at the microphysical level the opposite is the case. At face value, this might still sound like a logical conundrum and until we have introduced the second axiom of Transdisciplinarity, namely the ‘logic of the included middle’, the matter may still be confusing. However, suffice to say at this point is that by having introduced the above trans-subjective and practical definitions of reality as well as the important notion of fundamentally different ‘levels of reality’, Transdisciplinarity enables us in our ontological thinking to work with a truly dynamic and multi-dimensional concept of reality – i.e. an understanding which allows us to build our image of reality on both materialistic and non-materialistic as well as continuity and discontinuity assumptions.

    Transdisciplinarity: Multi-referential Epistemology

    Corresponding to the notion of different ‘levels of reality’ is the notion of different ‘levels of perception’. What is important to understand is the relationship between these different levels of perception and reality as the possibility of gaining knowledge of reality is dependent on how we see this relationship. According to Nicolescu, “The different levels of Reality are accessible to human knowledge thanks to the existence of different levels of perception, which are found in a one-to-one correspondence with levels of Reality. These levels of perception permit an increasingly general, unifying, encompassing vision of Reality, without ever entirely exhausting it.”21 or rupture between the vertical levels of perception. However, and this is very important for our ensuing discussion on a trans-disciplinary dialogue, this inability to describe one level of reality in terms of the concepts and laws of another should not be construed as mutually exclusive. Rather, the image that should come to mind is one of two bodies of knowledge coexisting with each other side-by-side, both producing valid and accurate knowledge of the world in relation to their respective levels of reality. “Knowledge of the coexistence of the quantum world and the macro-physical world and the development of quantum physics have led, on the level of theory and scientific experiment, to the up upheaval of what were formerly considered to be pairs of mutually exclusive contradictories (A and non-A): wave and corpuscle, continuity and discontinuity, separability and nonseparability, local causality and global causality, symmetry and a break in symmetry, reversibility and irreversibility of time, and so forth.”23 However, on its own this logic of the included middle T remains somewhat problematic. It is only when we introduce the earlier concept of different ‘levels of reality’ that our understanding of the axiom of the included middle T, which is at the same time A and non-A, becomes clarified. Conversely, it is the projection of the T-state onto the same single level of reality that produces the appearance of mutually exclusive, antagonistic pairs (A and non-A).

    It is when we deal with a single level of reality only that antagonistic oppositions are being created. In other words, the logic of the included middle T is a formal logic which enables us to understand how what appears to be a complete contradiction on one level gets resolved if viewed or understood from another fundamentally different level of reality. In this non-contradictory way, the logic of the included middle plays a vitally important role in allowing us to imagine the coherence / coexistence of multiple levels of reality with their corresponding levels of perception. To be sure, in the words of Nicolescu, “the logic of the included middle is capable of describing the coherence among these levels of Reality by an iterative process defined by the following stages: (1) A pair of contradictories (A, non-A) situated at a certain level of Reality is unified by a T-state situated at a contiguous level of Reality; (2) In turn, this T-state is linked to a couple of contradictories (A1, non-A1), situated at its own level; (3) The pair of contradictories (A1, non-A1) is, in its turn, unified by a T-state situated at a third level of Reality, immediately contiguous to that where the ternary (A1, non-A1, T) is found. The iterative process continues indefinitely until all the levels of Reality, known or conceivable, are exhausted.”25

    Transdisciplinarity: Complexity

    Complexity or the complex structure in both the levels of reality as well as levels of perception constitutes the third important axiom of Transdisciplinarity. It is when we allow our thinking to be informed and driven by the logic of the included middle that we put ourselves in a position to postulate this complex structure in our knowledge-systems as well as in the structure of reality per se. However, although this gives rise to notions of ‘coherence’ and ‘coexistence’ between all these different levels, we need to be careful to fall into the trap of simplicity or reductionism whilst claiming to ascribe these categories to our understanding of reality. Although being ‘coherent’, such coherency should not be confused with notions of stasis or a closed system. On the contrary, the ‘coherence’ in all the levels of reality and perception is more accurately associated with open-endedness. If we remind ourselves of the earlier notion of a radical rupture between two different levels of reality and perception, then it follows to say that “a new Principle of Relativity emerges from the coexistence between complex plurality and open unity: no level of Reality constitutes a privileged place from which one is able to understand all the other levels of Reality. A level of Reality is what it is because all the other levels exist at the same time.”27

    In order for the subject to understand the coherence in the object / reality it is important to ‘see’ the relationships between things, or the relationships within things. It requires the ability to what Morin referred to above as ‘thinking the complex’ – i.e. the ability to conceptualise interdependent recursive feedback loops or relationships between seemingly contradictory elements such as order<–>disorder, whole<–>parts, observer<–>observed, subject<–>object, continuity<–> discontinuity etc. For this type of recursive reasoning not to fall in any logical problems of explanans and explanandum, the introduction of the concepts of ‘levels of reality’ and the ‘included middle’ has been very significant. If both what needs to be explained as well as that which is supposed to do the explaining are sought on the same ‘level of reality’ Morin’s recursive loop might be construed as the proverbial vicious circle. However, if the solution (explanans) to an apparent contradiction (explanandum) lies at another level all together where the simultaneity of A and non-A is possible, the position of the included middle T, then our ability to ‘thinking the complex’ has indeed been advanced. Two important aspects about this type of complex thinking must be noted at this point: firstly, that a complex thinking which has been informed and enriched by the notions of ‘levels of reality’ and the ‘included middle’, is not the same as that of Hegelian dialectics. The latter always sought ‘synthetic’ solutions to contradictions, the ‘thesis’ (A) vs. ‘antithesis’ (non-A), on the same level of reality, always ending up with a compromise position. “This is why the Hegelian triad is incapable of accomplishing the reconciliation of opposites, whereas the triad of the included middle is capable of it. In the logic of the included middle the opposites are, rather, contradictories: the tension between contradictories builds a unity that includes and goes beyond the sum of the two terms.”29 In other words, the logic of the included middle should not be seen as some sort of a panacea for all type of situations and problems to be solved. It very much depends on the context, complexity and nature of the problem at hand and whether it involves more than one level of reality or not. However, the ability to ‘thinking the complex’ is hereby significantly improved in that we are not just dependent on the logic of the excluded middle – we have access to a fundamentally different but equally formal logic, the logic of the included middle and this puts us in a position to knowingly decide when, under what circumstances, would it be deemed appropriate to use either or both of these two formal logics. Again, this type of complex thinking has far reaching implications for building our transdisciplinary hermeneutics. The ability to think multi-dimensionally on different levels of reality and having acquired and developed the thinking skills to know when it is appropriate to use the logic of included middle as apposed to or in conjunction with the logic of the excluded middle certainly contributes significantly to our understanding of the conditions for advancing a truly trans-disciplinary dialogue between all the sciences – the means for achieving, or at least making progress towards achieving, our goal of the ‘unity of our knowledge’.

    Complex Unity of the Transdisciplinary Subject and Transdisciplinary Object

    From the point of view of a possible transdisciplinary hermeneutics all of what has been said so far about the multi-dimensional ontology, multi-referential epistemology and the logic of the included middle, in a sense, culminates in the notion of the ‘complex unity’ between the Transdisciplinary Subject and Transdisciplinary Object. It is exactly this notion which sets itself apart from both Cartesian modernity as well as Derridian post-modernity. The notion of the subject–object relation being that of a ‘complex unity’ not only decisively breaks with any notion of Cartesian separation, but, through affirming the interactive roles of both the subject and object, it does so in a way that positively postulates the acquisition and gaining of knowledge – not in an absolute finite or completed sense, but as a dynamic and open-ended process in which neither the subject nor the object, or the knowledge emerging from their interaction, can be merely dismissed as ‘social re-constructions’. Transdisciplinary knowledge production acknowledges, on the one hand, the validity and truthfulness of the way in which our ideas and images have come to represent ‘reality’ on and in respect of a certain level of reality. Yet, on the other hand, when looked at from another level, this selfsame ‘reality’ will resist our ideas and representations only to be radically changed and replaced with new ones, equally gaining the status of valid and truthful representation of reality, albeit on another level. ‘Complementarity’31

    Conceptualising the nature of the subject–object relation in this way indeed conjures up images of a dynamic and complex unity. This unity is made possible by virtue of the simultaneous resistance and non-resistance of our ideas, by the simultaneous continuity and discontinuity in our understanding of reality. Knowledge gained this way can never be understood in static manner as a closed-system. What is considered as valid and true knowledge on one level, or a shared zone of non-resistance between levels of perception and levels of reality, can be resisted only to be changed radically to make way for fundamentally different imaginations and representations – a process which will forever remain open-ended. However, stressing this open-endedness should not detract us from focussing on the ‘shared zone of non-resistance’ – those ‘moments’ in flowing process where the subject and object meet, where it is possible to state positively that our ideas and representations of ‘reality’ have managed to correctly and truthfully capture what it has been wrestling with to understand. This indeed goes to the heart of a transdisciplinary hermeneutical theory of understanding and knowledge generation. Without this positive conceptualisation of the possibility of the subject meeting the object, of sharing a zone of non-resistance, we will not be able to go any further with explaining how, hermeneutically speaking, this could be understood at the level of a trans-disciplinary dialogue seeking to cross disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of sustainable solutions to the problematiques or polycrisis facing us all today. If this was not possible, we will forever remain entrapped in the already severed subject <–> object relationship of Descartes, with the different variations of idealism and positivism as the only possibilities, or the post-modern position denying this relation per se as a mere social re-construction with very little chance of positive knowledge generation and acquisition. However, having asserted the positive, yet complex and dynamic, position of Transdisciplinarity, it now remains our task to explain how what has been conceptualised at the ontological, epistemological and logical levels can in fact be brought into an understanding of how the different disciplines can cross their boundaries to meet in a ‘zone of non-resistance’, as it were. How do we understand and explain this in the context of interdisciplinary dialogue where the complex nature of the problematiques we are dealing with transcends levels of reality and therefore disciplinary boundaries? Reaffirming our earlier point of departure, namely that sustainable solutions to the complex problems we are facing today cannot come from a mono-disciplinary position within a fragmented knowledge-system, and having established the transdisciplinary conditions of knowledge generation and acquisition, our goal, therefore, is henceforth to explore the possibilities of establishing a truly trans-disciplinary dialogue from which may emerge new, transdisciplinary knowledge of and for our troubled world.

    Summary

    Before we proceed with our task, it is important to provide a summary of the important points that have emerged so far and which will be brought into and integrated with certain key hermeneutical concepts with a view to develop our transdisciplinary hermeneutics in a systematic and logical way. This will also be helpful to explicate certain ontological, epistemological, methodological and logical assumptions as we intend moving into the conceptualisation of such a transdisciplinary hermeneutics:

    • Reality, although represented by the language, images and ideas of the interpreting subject, cannot be reduced to these representations – reality is trans-subjective and, therefore, has the ability to always resist, and even ruin, our very best scientific or non-scientific theories and ideas;
    • Reality is ultimately coherent, but this coherency cannot be understood in static terms, but should rather be understood in terms of the structure of reality which is both discontinuous and continuous at the same time – whilst one level of reality is fundamentally different to another, the overall structure of reality displays a remarkable unity or coherency;
    • To the extent that our notion of ‘matter’ informs our perceptions and ideas on the being and nature of ‘reality’, it is important to note that from a transdisciplinary point of view such notions may include both materialistic as well as non-materialistic viewpoints.
    • The possibility of accurate and truthful representation of reality and knowledge generation is established in the one-to-one relationship which exists between levels of perceptions and levels of reality on the same horizontal plane;
    • However, at the same time of such concurrence, we also have to acknowledge that there are radical breaks between the different levels of perception with the implication of having to formulate fundamentally different ideas and images if we want to understand the discovery of a new level of reality – the latter cannot be understood or recognised in terms of the ‘old’ concepts associated with a another level of reality;
    • The above simultaneous concurrence / continuity and non-concurrence / discontinuity between the different levels of perception implies being able to ‘thinking the complex’ – i.e. the ability to imagine the possibility of something being itself (A) and non-self (non-A) at the same time.
    • We are not solely dependent on the age-old and dominant Aristotelian logic of the excluded middle – the logic of the included middle is an equally formal logic which can explain, if read together with the notion of ‘levels of reality’, the phenomenon of simultaneity between the identity (A) and non-identity (non-A) of a problem, a problematic situation or an apparent contradiction –  it is only when looked at from the point of view of another level all together that an apparent contradiction becomes resolved;
    • The relationship between the two logics of the included and excluded middle is in itself not a mutually exclusive relationship – the discovery of the logic of the included middle should not be transformed into a panacea for all problems and all situations – when to use what logic is context specific and the choice over which logic is the more appropriate under certain given circumstances must be done with the necessary circumspect.
    • Our knowledge of reality is constituted by the dynamic interaction between the correspondence and non-correspondence of the horizontal and vertical relationships in the structure of the levels of perceptions and levels of reality – the one-to-one relationship between the subject and object at the horizontal level, resulting in accurate and truthful representations of reality, is as much responsible for the constitution and establishment of our knowledge as is the epistemological dis-locations or breaks between the vertical levels – to know what ‘is’ is as important as to know what ‘is not’ for the possibility of any new knowledge to emerge;
    • The transdisciplinary triad of A, non-A and the included middle T should not be confused with Hegelian dialectics of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis – for a ‘solution’ to be found situated at another level of reality and perception all together it is necessary to formulate completely different concepts and laws – without these the different level of reality will not be ‘seen’ – we therefore cannot merely use the same concepts and laws as was used in identifying the contradiction between the ‘thesis’ and ‘anti-thesis’ of Hegelian dialectics – in this case, if the solution contains a ‘synthesis’ of previous ideas and laws it begs the question whether the simultaneity between A and non-A can be conceptualized as a probable ‘solution’ to the apparent contradiction.
    • The complex unity between the transdisciplinary subject and object marks a decisive break with three traditions of thought simultaneously: (a) simplistic romantic or mystical ideas of knowing reality ‘directly’, (b) the Cartesian dualistic separation of the subject and object and (c) the radical deconstructionist position of an illusionary, socially reconstructed subject–object relation per se – the notion of knowledge emerging out of the dynamic and intense interplay in the processes of resistance and non-resistance not only confirms the role and function of both the subject and object in the subject–object relation, but it also affirms the impossibility of transcendental or ‘directly’ accessible knowledge;
    • The idea that our knowledge of reality is being produced when there is both resistance and nonresistance to our ideas signifies the fundamental open-endedness of the knowledge acquisition and generation process. The accurate and truthful representations of reality, on a particular level of reality, can quite easily be resisted when trying to apply them to another level of reality – such resistance implies having to radically reformulate new ideas and images, which, in principle at least, can never reach a stage of finality;
    • The fundamental open-endedness and dynamism of the transdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production process, therefore, implies a safeguard, as it were, against all forms of intellectual ideology. This includes a safeguard against itself in that all ideas produced by transdisciplinarity, especially when claiming to have entered the ‘zone of non-resistance’ and having transcended disciplinary boundaries, should be subject to this on-going process of resistance and non-resistance. Therefore, transdisciplinarity can never be construed as some or other ‘meta-discourse’. Should such bold claims be made, consciously or sub-consciously, it would have placed itself outside the dynamic processes characteristic of the complex unity of the subject–object relation.

    4. Towards the Foundations of a Transdisciplinary Hermeneutics – Key Hermeneutical Concepts

    One of the great founding figures of hermeneutic philosophy, Martin Heidegger, said that the starting point of any act of understanding is when something has broken down. In everyday life this could be something as mundane as a broken hammer. It is not until it has actually been shattered that we start to question what a hammer really ‘is’ – how it was assembled or made, what materials were used, how and for what purpose is it used etc. This might seem like a very simplistic example, but it illustrates the point that our questioning into the being and functioning of something is very closely associated with the notions of ‘break down’ and ‘rupture’ in what has broken down and the context or environment in which the object was perceived to be part and parcel of. From what has been already mentioned in the introduction in respect of the unprecedented scale and levels fragmentation this notion of a ‘break down’ as the starting point for our hermeneutic inquiry is a very relevant one. As was argued earlier, we are today living in an unsustainable, troubled world with major complex problematiques to be solved. However, the polycrisis we are facing is not only a phenomenon of something which has gone wrong in the world ‘out there’, detached or separated from ourselves. Such an abstract viewpoint of the world and relationship to it is typical of the Cartesian subject <–> object separation. On the contrary, from the point of view of the non-separability or complex unity of subject–object relation, we cannot detach ourselves, our own thinking, from the fragmentation happening in the world today. Inquiry into the complex nature of what has ‘broken down’ in the world cannot remain at the level of ‘objective analysis’ only if our own thinking is inextricably interwoven with the very fragmentation we are trying to understand. The multi-dimensionality of the complex social-ecological problems we are facing today implies the straddling of different levels of reality and requires a new interpretive-engagement from our side. Inquiry into what has gone wrong, what is causing our world to being torn apart reveals that we are dealing with levels of complexity not witnessed before. Applying abstract thinking which ‘ab-stracts’ itself from the planetary context can only lead to a further perpetuation of the problem of fragmentation in that ‘solutions’ being sought from within such abstract thought would be inclined to ‘scientifically’ discover and manipulate the ‘objective’ laws responsible for the breakdown in the world – without ever seeing a need to question or change the thinking which has gone into producing the problematiques we are facing today. To then return to Heidegger’s example and metaphor of the broken hammer. We cannot merely in some or other instrumental way substitute the ‘hammer’ with the ‘world’ as an ‘object’ independent from ourselves. What has, or rather is, going wrong in the world today is intermingled with our ideas and perceptions of who we are and how we think. When we touch the world to want to ‘fix’ it, it is already infused with our ideas and thinking patterns. It is therefore advisable that we acknowledge our inseparable relationship with the world, rooted in the notion of a complex unity of the subject–object relation, and, consequently, to reaffirm our point of departure that the unity in our knowledge-systems is a prerequisite for finding sustainable solutions to the polycrisis facing each and every individual, nation and society on the planet.

    Fusion of Horizons: The Importance of Contextuality

    Building on the core ideas of Heidegger, Hans-George Gadamer argues that our inquiry or questioning into the being and functioning of what has ‘broken down’ always occurs within a certain time horizon. ‘Understanding’ is therefore never time-less or a-temporal. Instead, it should always be seen as temporal or historical in the sense that the past, present and future is always present and inextricably linked in any act of understanding. This means that our past and present efforts to want to know what something is or how it works are motivated by our concerns or expectations of the future. This, in turn, implies that our inquiry into a particular problem is never ‘value-free’, but is fundamentally influenced by our expectations and perceptions of the future. This means that we never ‘see’ reality directly, but always as this or as that in terms of our own ‘horizon of understanding’. By emphasising the temporarilty of our understanding, Gadamer acknowledges the inherently contextual nature of our understanding the world.

    This importance of this historicality (Geschichtlichkeit) and contextuality of our understanding will be elaborated on in some more depth later on. However, suffice to emphasize here from the start that this impossibility of ‘value-free’ interpretation is not restricted to our everyday life encounters or only to the social sciences where we are, per definition, both players and spectators, observers and observed, of the very life processes we are trying to understand. We do not have access to an a-temporal position or vantage point from which we can completely ‘objectively’ understand the world. Whether in our daily encounters or in the science laboratory, we cannot escape the temporality of our own understanding. The consequence of this contextuality for the understanding process is that the interpreting subject influences the way the object is being looked at. Werner Heisenberg, although coming from a different intellectual tradition, i.e. quantum physics, makes a similar point on the role and effect of the observer on the observed. After having discussed the similarities, and especially, the differences in the role of ‘observation’ between classical and quantum physics, Heisenberg concludes that science “we have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. Our scientific work in physics consists in asking questions about nature in the language that we possess and trying to get an answer from experiment by the means that are at our disposal”33

    Flowing from this idea of the contextuality of our understanding, Gadamer introduces another key notion for our purposes of developing a transdisciplinary hermeneutics. According to Gadamer ‘understanding’ occurs when there has been a ‘fusion of horizons’. This notion contains two crucially important aspects for our task at hand. In the first instance, the said impossibility of ‘value-free’ or ‘presuppositionless’ understanding does not negate the possibility of understanding per se. On the contrary, ‘understanding’ is being made possible because of the presence of our assumptions and presuppositions – not because they are absent. A ‘fusion of horizons’ can only happen when there has been an exchange or change in the assumptions underpinning a certain mode of understanding the world. Therefore, when we want to understand something we should not aim to discard or pretend that we do not have or hold presumptions. We should rather aim to explicate them or becoming aware of these assumptions, critically evaluate them and change them if necessary. “We started by saying that a hermeneutical situation is determined by the prejudices that we bring with us. They constitute the horizon of a particular present, for they represent that beyond which it is impossible to see. But now it is important to avoid the error in thinking that it is a fixed set of opinions and evaluations that determine and limit the horizon of the present, and that the otherness of the past can be distinguished from it as from a fixed ground. In fact the horizon of the present is being continually formed, in that we have continually to test all our prejudices. An important part of this testing is the encounter with the past and the understanding of the tradition from which we come. Hence the horizon of the present cannot be formed without the past. There is no more isolated horizon of the present than there are historical horizons. Understanding, rather, is always a fusion of these horizons which we imagine to exist by themselves. In tradition this process of fusion is continually going on, for the old and the new continually grow together to make something of living value, without either being explicitly distinguished from the other.”35 when such a ‘fusion of horizons’ takes place is indeed a fundamentally new way of seeing and understanding the world – not just a mere adding up of extant viewpoints and perceptions, but, instead, ‘seeing’ the world in ways not known before. In order for this to happen it is critically important that we do away with any fixed ideas or over-reliance on method in our thinking. To be able to understand something, especially in a new way, is not a foregone conclusion. If we want to understand the world differently we cannot through method assume to only understand what is already known more thoroughly. We need to know the limitations of our own methods of inquiry and, instead, having to adopt a fundamentally openness in our approach of questioning, which means admitting that we know that we do not know. This is, then, the only way that we stand a chance of discovering new ways of understanding the world and for us to be able to speak of a ‘fusion of horizons’ taking place between subject and object in open dialogue with each other. More will be said on this below under the heading “Fusion of Horizons: The Importance of Dialogue and the Disclosure of Reality”.

    Fusion of Horizons: Critique of the Subject <– > Object Partition

    Since this notion of a ‘fusion of horizons’ has the potential to explain in more detail how the earlier transdisciplinary notion of new concepts, ideas and representations of reality emerging from a dynamic interplay between the processes of resistance and nonresistance, it is in our interest to go into this in more depth. From the point of view of systematically developing a transdisciplinary hermeneutics, it is very important to fully understand not only how the formation of new ideas work at the epistemological level, but also how such insight can help us to better understand the manner in which the unity of our knowledge can be achieved as ‘fusion of horizons’ at the level of a truly trans-disciplinary dialogue. However, before we analyze this in more detail it is important to first look into Gadamer’s critique of the subject <–> object dualism which has dominated Western thinking so profoundly over the years. This will be informative in that it will give us an idea of what the ‘fusion of horizons’ is meant not to be. Consequently, this would be helpful to know what thought patterns should be avoided if we are not to repeat the very same binary / dualistic thinking which we are trying to overcome. Falling into such a trap is a perennial philosophical problem and if not consciously avoided will have some far reaching consequences for developing a transdisciplinary hermeneutics. Following Heidegger’s thinking, ‘subjectism’ (Subjektit‰t) is the term that Gadamer uses to critique that tradition of thought which sought to locate the certainty of knowledge in the thinking subject – a tradition that started with Plato’s believe in the ‘reality’ of the realm of ideas separate from the corporeal world. As we know, this central epistemological belief got usurped and transformed into, on the one hand, Kant’s system of a priori thought categories as well as, on the other hand, by Descartes’ ideas on the supremacy of res cogitans over res extensa, given the thinking subject’s capability of producing the mathematical principles37 of the analytical and conquering subject. However, on either side of the subject <–> object divide, nature has lost its ‘unity’ or ‘coherence’ and became increasingly seen as some-thing to be exploited or tortured (Francis Bacon) until she ‘reveals’ her secrets in the name of ‘progress’ or ‘development’ of humankind.

    Fusion of Horizons: The Importance of Dialogue and the Disclosure of Reality

    The crux of this techno-scientific thinking or instrumental reasoning39 – and what the subject has learnt from the surrounding natural world, enabling the subject to describe it as this or as that. Allowing the object to dis-close itself, to be named as this or as that, is a fundamentally different approach to that of subjectism, asserting that the ‘greenness’ of the tree is in essence what already pre-exists in the mind as ideas (Plato), a priori thought categories (Kant) or mathematical principles (Descartes). To allow the object to disclose itself to the subject, the subject has to be fundamentally ‘open’ to the object. And, to be able to ‘listen’ and ‘hear’ what the object has ‘to say’, the subject not only has to be attentive to what is being said or disclosed – it also needs to ask the question what is not being said or disclosed – in other words, trying to go beyond what is ‘given’ and get a more thorough understanding of the wider context of relationships in which the act of disclosure is taking place. This fundamental ‘openness’, this ability to focus the attention simultaneously on what is said as well as on what is not said, says Gadamer, happens when the inquiring subject develops the ability to become aware of its own context or ‘horizon of meaning’ – i.e. becoming aware of its own assumptions and presuppositions, which inform and direct the process of inquiry and questioning into the ‘disclosing’ object. Critically important in this regard is that the subject does not interrogate the object with its so-called transcendental knowledge categories and concomitant methods, which the object can only affirm or deny. Instead, as a fundamental point of departure when approaching the object, the subject knows that it does not know, accepts the limitedness or finitude of its own knowledge, and in so doing allows the object to disclose itself in ways completely different to what has been known before.

    Therefore, this ‘openness’, i.e. the ability to become aware of our own assumptions, is key to any act of understanding. It is in this sense that Gadamer asserts that there is no ‘value-free’ or ‘pre-supposition-less’ understanding of the world. We can never think of our understanding as a tabula rasa – as if we are ‘free’ of any presuppositions. Neither should we try and imagine that this is how any act of ‘understanding’ should be construed. As already mentioned, ‘understanding’ happens because of the presence of our assumptions – not because of their absence. Should we assume or aspire to any notion of a tabula rasa in order to explain how our understanding occurs, we would be making a serious mistake in our thinking. ‘Understanding’, any act of understanding, is made possible when we become aware of our assumptions and demonstrate a willingness to change these. The ‘disclosure’ of the object should not be associated with a notion of an ‘empty’ or ‘passive’ subject which merely ‘receives’ or ‘takes in’ what the object dictates to it in a linear or unilateral sort of a way. The object can only ‘disclose’ itself through a process of true questioning by the subject. “In all experience, the structure of questioning is presupposed. The realization that some matter is other than one had first thought presupposes the process of passing through questioning”. And, “in order to be able to question one must will to know, and that means, however, to know that you do not know.”41 them. In this act of ‘suspension’ we not only become aware of our assumptions, but we also refrain from either by voicing them or acting upon them. It is not to deny their presence. Instead, it is more about keeping them in abeyance whilst we create the thought-space to allow other thoughts or ideas to come to the fore. In other words, it is developing the ability to hold many points of view in suspension, whilst our primary interest is in the creation of a new, trans-disciplinary understanding. In short, suspending an assumption does not mean ignoring it, but rather ‘holding it in front of us’ ready for exploration.

    This idea has a lot of value for developing our transdisciplinary hermeneutics. Being able to deal with our assumptions through this act of ‘suspension’ not only helps us to comprehend the multi-dimensionality of the process of ‘understanding’, but also helps us to know whether we are in an inter-, multi- or transdisciplinary mode of understanding of the world. As for the latter, I will return to this in more detail once Kuhn’s ideas on the role and function of ‘paradigms’ in scientific communities have been discussed. Suffice to say here that the notion of ‘suspension’ allows us to not totally discard with certain assumptions as they may very well still be ‘true’ or ‘valid’ when dealing with a particular ‘level of reality’. On the other hand, if another fundamentally different ‘level of reality’ is being encountered and requires a radical revision or change in ideas, the ‘suspension’ of assumptions enables the emergence of a fundamentally new understanding of this different level of reality. In so doing, we allow ‘reality’ to ‘resist’ our extant ideas and to ‘disclose’ itself to us in more than one facet or dimension, whilst, at the same time, not discarding with those other assumptions underpinning fundamentally different ideas. Needless to say, being able to simultaneously suspend and/or change the assumptions supporting our ideas about the world is a key element for the trans-disciplinary ‘fusion of horizons’ to materialise. Knowing that the assumptions supporting their particular disciplinary bodies of knowledge are kept in abeyance, the different disciplines can enter into dialogue with each other in an open manner that would create the necessary intellectual space to seek fundamentally new ideas, concepts and representations with which to explore the discovery of other ‘levels of reality’ from which to look at the world and its complex problems. Creating this intellectual space also means that it allows the different disciplines to openly express what is not known from the vantage and methodological viewpoint(s) of all those disciplines engaged in dialogue with each other. Creating this open intellectual space through the act of suspension can be seen as a crucially important ‘forerunner’, as it were, to entering the zone of non-resistance. In this open space, the disciplines in dialogue with each other can explore fully and freely any new ideas, based on radically different assumptions, knowing that the disciplinary positions from which they have entered into the dialogue has been put in abeyance. However, once they have satisfied themselves that ‘reality’ provides no more resistance to their new images, ideas and representations and that the latter, based on fundamentally new sets of assumptions, are indeed offering a new, accurate and truthful representation and understanding of reality, then, from this perspective of the zone of non-resistance, can they all look back to their respective and original positions and decide on their ‘validity’, ‘accuracy’ and ‘truthfulness’ etc. And, they may indeed decide that their ‘old’ concepts are perfectly valid and accurate with respect to their engagement of another dimension of reality or the object. However, the contradictions encountered at that level can only be solved from the vantage point of the newly discovered ‘level of reality’ and with the newly coined concepts and ideas as well as their underlying assumptions. Such, then, is what can be achieved with the Bohmian idea of a suspension of assumptions – creating a much needed intellectual space for a open and rigorous exploration of new ideas until the participants to this trans-disciplinary dialogue has reached sufficient consensus that there is no more resistance to their ideas – namely that, indeed, for now at least, a ‘fusion of disciplinary horizons’ have been reached.

    Fusion of Horizons: the Role of Paradigms

    Knowing now how the act of suspension can assist us in holding onto assumptions supporting different ideas and representations of different levels of reality and perception, we are now in a better position to advance our understanding not only on the range of assumptions we may encounter in our scientific as well as non-scientific endeavours, but also to expand our understanding as to their origin, role and function on our thought-processes and knowledge-systems. Gadamer’s assertion that our understanding of the world always occurs within a certain ‘tradition’ or ‘horizon’ of understanding shows some significant similarities with Thomas Kuhn’s ideas on the presence and role of ‘paradigms’ in scientific communities. ‘Paradigms’, according to Kuhn, are those broad conceptual and methodological presuppositions shared by every scientific community, embodied in their standard examples of ‘normal science’, and which exercise a significant influence on the way a specific scientific community would define what are legitimate questions to ask, what types explanation are sought and the types of solutions that are considered to be acceptable.  “Some accepted examples of actual scientific practice – examples which include law, theory, application and instrumentation together – provide models from which spring particular coherent traditions of scientific research”43 and possibly even contracting.

  • Ontological – assumptions about the being or ‘is-ness’ of ‘reality’ (the object).  In a machine-like world ‘matter’ is thought of as substance, with tangible, corporeal characteristics, whereas in the relational world of quantum cosmology and physics, ‘matter’ is not necessarily the final building block of ‘reality’, but, rather, non-materialist ‘energy’ or ‘information’ fields.
  • Epistemological – assumptions about nature, acquisition and generation of our knowledge of the world. In a static, Newtonian worldview the subject is not only separated from the object, but the former can gain absolutely certain knowledge of latter. The only question is whether the locus of such certainty is situated in either the subject (idealism) or the object (positivism / empiricism). The possibility of an continuously ‘open’ dialogue between the subject and object in which knowledge is an emergent property and which is never fully or absolutely certain45 dominant position in the world. This perception can, in turn, lead to further anthropocentric perceptions such as that we are occupying an ‘empty’ world – i.e. a world in which the scale of human economic activity is sufficiently small relative to the scale of the Earth’s ecological system that its impact is inconsequential. On the other hand, in the relational worldview where everything in the universe is fundamentally interconnected, an image of the world as a ‘full’ world emerges in which humankind is only but one, certainly not the dominant one, of the interconnected elements and where the relation between and impact of human economic activity and on the Earth’s ecological system is of major significance.
  • Axiological – assumptions about our value-systems. For example, in an instrumental-anthropocentric worldview the satisfaction of humankind’s materialistic needs, even at the expense of other forms of life on earth, is considered as of ‘value’ and gives rise to social, economic and technological theories with which to justify this position. On the other hand, in a relational-biocentric worldview humankind is seen to be an integral part of smaller and larger cycles or systems of life and although the satisfaction of human needs are still important, it should not be pursued as ends in themselves and at the expense of other forms of life on which it is ultimately dependent for its own life on earth – i.e. what is considered to be of ‘value’ in this view of the world, is the principle of ‘simultaneity’ or ‘complementarity’ between all forms of life on earth. The social and economic consequences of such a relational value-system are indeed far reaching as we have to change our economic language, concepts and logic from the prevailing growth dominated ideas associated with the satisfaction of materialistic needs only to new economic ideas and language where we seek the satisfaction of our fundamental human needs in ways and means that not only averts the destruction of other forms of life, but actually affirms or sustains these other forms of life.47 of our paradigmatic thinking is not to be confused per se with what has been referred to earlier as the ‘zone of non-resistance’. When in trans-disciplinary dialogue the dynamic interplay of resistance and non-resistance of our ideas are at work. And for this to happen it is essential that we open up the assumptions underlying our ideas of ‘reality’ – i.e. to allow the object to ‘resist’ our ideas. In the context of a trans-disciplinary dialogue this means not only to be receptive of becoming aware of one’s own presuppositions, but also to make others aware of their assumptions. As we have seen this process of becoming aware of the principles of one’s own paradigmatic thinking, which may result in having to change the way we think, can happen via the all important act of suspension. Through this act of suspension all the participants involved in a trans-disciplinary dialogue can put their ideas and assumptions in abeyance and create the intellectual space necessary to rigorously pursue radically new ideas and assumptions before consensus is reached that a new body of valid and truthful knowledge has been reached. However, for this to happen, for the new ideas to enter into the ‘zone of non-resistance’ it remains absolutely necessary for extant paradigmatic ideas and their assumptions to be surfaced, to be brought to the level of individual and collective self-awareness. In this way, then, does it become possible for us to start imagining how a ‘fusion of disciplinary horizons’ can emerge out of the current situation of highly fragmented disciplines and sub-disciplines – i.e. envisaging how current disciplinary boundaries can be transcended to yield new, transdisciplinary understanding and knowledge of our troubled, unsustainable world.

    Needless to say, that such a ‘new’ transdisciplinary understanding of what is being looked at can only emerge simultaneously and collectively from all the disciplines in dialogue with each other. The onus to question, suspend and change the range of the assumptions mentioned above can never be weighing down on one particular discipline only. Each participative discipline must open itself up to question and be questioned, to want to suspend and be suspended, to want to change and be changed. To be sure, the transdisciplinary approach is not one of an interrogative will-to-power of the ‘object’ by a ‘subject’ equipped with ideas, concepts, methods and methodologies guaranteed to yield absolutely certain knowledge of and gaining control over the object. The transdisciplinary approach is, rather, one of ‘openness’, ‘hearing’, and ‘listening’ carefully to what the object has to say or disclose – admitting also what is not known and making sure that it not only asks the question of what is being said, but also of what is not being said. The meaning and intention of this approach is captured more accurately by the notion of ‘rigour’. It is only through a ‘rigorous’ questioning, suspending and changing of the said assumptions by all the participating disciplines, individually as well as collectively, that what is being engaged with will be allowed to ‘resist’ extant ideas and to ‘disclose’ itself to us in all its multi-dimensional complexity. The ‘rigour’49, but also turning questions completely around51.

    Fusion of Horizons: the Knowledge–Power Relation and Production of New Levels of Language

    To be sure, what is at stake here is the point made earlier that what is needed for a new ‘level of reality’ to be identified is the formulation of an entirely new language – i.e. words, concepts, ideas, images and representations – without which the so-called new ‘level’ will simply remain illusive and will most certainly not be able to serve its purpose of being the locus or vantage point from which to ‘see’ the resolution of apparent contradictions we are being confronted with. It was also mentioned earlier that this formulation of such a new language is not necessarily a ‘smooth’ process and could at times be associated with the equivalent of a conceptual ‘warfare’. In order to understand the intricacies of the ‘rigour’ involved here, it may be useful to look at this from the point of view of the intimate relationship between power and knowledge. Michael Foucault has provided us with an in-depth analysis of this particular relationship, the detail of which we cannot go into at this point. However, what is of particular relevance for our discussion is his notion that power is not only repressive / subversive, but it is simultaneously productive / affirmative. Explaining why it necessary not to reduce our conceptions of power to the negative notions of repression and domination only, he argues that the positive, productive side of power can be linked to the production of knowledge and discourse. “I believe that this is a wholly negative, narrow, skeletal conception of power … if power were never anything but repressive, do you really think that one would be brought to obey it? What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it traverses and produces things, it induces pleasure, forms of knowledge, produces discourse. It needs to be considered as a productive network which runs through the whole social body, much more than a negative instance whose function is repression”53. If we are to succeed in finding durable solutions to these vexing problems, paradigmatic ideas of power, infused and justified by assumptions of domination as an end in itself, need to be rigorously questioned and changed. Following and applying the aforesaid ideas of the knowledge–power relation here, it could be argued that the starting point for transforming this negative and suppressive conception of power would be to replace its own internal logic of the ‘excluded middle’ with that of the logic of the ‘included middle’. Therefore, in so doing, we will allow ourselves to better understand and work with the productive side of the power–knowledge relation, which, in turn, will allow us to become involved in the ‘production’ of what Heisenberg has referred to as different ‘levels of language’. Although not using the term ‘levels of reality’ explicitly, it would appear from what he is saying that these ‘levels of language’ are related to different ontological conceptions of a multi-dimensional structure of reality. At the macro-physical level, this is a precise language using classical concepts such as matter, space, time, cause etc. whereas at the atomic or sub-atomic level these concepts become less precise and resemble more the Aristotelian notion of ‘potentia’, with the result that: “it is not a precise language in which one can use normal logical patterns; it is a language that produces pictures in our mind, but together with the notion that the pictures have only a vague connection with ‘reality’, that they represent only a tendency toward ‘reality’”.55. However, where the production of new, transdisciplinary knowledge of the world is needed, we need to be cognizant of the fact that this may only be arrived at through truly ‘fusion of disciplinary horizons’ where the intentional transcending of disciplinary boundaries through ‘open’ and ‘rigorous’, yet ‘tolerant’ questioning, suspending and changing of extant assumptions as well as the production of new ‘levels of language’ is at stake. In so doing we create the intellectual space and conditions for the much needed emergence of a new, transdisciplinary understanding of our troubled world. And, it is from within this holding space of complementarity that we are in a position to employ all forms of disciplinarity to help find long-term, sustainable solutions to the problematiques posing a serious threat to our stay on the planet.

    Conclusion

    The complex problems associated with the unprecedented levels of fragmentation and separation, cannot be solved from within fragmented knowledge systems. For the first time in the human history are we dealing with complex social-ecological systems problems on a planetary scale which cannot be solved from a mono-disciplinary point of view. Global warming, currently receiving huge amount of public attention is one example to illustrate this point. Global warming in its current manifestation is not a natural phenomenon. Is it human-made, brought upon ourselves through human economic activity, again unprecedented levels of production, consumption and waste or pollution, with serious long-term consequences. But to say that global warming is human-made is too generic, too abstract, removed from the dynamics of the planetary context. Global warming, in its current format, is the outcome of a form of human or social fragmentation between the rich Northern societies and the poor Southern ones. But not only does global warming originate from a human fissure, it will also impact and exacerbate this very fissure through its anticipated devastating consequences. Expert opinion is clear that it will be poorer countries of the South who will be hardest and first by the two-pronged sets of consequences, excessive flooding (e.g. in areas like Bangladesh) and severe droughts (e.g. in Africa). New York, London and Paris will not be the first places to experience the consequences of their own indulgent economic activities – although in the long run no place on earth will be spared from some of these devastating consequences. However, the consequences of global warming may not stop at exacerbating current levels of poverty only. Questions are already being asked about further consequences of global warming. What new forms of poverty can we anticipate will be created by global warming, beyond existing poverty levels? For the first time in human history are we dealing with problems where human activity is interfering with nature in a way and on a planetary scale which, in turn, turns itself back onto the human level through either intensifying current social problems, or creating new ones. To try and picture this global catastrophe the image of a vicious circle or a giant snake eating itself by its own tail comes to mind. And, as mentioned in the introduction, global warming is not the only ‘big’ problem we are facing. We are again reminded by Edgar Morin that we are facing a polycrisis. Whilst the human-created global warming is making its presence felt, what other planetary ecological-system thresholds are we about to cross, or have we already crossed – only to cause irreversible damage to their proper functioning to support all forms of life, including ours, on the earth? The proverbial jury is out on this and the many research reports appearing on this question indeed make for chilling reading.

    Such is the complexity of the problems we are facing today where the man–nature, social–ecological relations have become so interwoven that any ‘solution’ proposed, and based on assumptions, ideas or images of a Cartesian subject <–> object partition or a post-modern notion of social re-constructionism, will be resisted by the complex nature of these problems. At best, short-term technical solutions might be found, at worst these short-term technical solutions becoming part of and even exacerbating the long-term problems. In the wake of the challenges we are facing it is difficult to see how these positions will be able to sustain themselves. What we do know and realise though is that the unity of our knowledge, the overcoming of the disciplinary divide, has become a prerequisite for meeting the challenges of tomorrow. However, this does not mean having to fall back onto pre-modern mystical or anti-modern romantic ideas of ‘direct’ access to or knowledge of reality. The complex unity of the transdisciplinary object and transdisciplinary subject provides a credible alternative option. Whilst affirming the mediated nature of the subject–object relation, through language, images and representations and for which we need an alternative formal logic of the included middle to understand the complexity of this unity, transdisciplinarity offers us a different ontological-epistemological position from which to develop a hermeneutics which is capable of conceptualising how the overcoming of the disciplinary divide can be achieved. Through an ongoing process of trans-disciplinary dialogue the disciplinary participants to this dialogue manages to question, suspend and change the assumptions on which their respective disciplinary paradigms have been, tacitly or explicitly, built and constructed. In this process the power–knowledge dynamics is positively and productively at work as new words, concepts and ideas, in fact a new language, has to be formulated to identify new vantage points, levels of reality, from which the complex, multi-dimensional face of world and its problems can be looked at. However, there is no meta-vantage point from which all other vantage points or levels of reality can be understood in a transcendental or a priori way. However, this does not, in turn, imply that there is no ‘overall’ coherency or complementarity in our understanding and knowledge of reality. What it does mean is that this complementarity / coherency, the basis for the possibility of the unity of our knowledge, is an emergent property of an ongoing process of trans-disciplinary dialogue in which the pieces of this complex, multi-referential puzzle gets woven together piece by piece, not in ab-stract or isolation from the planetary context, but always in response to the latter as an interpretive-engagement with the problematiques of the day.

    Going Beyond the Science / Religion Debate

    Transdisciplinary hermeneutics has the potential of exploring the unity of knowledge beyond the science vs. religion debate, a debate which denotes a much wider and deeper problem of the disciplinary divide as the disciplinary big bang takes its course. In geophysical terms, the science vs. religion debate signifies one fissure amidst a continental drift of disciplinary fragmentation occurring on a scale never witnessed in the relatively short history of since the first disciplines emerged from the once general knowledge areas of the Renaissance. The religion vs. science debate is by no means insignificant, but its significance lies in the fact that it epitomises a much deeper problem. A transdisciplinary hermeneutics wishes to address this deeper or wider problem of our knowledge-systems drifting apart at a time in our human and planetary history when they need to come together in order to help finding sustainable solutions for our future. A transdisciplinary hermeneutics wishes to provide an interpretive framework which will make it possible for us to understand how the building of trans-disciplinary bridges can happen through an ongoing process of dialogue within and between all the disciplines. However, this attempt to cross the disciplinary divide amongst all the sciences is not something which should be seen as something ‘external’ to the religion vs. science debate. On the contrary, working towards the unity of all our knowledge-systems goes to very heart of the ‘internal logic’ of religion. It is my understanding that what unifies all religions and what sets religion apart from all other disciplines or domains of social life is the central message of Love. Professing to live life by the logic Love is indeed a radical departure from the global forces of power and greed which are contributing so immensely to the unprecedented scale and levels of planetary fragmentation.

    Love has been defined by many over the ages, but for our purposes the ontological definition of Love given by Paul Tillich goes to the crux of what we have been talking about in our attempt to develop a transdisciplinary hermeneutics. For Tillich Love is ‘to overcome that which has been separated’57 Is there a possibility of finding another ‘level of reality’, with new ideas, concepts, images and representations, where this contradiction can be resolved? If not, is it not then possible to agree to disagree on the cosmological-ontological level of the debate but to keep on looking for agreement in the other areas of epistemology, methodology, anthropology and axiology which are equally essential for overcoming what has become separated – i.e. our knowledge-systems. The state of our troubled world which we have brought onto ourselves is just too serious and complex an issue to warrant a Derridian repetition of the differences between ‘fundamental’ or ‘foundational’ ideas. If we, humankind, can only walk away from each other re-affirming and re-claiming our irreconcilable differences, and not find sufficient common ground with which to approach the extremely challenging task ahead to securing our continued and peaceful existence on the one and only planet we have, it will most certainly mark one of the saddest and most tragic ‘events’ on the human calendar to date. Should we not succeed in ‘overcoming what has separated us’, or at least have developed the necessary tolerance for these differences, and if, in the final analysis, all that we will be able to say that we have failed in this task, whether from a creationist or evolutionary point of view, we would yet again be confronted with the age-old question: what is the purpose of human life on earth? The only difference in re-stating this age-old question is that it is not only of philosophical or theological interest only in an abstract sense. As we have seen, we are living in a planetary context filled with complex problems which demand long-term solutions if we as the human species are to survive on the planet. Therefore, whichever way we answer this question about our purpose on earth, it is inextricably linked to our long-term survival and for this we need all the disciplines to enter into a truly on-going trans-disciplinary dialogue with each other.


    Endnotes

    2 Heisenberg, 1959, p.54.

    4 It is important to see such a ‘fusion’ between the disciplinary horizons and the possibility of a new trans-disciplinary understanding of the world that it brings, in terms of the notion of ‘emergence’. In other words, it does not have any a priori guarantees or existence, but can only emerge from an ongoing and rigorous dialogue between all the sciences.

    6 ‘Will-to-power’ is thought of here in negative sense to over-power, as defined by Foucault in his numerous writings on the intimate relationship between knowledge and power. However, this does not mean that the knowledge–power relation should only be imagined in negative terms. This relation also has a positive or productive side to it, in the sense that it produces knowledge. More will be explained on the importance of this positive-productive aspect of the knowledge–power relation under the heading “Fusion of Horizons: The Knowledge–Power Relation” (see p. 31).

    8 The ‘greenness’ of the tree did not only start over 4 billion years ago with the evolution of the blue-green algae and bacteria as the first forms of life on earth, but also culminated in the evolution of the complex physiology of the human brain and speech organs to be able to receive and articulate through language the frequency of the tree’s light waves as ‘green’ waves. – Paul Ehrlich, Human Natures, pp. 139 – 163.

    10 David Bohm: see his entire work, On Dialogue, but for the act of ‘suspension’ see specifically pages 73 – 83.

    12 According to Stephen Hawking: “The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the 20th century” – A Brief History of Time, p.42.

    14 ‘Man’ not in the gender sense of word, but in the generic meaning of the word referring to the humankind’s perceived position on earth – which includes both men and women.

    16 This tacit dimension is also referred to by Michael Polanyi as our ‘tacit fore-knowledge’ in which, according to him, all our theoretical and scientific knowledge is rooted.

    18 “What were these questions? Practically all of them had to do with the strange apparent contradictions between the results of different experiments. How could it be that the same radiation of that produces interference patterns, and therefore must consist of waves, also produce photoelectric effect, and therefore must consist of moving particles? Again and again one found that the attempt to describe atomic events in traditional terms of physics led to contradictions” – Heisenberg, 1959, p.38.

    20 Heisenberg, 1959, pp. 44 – 45.

    22 We are reminded again of Einstein’s words: we cannot solve problems with the thinking that created these problems in the first place.

    24 Nicolescu, 2002, p.46.

    26 At least as articulated by someone like Richard Dawkins in his latest book “The God Delusion“.

    28 Nicolescu, 2002, p.21.

    30 Heisenberg, 1959, p. 128.

    32 Nicolescu, 2002, p.55.

    34 Nicolescu, 2002, p.23.

    36 Nicolescu, 2002, p.51.

    38 Nicolescu, 2002, p.54.

    40 Nicolescu, 2002, p.30.

    42 Referring to the wave / particle conundrum, Heisenberg refers approvingly to Bohr’s use of the term ‘complementarity’. “Bohr considered the two pictures – particle and wave – as two complementary descriptions of the same reality” – Heisenberg, 1959, p.44.

    44 Nicolescu, 2002, p.34.

    46 Morin, 1999, p.73.

    48 The words of Einstein come to mind here: that we cannot hope to solve problems within the mindset that created these problems in the first place.

    50 There are a growing number of thinkers who believe that we have already reached this point. James Lovelock in his book The Revenge of Gaia is one such eminent thinker who believes that the problem of global warming has become irreversible and that whatever we will do to decrease the amounts of CO2 emissions will not stop the planetary consequences of this problem.

    52 Heisenberg, 1959, pp. 138 – 139.

    54 Nicolescu, 2002, p. 23 – 26.

    56 Latour, 1993, p.6.

    1, and the second group is dominated by the often urgent problems of ethics.

    Though for an individual scientist this science-religion dialogue should primarily provide resolution of internal uncertainties, it soon becomes obvious that the social context also plays an important role. Not only are the scientific research and the position of a scientist strongly conditioned by external factors, including cultural tradition and mentality, but their interaction is reciprocal: Attitudes towards the science-religion relations have important influence on the society, and have often in history shaped social and political developments. And this process is still going on!

    Of course, one usually considers here the negative examples of extreme, fundamentalist attitudes, i.e. fideism and scientism, but there are also positive cases where tolerant and argumentative approaches contribute to the advances of individual and common good.

    This paper discusses some specific aspects of the science-religion dialogue in the context of a post-totalitarian society, as are the societies in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe after half a century of communist dictatorship, taking the situation in Croatia for a case study3.

    Of course, there are also totalitarian regimes based on another fundamentalism of religious origin, or fideism, where claims to absolute truth and justification of absolute power are based on religious teachings. Some Islamic regimes are such recent examples, where religious fundamentalism suppresses other aspects of human spirituality, but in certain historic periods this was also the case in Europe. Needless to say, just as in case of scientism, this is a false interpretation of religion, only a surrogate of true faith, however influential it could be.

    Both scientism and fideism try to find their justification in the false idea of the inherent conflict between science and religion. Proper understanding of both can easily show, in spite of the complexity of their relationship, that these two are neither exclusive nor opposed, but instead complementary. The development of fideism and scientism, and their frequent conflicts were mistakenly considered to refer to the intrinsic incompatibilities of science and religion.

    In the Western civilization, based on Judeo-Christian tradition, fideistic tendencies are quite isolated, even if they occasionally rise to the surface e.g. in the form of “scientific creationism”. Catholic Church, starting with the First Vatican Council (1869-70), and especially pope John Paul II made great efforts to clarify the relationship between religion and science, and establish a reasonable dialogue, promoting the idea of their compatibility. As pope John Paul II says in the first sentence of his encyclical letter Fides et Ratio: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth…”5. Of course, the main result was that the Party was now relieved of any responsibility and at the same time had absolute power.

    2.5 Scientism against science: Science as the panacea
    Now I come to the second dogma which contributed to the mental deformations in the scientific community, and which can be related to «scientism» in its radical version. This was the systematic misuse of the term science, its application to what was and what was not science: it was proclaimed that science could and should solve all the problems of the society, of the «working class», improve the standard of living, provide reduction of imports, etc., etc.

    While most people probably were not even aware of the true situation (as happens in most societies!), I am convinced that the authors of this planned confusion intentionally suppressed the necessary (even if sometimes fuzzy!) distinctions between fundamental sciences, oriented basic research, applied research and development, the differences in their goals, methods, organization, planning, evaluation and, of course, their funding. Everything was “science”, even quality control in a production process, or simple technology transfer. Unfortunately, but understandably, in this obscure game politicians were able to find support and collaboration among some scientists, always prepared to accommodate and bend their ethical and professional principles.

    One of the lasting consequences of this system, i.e. the combination of «self-management» and «scientism», was that the professional – institutional – responsibility disappeared because institutions had no adequate internal structure or power. Professional standards were neither stimulated nor required – the Party only needed political accommodation or passivity. This unfortunately «corrupted» large numbers of otherwise decent and correct scientists who accepted this deal offered by the Party – little or no work, no professional discipline or responsibility but, above all, no «dangerous» initiative or troublemaking.

    2.6 Totalitarian rule and religion
    Apart from brutal persecutions, the attack on religion was based on “dialectic materialism”, with its origin in scientism, and included the usual range of typical Marxist-Leninist ideological phraseology, e.g. “Science and religion are in conflict”, “Science has proved that there was no God”, “Religion is the opium of the masses”, etc., etc. This was the official doctrine imposed and taught at schools, repeated ad nauseam in the media, and it was dangerous to show any public sign of deviation from it.

    Various religious communities reacted differently to the persecutions, which also differed in intensity, from the murder of hundreds of thousands of priests and faithful in the Soviet Union to the German extermination camps to the more sophisticated later methods of oppression. However, two things are relevant for further discussion.

    First, the damage – both physical and mental – was enormous, both to the religious communities and their members, but also to the whole intellectual community and to the society. The brainwashing programme that lasted for so long left a lasting imprint on the mentality of the people, which is reinforced by the fact that it is still going on in the media and even at schools, though in a more sophisticated way. People instinctively opposed the Marxist-Leninist propaganda – after all, the population in Croatia declared themselves in 1991 more than 80% Catholic, but in spite of that their level of knowledge about religion as well as about science was (and still is) very poor. There was no alternative information available, no possibility for an honest discussion of the science-religion relations. All this emphasizes the need to repair this situation.

    Second, the persecution failed to eliminate religion and destroy completely religious institutions, though to a large extent they were removed from their social functions. In fact, the goal of the regime in the later stage was not so much to destroy the religious organizations, churches, etc., but to isolate them from the flock and control their activities, and in several cases they succeeded. In fact, the price paid for the survival of the religious organizations was their passive role, abstention from many social activities, and this created a certain defensive mentality that is still present now when they (the hierarchy) have the necessary freedom of action, and are expected to contribute to the important social issues, such as the science-religion dialogue.

    It is therefore indicative to see that this topic is still completely ignored by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Croatia, and even absent from the curricula of religious schools.

    But due to the forced segregation of lay intellectuals according to their religious affiliation and their removal from their natural roles in the society, the society was losing their creative contributions in scientific research, education, arts and humanities, in economic activities, and finally in politics and government. This oppression also provoked waves of emigration, and the resulting “brain drain” impoverished the academic community.

    3. Scientism and education

    3.1 Education for the future and the values
    The future of our society is based on education, with or without referring to the popular phrase “knowledge society”, but this education should be more than passive acquisition of skills. In other words, education is intrinsically connected to the system of values that has to complement the scientific content of the learning process. And this starts in the family, which is its most important, though not the only factor.

    But the family is still under attack in the contemporary society7. On the contrary, all great religions are primarily concerned with the problem of values and their applications, and therefore they can be fruitfully explored only in the science-religion dialogue.

    We therefore need people who will be both scientifically “literate” – trained in a specific field of science and/or technology, and at the same time morally sensitive and responsible. This claim is supported by the underlying belief that “the spiritual wings of the world’s great religions have a common core of ethical values, which can be used to provide guidance in practical solutions”9 tensions and misunderstandings between intellectuals, especially in humanities and in natural sciences. This indicates the need for better communication and for the clarification of the (supposedly obvious!) definitions in this specific aspect of the «unity of knowledge» question.

    In fact, it seems that the natural scientists, and physicists foremost among them, are most eager and willing to cross these boundaries and speak “another language”, and especially to transfer their professional experiences to their colleagues in other disciplines. (The long list of Templeton Prize winners in recent times only confirms this conclusion!) I am afraid that many others, coming from humanities and social sciences, are unwilling to leave their safe areas and start a real dialogue, which is especially true for theologians and philosophers.

    I confess that I am personally interested in the solution of this impasse. As a theoretical physicist my only contribution to the science-religion dialogue can be my specific professional and personal, i.e. religious experience. I believe that the understanding of the true character and methodology of (natural) science research coming from the first-hand experience should be both relevant and interesting for our (less exact but more profound) partners, just as their views and knowledge are interesting to us. If it turns out that this is not so, it is certainly useless for me and my colleagues to try to become dilettante philosophers or theologians in order to discuss competently intricacies of these disciplines, and very likely prove to be incompetent! So the dialogue becomes meaningful only if we meet halfway, if we share our specific knowledge, listen carefully and complement each other, however demanding this could be, and try to create new synthesis, mutual understanding and appreciation. Otherwise, the dialogue reduced to monologues will not continue for long.

    Are we prepared for this new “culture of the dialogue”?

    4.3 Local problem: Information and communication
    It will take time and patient work to neutralize the system of disinformation on the science-religion issues which functioned for half a century, by combining high quality academic and public activities with intense dissemination of basic information. This applies in specific ways to the academic community and also to the wider public.

    Unfortunately, the most powerful media are still controlled by the old/new power centres and are intensely promoting their financial and/or political interests, and are therefore not open to the free, tolerant and qualified public discussion of these issues. Instead, they are generally following the materialistic worldview, usually reduced to vulgar consumerism and hedonism, which is practically identical to, but more sophisticated than the earlier communist propaganda. Similar situation is with the public education, where curricula still reflect strong influence of the old mentality. So one has to find the new channels of communication!

    When it comes to the publication of texts on the science-religion relations, the methodological comments made earlier, concerning the need to avoid narrow professional boundaries and to reach beyond the limits of separate disciplines, apply here as well. These texts should also be understood by a wider non-specialist population, if we want to enable the future dialogue. But, it will require courage and determination to give up producing another research paper in one’s own field, but instead to risk, for the sake of this dialogue, to enter into a «foreign territory»! And at the same time this paper will not contribute to the publication list needed for one’s professional promotion. This is the price to be paid for the interdisciplinarity, and it could be pretty high for the young scientists.

    It may be surprising to the English speaking community, but in spite of the universal spread of English, it is still necessary to provide sufficient information (via books, journals, Internet, etc.) in the local languages, especially in post-totalitarian societies where the lack of such information was imposed for decades. Though we emphasize the key role of the elite intellectuals in our Study Group, our ultimate goal must be to make this wealth of ideas and spiritual experiences available as widely as possible. And this will obviously not be possible without opening to the treasures of literatures in other languages, in the first place to the basic texts (books and articles) in the wider field of science and spirituality, specifically science and religion. This would require a program of systematic translations of original texts, mostly from English, but also from other languages.

    Overcoming all these obstacles will require patience, humility, tolerance and determination. And, obviously, a lot of time!

    4.4 Prospects for the future
    It is very difficult for someone without personal experience with the totalitarian system to fully understand how quickly it destroys academic institutions (as well as other structures in a society!), how deeply it distorts the mentality and ethics of most people (including those fighting against it!), and how perversely in misuses science in the form of scientism to achieve absolute power in the society.

    In fact, the destruction of the middle class was by far the worst and longest lasting damage resulting from the Communist period. Because this is an unexpected and new social phenomenon it will require careful analysis and a long term «therapy», but we still have to find the method upon which to base this «therapy». I believe that in this process, in the spiritual renewal of our societies, the an essential step will be (re)introduction and affirmation of a value system based on Christian principles, just as the (moral) destruction of the academic community (and the middle class in general) started with and was based on the suppression of exactly these values.

    Reintegration and revitalization of the intellectual communities in the post-totalitarian societies will require elimination of all fundamentalisms and their intolerance, all divisions and animosities, and the establishment of a real and fruitful dialogue of the two great modes of human spirituality and quest for truth – science and religion.

     

    —————————————-

    2 Earlier discussions of this problem were presented in M. Sunjic: «Scientism» against science in a socialist regime (Conference «Theology and Science in Conversation in the Changing Contexts of Central and Eastern Europe» , Bratislava, 31 January – 2 February, 2003), and in M. Sunjic: Science-Religion Dialogue and the Recovery of Intellectual Elites in Post-totalitarian Societies (International Symposium “Religion and European Integration – Religion as a Factor of Stability in South Eastern Europe”, Maribor, 6-8 October, 2005).

    4 Pope John Paul II: Encyclical letter Fides et Ratio (Vatican, 1998)

    6 See e.g. J.P. Matlary: Redefining the Family in Western Politics: Political Strategies, presented at the Conference «Family in Europe», Rome, 2004.

    8 G.F.R. Ellis: The Science and Religion Dialogue: Where it Stands Today and why it Matters, Metanexus, Templeton Prize Lecture 2004

    1. This paper points to a relation between two areas of dialog, between science and religion on the one hand and interreligious dialog on the other hand. The underlying idea is that a clarification of the relation between scientific knowledge and religious knowledge helps to understand more deeply the characteristics of religion and specifically to support dialog among religions.

    Scientific knowledge is objective knowledge. Objectivity is at least an ideal of science. Religious knowledge, on the other hand, appears to be much more subjective and arbitrary. Already in ancient Greece some philosophers expressed a criticism of religion related to its arbitrariness. Xenophane of Colophon wrote: “Ethiopians claim that their Gods are snub-nosed and black, Thracians claim that they have blue eyes and red hair.”3 The development of science was closely connected with the ideal of objectivity. Yet the ancient Greek philosophers recognized that the objective reality of science does not simply reveal itself through the senses. Democritus and Leucippus, the ancient atomists, distinguished between “legitimate knowledge”, i.e. science, and “bastard knowledge”, i.e. sense perception.

    Religions have responded in various ways to the challenge of science throughout the centuries. The different approaches can roughly be classified on a scale between two extremes. The one extreme is to shape religious knowledge following the model of science, i.e. to transfer the basic epistemological concepts of science to theology. To take “religious experience” as a starting point of religion is a more moderate form of this position, which is popular today. The other extreme is to abandon all epistemological claims of religion. Religion is reduced to myths and rituals which help one to cope with life.

    This paper intends to point to a way between these extremal positions. It will be shown that scientific objectivity does not simply refer to a “true” image of reality, but rather it perceives and creates this reality in a particular way through a process of objectification. Objectivity and truth are therefore not identical. Religion can be orientated towards truth without striving for objectivity in the scientific way. In order to clarify the characteristic of religious knowledge as different from scientific knowledge it is helpful to analyze scientific objective knowledge as the result of a process of objectification that has several dimensions.

    Theory and Pragmatics

    The priority of theory is the first dimension of objectification. Aristotle wrote:

    “With a view to action experience seems in no respect inferior to art [Greek: ‘theoria’], and men of experience succeed even better than those who have theory without experience. (…) But yet we think that knowledge and understanding belong to art [Greek: ‘theoria’] rather than to experience, and we suppose artists [‘theorists’] to be wiser than men of experience (which implies that Wisdom depends in all cases rather on knowledge); and this because the former know the cause, but the latter do not. For men of experience know that the thing is so, but do not know why, while the others know the ‘why’ and the cause.”5

    Yet these “masterworkers” participate in the process of production. The true value of theory is only reached when theorists are completely free from pragmatic concerns: “… as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence when all such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered, and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure.”7 refering to this hierarchy that has evolved in the 20th century.

    Objective knowledge rises above the level of pragmatics. The limitation of this approach can be recognized by taking, for example, the ongoing crisis in the development of string theories. These perfectly elegant and attractive theories have been developed and refined for nearly 30 years. They are supposed to explain the most basic qualities of matter, space and time on a unified basis. But physicists encounter more and more complexities in these theories and they cannot find any criteria to decide among the many string theories of this kind that have been developed. Some skeptical voices have always pointed out that no experimental confirmations of string theory have ever been found and that even no  experimental tests appear to be feasible. These skeptics have for a long time been denounced as pessimists. Last year, in 2006, the tides have turned. In August 2006 an article in “Time Magazine” cited two books 9

    Popper’s statement displays that believing in theories is based on a strong trust in the power of human reason. The construction of theories is based on this trust.

    Not all share this trust in human reason. The various concepts of constructivism in philosophy of science are examples of counter positions. Methodological constructivism understands the meaning of theories as derived from their pragmatical functions. The purpose of theories is according to Peter Janich “the linguistic organization and ordering of knowledge in order to make communication among scientists clear and economical and to support teaching and cultivation of tradition.”11 Cultural and social constructivism stress that scientific knowledge is always shaped by culture and reflects social limitations.13

    These are supposed to be the Buddha’s words. In Mahayana Buddhism and most explicitly in Madhyamika philosophy ultimate and absolute truth is considered to be ineffable and opposed to conventional truth. Conventional truth, which includes all concrete scientific and religious teaching, is named truth because of its pragmatic relation to absolute truth. Its purpose is to lead the path to the cognition of absolute truth.

    In Christianity the relation of truth and pragmatics is the topic of theological controversies. Creeds and dogmas arise from ritual worship. How deeply are they rooted in worship? In the Theology of Liberation the liberating effect of creeds is understood to be a basic criterion for truth, as opposed to an abstract understanding of truth. But the correct correlation between liberation and truth is controversial. A biblical root of this discussion is John 8,32: “The truth will set you free.”

    Generality and Particularity

    The importance of theory is rooted in the fact that science is ony interested in general laws, “laws of nature”. All particular experimental observations gain their importance for science only when they can be generalized. Only observation that can be reproduced, in time and by different scientists or groups of scientists is of importance.

    In the last section of this paper Popper’s contributions on induction have been mentioned. Particular observations, no matter how many they may be, can never justify a general law. In the philosophy of science the meaning of the laws of nature has been debated for a long time, without a conclusive result. The relevant question is, whether the laws of nature are only descriptions of observed regularities (“regularity view”) or whether they correspond to ontological relations of causality (“ontological view”).15, in at least what concerns the “scientific revolutions”. Nevertheless science claims that it will finally come to a truth that has been cleansed from all these influences.
    Irrespective of the validity of the allegation that this is an ideological idealization, science cannot free itself from interpretation, when it goes beyond a mere description and prediction, but tries to understand the world. The claim to abstain from value judgments and prejudices leads in fact very often to a blindness when it comes to the question concerning one’s weltanschauung (world view). Scientists tend to attribute the same objectivity to their interpretations as to their scientific theories. Frequently the slow or abrupt shift from science to philosophical or theological statements is hardly perceivable.

    Examples can be found in many popular books of astronomers or other physicists on cosmology. Stephan Hawking wrote in his famous book “A brief history of time”17: Living creatures profit from a strong flow of energy in their environment (i.e. the solar radiation on earth) which is connected to a strong increase of entropy that allows living organisms to reduce entropy in their body.

    But the scientific concept of life got completed only when the theory of self organization was developed. This theory relies on the concept of complexity. In order to comprehend complexity the concept of information plays again a fundamental role. Complexity can be defined in the way that complex systems contain more information than less complex systems. But detailed studies showed that this definition is quite complex itself and leads to more and more differentiations of the concept of information 19

    The systematic organization of knowledge implies a hierarchic ordering in science and requires a well constructed terminology. The best example of systematization is the axiomatic structure of mathematics. In empirical science the organization is more difficult to accomplish.

    The ideal of systematization and hierarchization can be applied to the relation of the sciences among each other as well  as to the inner structure of sciences. Rudolf Carnap stated the universal extension of this idea: “It shall be argued that science forms a unity: All statements can be expressed in one language, all facts are of one kind and recognizable according to one method.”21

    As concerns the inner structure of the sciences Carnap holds a position which turned out to be not tenable, but illustrates the ideal of systematization: The most basic level of scientific knowledge consists of “protocol sentences” which are directly related to observations. Based on these sentences more general sentences can be deduced, which have a clear relation to the protocol sentences.23 Alan Chalmers illustrates the point with an example from everyday life 25

    A strictly systematic structure of science neither exists for the propositions of a field of science nor for various fields of science. It turns out that some of the most interesting results and applications of science arise as the result of interdisciplinary or “transdisciplinary” research.27 This is meant to describe the factual evolution of science as well as an ideal.

    There exists also a fundamental limitation of formalization and systematization in science. It is marked by the Gödel theorems. Gödel showed that every formal system that is rich enough to include the usual axioms for the natural numbers (Peano axioms) is incomplete as a matter of principle. This implies that in every formal language of basic complexity, statements can be constructed that can neither be proved nor refuted within the system. They are undecidable. Even more important is that the statement of coherence of a theory has this quality: It can neither be proved nor refuted within the system.29 Assigning a truth value would imply determinism and the sea battle is a possibility, not a fact.

    Aristotle’s differentiation of facts and possibility as referring to past and future corresponds to the modern interpretation problems of the second law of thermodynamics. At a closer look two problems of interpretation can be found. The first one is in what way the laws of physics imply an arrow of time, i.e. a preference of certain processes to evolve in one direction. A simple example is the dissolution of a piece of sugar in water or coffee. The second law of thermodynamics states such an arrow of time. But the most fundamental laws of physics are symmetric with respect to the reversal of the arrow of time. How does the arrow of time arise? Assigning a different status to statements about the past and the future leads to a consistent solution of this problem:31 This difference is intuitively obvious in common sense. The philosophical analysis shows that this intuition corresponds to a condition of knowledge in a Kantian sense, and that this condition cannot be justified based on science.

    In the tradition of Christian philosophy and theology the question how to reconcile God’s omniscience with human freedom has been debated extensively without coming to a final conclusion. It corresponds to the debate whether there is a fundamental difference between facts and possibilities. And in most religions predeterminations and prophecies about the future play some role. How can they be reconciled with the an indeterminate future?

    The philosophical discussion led to the result that the difference between facts and possibilities is a precondition of scientific knowledge. In Kantian tradition it can be considered to shape scientific knowledge, but not to represent knowledge about reality in itself.

    In religious knowledge the strict difference between facts and possibilities becomes questionable. A striking example is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The “evidence” of the apostles for the resurrection is fundamental for Christianity. But is this resurrection a fact? Obviously there is no empirical evidence for this fact and even the apostle’s evidence is not completely consistent. Furthermore, the apostle’s evidence does not refer to the event of the resurrection itself, but only to the consequences.

    The question whether the resurrection has really been a factual event may be incorrectly framed. From the perspective of the discussion about facts and possibilities this differentiation can be regarded as not adequate in this context. Truth is not identical with factuality and religious truth might well go beyond factuality.

    Subject and Object

    Scientific knowledge follows the ideal of independence from the subject of knowledge. Science strives for knowledge instead of interpretation, it collects information about the world, it formalizes the knowledge in order to represent it objectively, it refers to facts that do not depend on specific observers and their evidence. It has been shown that all these aspects of objectification are not simply a purification of knowledge but that they shape knowledge in a certain way.

    In the religious traditions of Asia, especially in Hinduism and Buddhism, the subject-object-dualism and its overcoming is taken as a central question of epistemology. This dualism is considered to be a fundamental illusion which obscures absolute reality.

    Advaita philosophy teaches an identity of self and God (including the whole world). Returning to this identity is the way of liberation. God (Brahman) is not opposed to the soul (Atman) and can be grasped only in an knowledge of identity.

    In Buddhism it is mainly the Mahayana teaching that stresses the importance of the epistemological question of the subject-object-identity. Madhyamika, the school founded by Nagarjuna, teaches that true knowledge, absolute truth, can only be reached in an ascent above relative truth which is caught in the subject-object-dualism. But absolute truth is always ineffable, since every expression involves duality. All written or oral teaching represents only relative truth, which becomes true insofar only as it leads to absolute truth.33

    Sometimes Christian and Jewish theologians stress the basic difference between the monotheistic religions and the monistic teaching of the Eastern religions. Monotheistic religions are based on a relationship between humans and God, not on undifferentiated unity. But on the other hand monotheistic theology has a tendency towards a naïve understanding of this relationship with God, which falls short of real transcendence, placing God on the same level as all creatures. The fourth Lateran Council stated: “For between creator and creature there can be noted no similarity so great that a greater dissimilarity cannot be seen between them.” (DH 806)

    Besides the theological problem, Christian, Muslim and Jewish mystics have at all times come to experiences of mystical unity or unification that are akin to the common expressions of monistic religions. Hussein ibn Mansur al-Hallaj was tortured and killed due to his radical expression of this unity, Meister Eckhart was forced to recant some provocative sentences like “God and I are One.”

    It has become fashionable to call on quantum mechanics in order to explain the particularity of mind. Most approaches of this kind go hardly beyond the simple idea of trying to explain consciousness and mind (which are beyond the reach of today’s science) with recourse to another mysterious reality, namely quantum theory.35 The common formalism of this theory suggests to consider the qualities that are measured to arise only in the process of measurement. This does not mean that the concrete person who observes a physical system imposes an influence on that system. In fact, the observer in the sense of quantum mechanics can be any system of measurement. The subjectivity in the observation process comes into the game mainly as a necessary perspective. Objective qualities arise in the perspective of subjectivity only.

    Objectification and Dialogue

    Truth is not identical to objectivity. The ideal of objectivity is valid and precious in the context of science, but it involves a process of objectification which makes reality accessible in a certain perspective only. Religious knowledge and religious truth cannot be submitted to this ideal in the same way as science. To put it the other way round: Subjectivity is not opposed to truth. Religious knowledge is subjective with respect to individuals and to religious cultures and communities. Religion has to find its own way to avoid arbitrariness instead of imitating scientific ideas or else it will lose its soul.

    This approach to the characteristic of religious knowledge can help not only in the dialog between religion and science, but also in the dialog among religions. A basic obstacle in this dialog is the the objective contradictions in the truth claims of the various world religions.
    This problem can be avoided by simply denying the truth claims. This can be on a pragmatic level by simple avoiding discussion about religious truth in order to live together peacefully. It can also be achieved as a sort of fundamental pluralism which states that truth claims cannot be discussed in the context of religions. Neither solution is adequate.

    A third way is possible and the arguments in this paper point to this possibility. If religious truth cannot be objectified or at least not to same extent as scientific truth, discussion and dialog can go beyond fruitless fighting without mutual comprehension on the one hand and the arbitrariness of unlimited tolerance on the other hand. The dialog has to take into account the various contexts and functions of religious statements which are “subjective” in the most precious meaning of this word.

     

    ————————————

    2   Xenophanes, 21 B 16. Zitiert nach Hermann Diels: Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Berlin: Weidemannsche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1951, p. 133.

    4   Aristoteles: Metaphysik (981a), cited from http://www.classicallibrary.org/aristotle/metaphysics/book01.htm.

    6   Aristoteles: Metaphysik (981b), cited from http://www.classicallibrary.org/aristotle/metaphysics/book01.htm.

    8   Woit, P, Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory & the Continuing Challenge to Unify the Laws of Physics. New York: Basic Books, 2006. Lee Smolin: The Trouble with Physics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Another important book in the same line had been published previously: Lawrence Krauss: Hiding in the Mirror. New York: Viking, 2005.

    10 Peter Janich: Kleine Philosophie der Naturwissenschaften. München: Beck 1997, p. 58.

    12 Cf. Hans Rudi Fischer: Die Wirklichkeit des Konstruktivismus. Heidelberg: Auer 1995.

    14 Cf. Michael Esfeld: Einführung in die Naturphilosophie. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2002, S. 83-99. Friedel Weinert: Laws of Nature. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 1995, S. 3-64. Martin Curd, Martin & Cover (Hrsg.):  Philosophy of Science. London, New York: W. W. Norton & Company 1998, S. 808-864. Michael Tooley (Hrsg.): Analytical Metaphysics. New York, London: Garland Publishing 1999. D.M. Armstrong: A world of states of affairs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997.

    16 Stephen W. Hawking: A Brief History of Time. London: Bantam Press 188, p. 141.

    18 Murray Gell-Mann: The Quark and the Jaguar.  London : Little, Brown, 1994. For an extensive discussion of the approaches to quantify complexity cf. Cosma Rohilla Shalizi contribution in: Thomas S. Deisboeck & J. Yasha Kresh (Ed.): Complex Systems Science in Biomedicine. New York: Springer 2006.

    20 Rudolf Carnap : Die physikalische Sprache als Universalsprache der Wissenschaft. In: Erkenntnis II, Leipzig 1931, p. 432.

    22 Ibid., p. 453ff.

    24 Alan F. Chalmers: Wege der Wissenschaft. Berlin 41999, S. 33.

    26 Hans Poser: Wissenschaftstheorie. Stuttgart: Reclam 2001, p. 285. Helga Nowotny: Es ist so. Es könnte auch anders sein. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp 1999.

    28 Gödel’s ideas presented have been presented in a very clear way by Smullyan: Raymond M. Smullyan: Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1992.

    30 Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker: Aufbau der Physik. München: Carl Hanser Verlag 1985. Stefan Bauberger: Was ist die Welt? Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2003.

    32 Cf. Gadjin Nagao: The Foundational Standpoint of Madhyamika Philosophy. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications 1989.

    34 Examples: Lockwood, Michael: Mind, Brain and the Quantum.. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1989. Henry Stapp: Mind, matter, and quantum mechanics. Berlin, New York: Springer 2004. Roger Penrose: The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics. New York: Penguin Books 1991.

    35 Stefan Bauberger: Was ist die Welt? Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2003, p 141-186.

    Science strives for objective knowledge. The scientist’s attitude towards religion is often marked by mistrust in the truth claims of the various religions. The responses of the various religions range from an explicit renunciation of any truth claim to an imitation of scientific objectivity. This paper explores another alternative, namely to question the relation between truth and objectivity. It is shown that objective knowledge relates to a certain perspective that is shaped by a process of objectification. Objectification contains several dimensions: A priority of theory over pragmatics and of general laws over particular knowledge, an abstinence from interpretation, a certain concept of information, an appraisal of systematization and formalization, a concept of factual reality, the subject-object-dichotomy. A philosophical analysis reveals the implicit premises and limitations of scientific knowledge in all these dimensions. Therefore the identification of truth and objective knowledge cannot be sustained. The papers shows furthermore that religious knowledge cannot be objectified in the same way as scientific knowledge. The conclusion is that religion can keep up its truth claim without imitating the objective method of science. This has important consequences for the dialog between religion and science as well as for the dialog of religions. 5/24/2007 05/24/2007 10025 A Reductionism Based Challenge to Strong Emergence

    The main fallacy in this kind of thinking is that the reductionist hypothesis does not by any means imply a ìconstructivistî one:  The ability to reduce everything to simple fundamental laws does not imply the ability to start from those laws and reconstruct the universeî (P. W. Anderson 1972)

    ìIt is plain that there is no natural cause which could determine all the planets, both primary and secondary, to move the same way and in the same plane, without any considerable variation; this must have been the effect of counsel.î (Isaac Newtonís 1st letter to Bently Dec 10, 16921)

     

    I. Introduction

    As the social ideal of science shifts from physics to biology old issues are being revisited.  The concept of mind and soul seem to be at odds with an ontological reductionism that forms the basis of physics.  Can biology incorporate concepts of mind and soul without introducing new substances or processes into the underlying physics that are incapable of experimental testing?  The vitalistic theories advanced in the 1800ís and early 1900ís were such a creation and created many philosophical issues for the sciences of their day.  Perhaps emergence represents a method for allowing concepts like mind and soul to co-exist with current descriptions of the fundamental laws of physics without invoking a dualist and/or vitalistic philosophy.  It has been suggested that there exist ìlaws of natureî at the biological level that can not be reduced to laws of physics.  This would imply that the reductionism will be unable to account for all of the ìlaws of nature.î 

    Several prominent physicists2 have proposed that there are currently known phenomena in physics that also can be shown to be emergent processes.  Some go further and advocate that science has reached about as far as reductionism can go and in order to advance, science needs to embrace a method that moves beyond pure reductionism.  Is this a reasonable way for physics to proceed?

    Science is constantly trying to explain that which is not currently understood.  At any given time there are many ideas and phenomena whose explanation is currently unknown.  The history of science is filled with hypothesized substances that later are abandoned when there is no longer any need for their existence3.  Sometimes science can see the start of an explanation to guide the efforts at understanding.  At other times there is no such ìglimpseî of a possible solution.  The history of science filled with people who have assumed that their inability to solve the problem was due to the problem being ìunsolvableî.  Sometimes these issues were offered as ìproofsî of the existence of God (the ìGod of the Gapsî).  No less a natural philosopher than Isaac Newton fell into this trap.  Newton claimed that the organization of the solar system could only be explained by a divinity.  He could not find ìinitial conditionsî that would lead to our solar system.  Not being able to find the initial conditions does not prove that they do not exist.  Subsequent works on this problem eventually led to the idea of planetary disks that slowly combine to form planets.  Today these proto-planetary disks have been imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.  To paraphrase Laplace, science no longer needs the direct intervention of God to explain the existence of our solar system.  It is a risky assumption to assume that something ìcannotî be explained by science.  Is emergence such a ìrisky assumptionî?

    The first part of this paper examines the role of the ìbridge lawsî in the inter-theoretic reduction between the ìlevelsî of our physical description.  Reductionism has at its foundation the idea of ìlevelsî of description.  Theories in science are developed to describe the behavior at one of these levels.  Inter-theoretic reduction attempts to deduce the higher level theories from the theories and concepts of the lower level theories.  However a higher level theory often (always?) contains concepts that have no counterpart in the lower level description.  The role of ìbridge lawsî is to link these higher level concepts to the lower level ones.  From these considerations we list some (most?) of the ways in which the reductive program might fail to provide us with a philosophically consistent description of reality that agrees with the known empirical evidence.   We can identify some of these potential failure mechanisms with the concept of emergence.  We will find that emergence can only arise through some indeterminacy in the basic laws of physics.  It is the indeterminacy that allows the emergent property to ìemergeî at a high level and that presents a challenge to reductionism.

    Unfortunately, ìEmergenceî does not have a universally accepted definition.  Adopting a meaning that is too weak fails to provide significant metaphysical or epistemological insights.  Adopting a meaning that is too strong may fail to include any actual examples that fit the definition.   Following Clayton (2004) we will define two major species of emergence (strong and weak) whose main difference is in the concept of ìDownward Causation.î 

    The second part of the paper is intended to give an example of some of the issues raised in the first part of the paper.  We construct a ìvirtual worldî of probabilistic coins (which can interact) and consider how emergence might enter this world.  First we show that simple interactions between two coins can create patterns that extend to macroscopic features of our ìvirtual world.î Thus the existence of macroscopic patterns, by itself, is not sufficient to demonstrate emergent phenomena.  Next we present a situation where the probability of flipping a coin depends on a ìmacroscopicî parameter (excess of heads) and drives the macroscopic system to a defined state.   Finally we present another situation that produces the same result and pattern which only depends on ìnearest neighbor coinsî.   If we start with the data, how do you determine which model represents ìreality?î  The challenge is to show that emergence is required for the explanation of the physical phenomena.

    At the end of the article a challenge is offered that emergence will probably have to meet if it is to find wide acceptance in the physics community.  But what of the physicists who are leading the emergent cause?  We will close by examining one of Laughlinís comments and offer our conclusions.

     

    II  The Reductive Program and Emergence

    Emergence properties imply the existence of levels of description of physical systems.  These levels certainly exist in our thinking about the world and the equations that we use to describe these levels.  In practice a different set of principles and equations are used to describe the behavior of atoms and automobiles.  But are these simply levels in our understanding or are they reflections of a deeper metaphysical difference?

    Even if one could solve for the behavior of every molecule in a glass of water, what would you do with all that information?   Many of the characteristics we are interested in (like temperature) are not properties of individual molecules.  Temperature for instance is related to the average of the ìrandomî kinetic energy of individual molecules.4  This is typical of many of the macroscopic (upper level) characteristics in which we are interested.

    To describe the macroscopic world physics utilizes an approximation where the number of water molecules in the glass is very large.  The contribution from a single molecule to the macroscopic properties is small, which allows the introduction of statistics into the description of the macroscopic material.  There is a formalism of ìstatistical mechanicsî that allows us to make this transition from the molecules to the macroscopic whole in a systematic manner5.  In this process no new ìforcesî or laws are introduced.  However, there are often assumptions made about the behavior of microscopic participants.6  It is these assumptions that allow us to replace the dynamics of individual molecules by statistical statements.  Sometimes these assumptions are directly testable and at other times the results of these assumptions are testable.

    There are systems which have a large enough number of particles that solving for the behavior of each particle is at best difficult, but the number of particles is small enough that that the assumption of a ìvery largeî number of particles is not a valid assumption.  This intermediate regime has been labeled ìmesoscaleî by Laughlin (Laughlin et al 2000).  Some of the claimed emergent phenomena in physics come from this realm.  Does this represent a third ìlevelî for reductionism, or is it simply a more complicated ìintermediateî case?

    Do these levels have metaphysical as opposed to epistemological significance?  I think it safe to say that the proponents of strong emergence require a metaphysical significance to these levels.   If so, where does one place the boundaries between the various levels?  If I collect 10 atoms have a crossed a border to a new ìemergent levelî?  How about 11, 12, Ö , 100, 101, Ö , 1000, 1001, Ö ,  where do the borders lie? Does one simply rely on the detection of an emergent property to tell you that you have crossed the border?  In this day and age where we are gaining the ability to count atoms this is no longer idle speculation.  Is there a system where the addition of 1 additional atom would introduce new emergent laws?  Call the number of atoms necessary for the new level N.  What prevents us from viewing this as an ìN-particle interaction?î  We have examples of 2, 3 and many particle interactions already.  The formalism of statistical mechanics allows us to build a bottom ñ up reductive theory of physics for almost arbitrary N. 

    A galaxy of stars all interact through their gravitational attraction.  Is the Galaxy a fundamentally different level than the level of individual stars?  Are emergent levels only associated with Quantum Mechanics?  Assigning metaphysical significance to the levels raises a number of practical as well as philosophical issues.  Even if true, it is not clear that this would mean that a reductive approach to science would necessarily fail. 

    A. The Role of Bridge Laws

    The reductive approach attempts to understand the macroscopic laws in terms of the microscopic behavior.   We need a method of linking the macroscopic ideas (volume, temperature, density etc.) to the microscopic particulars.  We need to establish ìbridge lawsî between the levels of description.7

    There have been numerous cases in the history of science where macroscopic phenomena were understood and used without an understanding of the ìlower levelî physics.  Only later were the two levels linked together.  One of the most studied areas is the concept of temperature in thermodynamics.  Thermometers date back at least to Galileoís thermometer of 1593, with the first temperature scales dating to the early 1700ís and a mercury thermometer in 1714.   Heat and temperature have been the subject of natural philosophers from perhaps Heraclitus onward.  Sometimes heat was tied to a substance (fire, phlogiston8 and then caloric9) and sometime to motion (Descartes10, Bacon11, Hooke12 and many others).  It was not until the development of statistical mechanics that a method was found to analytically link the motion of the molecules in a gas to the temperature of the gas13.  This provided a link between the atomic theory of the time (microscopic descriptions) and temperature (a macroscopic property). 

    Temperature is a property we measure with a thermometer.  Statistical Mechanics relates this measurement to the kinetic energy associated with the random motion of individual atoms14.  Statistical mechanics requires not only an understanding of the motion of the individual atoms, but an assumption about the random nature of that motion (the ergodic hypothesis).   This hypothesis allows the replacement of a time average by an average over an ìensembleî (of possible arrangements of the atoms in the gas)15.  Showing that the ergodic hypothesis arises from the equations of motions would provide a direct link from the atomic description to the macroscopic idea of temperature16.  In fact there is a great deal of work that has since justified the ergodic hypothesis.  There are situations where the ergodic hypothesis is not fully justified.  In these cases the concept of temperature also needs changing.  For instance a plasma in a magnetic field can have temperatures ìalong the magnetic fieldî that are different than the temperatures ìperpendicular to the magnetic field.î  This is directly attributed to the difference in behavior of the ionized particles along and perpendicular to the magnetic fields.  The ergodic or non-ergodic nature of the microscopic particles has a direct consequence on the macroscopic temperature. 

    Is temperature an emergent property?  In this situation a higher level property (temperature) is determined by lower level properties (the motion of individual atoms).  I would argue that accepting temperature (and similar cases) as emergent properties results in a concept of emergence that loses any metaphysical significance.  To have a metaphysical rather than epistemological emergence you need to show that the high level concept CANNOT be derived from a lower level one.  How does one do this?  If we can not show this, how can we be sure we have uncovered a metaphysically emergent concept? 

    B. Reductionism as a project

    At the current time there is no complete, philosophically consistent, empirically correct, testable theory of physics.  Creating such a theory is the main goal of a ìtheory of everythingî (TOE).  Reductionism is the dominant approach to creating such a theory.  The end result is not yet available for examination.  Therefore, for the purposes of this paper reductionism will be viewed as a program, rather than an ontological statement.

    Most attempts at a theory of everything assume that there is only one type of ìsubstanceî and avoid a dualist approach to describing nature, a monist perspective.  The theory of everything contains a ìlowestî or ìprimitiveî level that can not be further reduced.  The laws that are contained in the theory of everything would operate on the objects that exist in this lowest level.  Presumably these laws would describe how these most primitive objects interact.

    For the theory of everything to provide both predictive and explanatory power the interaction of ìhigher levelsî entities would need to be ìexplainedî (derived from) the lower level laws with (perhaps) the appropriate ìinitial conditionsî, ìboundary conditionsî etc.17  For the theory to truly be a ìtheory of everythingî this predictive and explanatory power would have to be extended to all levels of organization without introducing any new ìfundamental forcesî or ìsubstancesî at higher levels.18  Anderson attempts to split the program into reductive and constructive pieces.  However it is the constructive piece that provides the explanatory and predictive power of the program.  

    There are at least 3 ways in which this reductive program could be shown to be impossible to complete.

    Failure 1: Inter-level incompatibility

    The most spectacular failure of reductionism would be if the observed behaviors at one level are shown to violate the laws at a lower level.  At the current time no such case has been established.  Even if such an experiment did provide an example of inter-level incompatibility it is likely that the response of the scientific community would be to change the lower level theory to avoid the conflict while still maintaining agreement with existing empirical results19.   Therefore, to show that an inter-level incompatibility is inconsistent with a reductive theory of everything you would have to show that the observations at the higher level are inconsistent with all possible theories of everything.20  This is a far more difficult job that just showing inconsistencies with the current understanding of the laws of physics.

     

    Failure 2: Inter-level indeterminacy

    Another way that reductionism could fail would be if the laws that govern the behavior at one level can not be derived from lower level considerations.  This is the ìconstructivistî failure described by Anderson.  There are several ways in which inter-level reduction can fail without the results at the ìupper levelî being incompatible with lower level behaviors.   We will group all such occurrences under the heading of ìindeterminacyî.  There are at least 4 such possibilities;

    A) Inter-level non uniqueness

    B) Lowest level non-random Indeterminacy 

    C) Indeterminacy due to randomness

    D) Gˆdel Undecidability

     

    Failure 2A: Inter-level non uniqueness

    Consider a situation where the laws at a lower level are deterministic and complete (like Newtonís equations).   Is it possible for the laws that govern behavior at a higher level to be in determinant in spite of the fact that they were derived from lower level laws that are determinant?  The lower level theories would give deterministic behavior, yet the higher level system would have several possible behaviors.  When the experiment is performed only one behavior can be observed, while the other possible behaviors are NOT observed.  In order for this to be a legitimate failure of reductionism, the lower level could not contain any method of selecting one possible behavior over another.

    Figure

    An example of such a situation is the bifurcation of a loaded thin beam.  You can do this experiment yourself.  Take a thin plastic ruler and place it vertically on the table and push down on the ruler (as shown in figure 1)

    If you apply just a little force nothing will happen.  If you increase the force eventually the ruler will buckle and bend in the middle.  It can bend in either direction.  Apply enough force and there are two possible equilibrium solutions.  Physics can predict at what force this bifurcation happens, but can it predict which of the two equilibrium solutions will be preferred?

    It might seem that this is an example of a failure of a deterministic theory.  However the theory that describes this situation is a ìstatic theoryî.  It is a simplification that assumes that the ruler has no motion.  But the ruler has to move from one equilibrium solution to the other.  Thus to determine which equilibrium position will be occupied by the ruler requires the full dynamical equations.  The result will be very sensitive to the position and motion of the ruler as your applied force becomes large enough to cause the bifurcation.  In practice we may not be able to predict the eventual state due to our ignorance of all the relevant information.21  This information is often not necessary since the bifurcation already represents a failure of the ìbeamî (a situation civil engineers want to avoid).

    Non-linear dynamical equations can allow for multiple solutions (or no solutions).  When the fundamental physical laws become non-linear this is a concern. Thus this failure mechanism is ultimately tied to either nonlinearity in the fundamental laws, or our inability to determine precisely the initial conditions and/or boundary conditions.

    Failure 2B:  Lowest level non-random indeterminacy

    Consider a situation where the laws that govern the behavior at the lowest level do not fully describe the behavior of THAT Level.  However the theories describing the lower level behavior are not random.  Such theories by definition are indeterminate.  In general this situation could allow for multiple possibilities at all higher levels. 

    If one took the point of view that the position and momentum22 of an electron were both metaphysically well defined concepts, then the Quantum Mechanics of our electron becomes such a theory23.  Schrˆdingerís equation fully determines the behavior of the wave function, but the wave function does not fully determine both the position and momentum.   What does determine the position and momentum of the electron? In this interpretation the Heisenberg Uncertainty relations are statements about the inadequacy of the theory.

    In a situation such as this what determines the actual behavior of the lowest level?  It has been argued that perhaps the lower level is determined though ìdownward causation.î  In our example, when we make a measurement of the position of the electron the upper level description (the observer) determines the position of the electron.  We will address downward causation later.

    Failure 2C: Indeterminacy due to randomness

    Consider the situation where some part of a lower level theory is fundamentally random in nature.  If this randomness is going to result in a failure of reductionism it needs to cause indeterminacy in the upper level behavior.  It has been suggested that this randomness allows for the emergence of new properties at higher levels.

    Radom processes can have well defined statistics.  One interesting possibility is to examine the statistics of a random process at various levels.  A single coin can have a 50-50 chance of coming up heads and tails.  This does not imply that 1,000 coins all flipped simultaneously will have exactly 500 heads and exactly 500 tails.  But statistics does require that if we do this experiment repeatedly, and the coins do not interact, we obtain a distribution of results that obey well defined statistical laws.  By looking at the macroscopic behavior we could tell if the coins were sufficiently far away from being ìtrue coins.î  Macroscopic statistics puts bounds on microscopic behavior.

    What if we had particles whose probabilities changed depending on how many coins were flipped?  The change in probabilities does not necessarily represent a failure of reductionism.  Therefore a change in statistics does not necessarily represent an emergent property.  We will see later that allowing the coins to ìinteractî can change the statistics of the collection of coins, even if the probably of an isolated coin remains 50-50.  How does strong emergence differ from individual coins interacting?  But Iím getting ahead of myself.

    Failure 2D: Is Gˆdel Undecidability a problem?

    In 1931 Kurt Gˆdel showed that if you have a axiomatic theory24 of sufficient complexity there will be statements that are true but which can not be proved true25

    What does this say about reductionism? 

    It may turn out that there are true theorems within the framework of the lowest level theories that can not be proved.  This could go directly to the heart of Andersonís comment that a reductive program is not the same as a constructive one.   This could be a problem for reductionism if it is demanded that the program derive (by formal proof) all of the higher level ideas from the lower level ones.  Such a theorem would probably show up as a conjecture that can neither be disproved or proved.

    Failure 3: Inconsistency

    Consider the situation where no logically consistent sets of laws exist at the lowest level.  Without a logically consistent set of laws, there is no edifice on which to build all the macroscopic behavior.  Now this is the current state of affairs and the motivation for a unified theory of the strong, electroweak and gravitational forces into a theory of everything.  The fact that this theory doesnít exist today, doesnít imply that it will never be found.

    C. Defining Emergence

    Emergence usually refers to property emergence.  What is emergent is the properties that describe the behavior of the system at these different levels, not a new substance.  For a property to be emergent we are requiring that no ìbridge lawî exists that allows us to link the emergent property to lower level properties.  But this requires we show the ìnon-existenceî of a bridge law.   Is it possible to show that an emergent property cannot be explained by a lower level description?  In other words, is it possible to show that in a given case no bridge law is possible?  If the answer is no, then the possibility exists that someone may develop a bridge law in the future.  If we treat such a case as emergent, we risk creating an ìemergence of the gaps.î   Lists of potentially emergent phenomena that become todayís equivalent of Paleyís list of proofs of the existence of god from natural phenomena.

    There is a difference between property emergence and a substance emergence.  ìWe should not assume that the entities postulated by physics complete the inventory of what exists.  Hence emergentists should be monists but not physicalists.î26

    If a new ìentityî appears at some higher level which;

    • is not an aggregate of lower level entities
    • Does not appear in a lower level physics
    • Is not a  property, law, organizing principle or relationship at the higher level,

    have you not crossed the line to some sort of dualism?   If such an entity were measurable then there would be very interesting questions about why it didnít ìshow upî in the lower level.  If such a case were discovered it would probably be a type 1 failure of reductionism.  If such an emergent property were not measurable than it would not be subject to experimental test (and falsification).  Such an ìentityî would lie outside of the domain of science by just about all definitions of science.  By extension it would also lie outside of the reductive program.  The philosophical attraction of emergence is exactly that ability to have some of the benefits of dualism without the liabilities. Thus we will only deal with emergent properties (not substances).

    Is temperature an emergent property (assuming the ergodic hypothesis is accepted)?  If we accept a yes answer to this question we have simply substituted a new word for existing discussions in the philosophy of science.  If our definition of emergence does not include at least a type 2 failure of the reductive program it really doesnít ìbring anything to the table.î   So we will take as a requirement for emergence a type 2 failure of the reductive program.  If the emergent property were predictable or reducible to lower level descriptions it would not constitute a type 2 failure.

    We will take downward causation to be the distinguishing feature between weak and strong emergence.27

    Downward Causation

    Thinking somewhat simplistically, downward causation is when an emergent property at one level directly affects the behavior of the entities at the lower levels. 

    Our sun is traveling around the Milky Way Galaxy due to the gravitational fields of all the other objects in the galaxy28.   We can view the net gravitational force in two different but equivalent ways.  The total gravitational force on our sun is equal to the ìvector sumî of all the gravitational forces of all the other objects in the galaxy taken one at a time.  In other words the gravitational force is a ìtwo-bodyî interaction.  We could carefully rearrange the stars in the galaxy to produce an identical net force on our sun with a different physical arrangement of stars.  Another approach is to employ a ìfield conceptî where the sun responds to the net ìgravitational fieldî of the galaxy.  In this formalism the gravitational field associated with the Galaxy is created by the totality of the stars in the Galaxy.  Each sun then responds to the local gravitational field.  Let us think of the Galaxy as one level and the stars as a lower level.  In this case the upper level gravitational field affects the lower level stars.  But the stars create the upper level gravitational field. 

    Let us call downward causation that is reducible to the lower level physics a reducible downward causation.  Is there a form of downward causation that is NOT reducible to lower level physics?  We call such a cause non-reducible downward causation.

    How do you show that non-reducible downward causation is in fact non-reducible?

    Weak Emergence 

    We will consider a property to be ìweakly emergentî if it involves a type 2 failure of reductionism and does not involve non-reducible downward causation.

    Strong Emergence

    We will consider a property to be ìstrongly emergentî if it involves a type 2 failure of reductionism and does involve non-reducible downward causation.

     

    III Application of ideas

    If the fundamental laws of physics were strictly deterministic then strong emergence would not be a possibility29.  Without an indeterminate set of fundamental laws there is nothing for a non-reductive downward causal force to affect.

    The fact that quantum mechanics seems to have some built in indeterminacy seems to beg for a non-reductive downward casual theory of mind.  However quantum mechanics is deterministic in the evolution of the wave-function.  The randomness inherent in quantum mechanics ultimately comes from the ìmeasurement problem.î  This randomness is an addition to the theory30.  This is an area that has a long history and is the subject of on-going discussion31.   The possibility of any non-reductive downward causal influence in quantum mechanics will depend on how these issues get resolved (or if they get resolved).

    Assume we have a property that we think may be emergent.  Can you show that the property is a type 2 failure of reductionism?  Can you show that irreducible downward causation is at work?

    The simple existence of unexplained patterns that emerge from randomness is not sufficient.  To show this we construct a simple example in ìVirtual world #1î below.

    Showing that the proposed emergent property can be explained by irreducible top-down causation is also not sufficient.  We illustrate this by comparing two Virtual Worlds which have quite different ìcausesî yet produce the same net results.

    A. Virtual World #1

    Consider a theoretical ìvirtual worldî that consists of a large number of ìtrue coinsî that when individually flipped have a 50% chance of falling head side up (heads) and a 50% chance of falling with the head side down (tails).  These coins are flipped on a table one at a time until all coins are flipped.  If the coins do not ìinteractî we have a case which represents NO emergence.  The results of any one experiment are unpredictable.  However the statistics of running the experiment many times are well understood.  We expect that approximately 50% of the coins will be heads and 50% will be tails.  The situation is easily simulated by a computer.  For instance one such simulation yields;

    H T HH TTTT H T H T HHHH TTTT HH T H T HH T H TT H T HHHH TT HHHHHHH T HH T

    Here the first coin is on the left and each successive result is placed to the right.  H represents a coin that came up Heads and T represents a coin that came up tails.  I have placed a space when Heads change to tails so you get a better visual picture of the length of the ìrunsî of heads or tails.

    We can also allow our coins to interact with each other.  Let the first coin flip be ìtrueî (50% Heads and 50% Tails).  We can allow the probabilities of each succeeding coin flip to depend on the previous results.  The simplest such modification is to base the probability of achieving ìheadsî on the next coin flip on the results of the LAST coin flip.   Mathematically we create a probability table; 

    Last Flip

    Probability of Heads on next flip

    Probability of Tails on next flip

    Heads

    50% + a

    50% – a

    Tails

    50% – a

    50% + a

    Here a measures the strength of the ìtwo coin interactionî.   What happens in this world depends heavily on the value of a.

    It a is zero the results of the flips are independent of each other (50% and 50%) and the coins behave as independent random events.  Here is an example with 50 coins.

    H TT H T HH T HH TTT HH T HH TT H TTT HHH T H T HH T H TTTT HH TTTTT H T HH T

    If a is negative it is less likely that the next flip is the same as the last flip.  In the extreme case where a is minus 50% the sequence alternates between heads and tails!  The first flip determines the entire sequence.

    HTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHTHT

    If a is positive then the next flip is more likely to be the same as the previous flip.  In the extreme case where a is plus 50% then all the flips are the same as the first flip.

    HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    Other aís give intermediate results.  Here is a result for a = 0.4.  I have put spaces between the coin flips where there is a change from heads to tails so you can compare with the previous results.  The pattern is no longer deterministic, but you can clearly see an increase in the length of a ìrunî of heads or tails compared to non-interacting coins.

    HHHH TT HHH TT HHH T HHH T HHHHHHHHH TTTTTTTTTTTT HHHHHHHHHH

    If we do these experiments many times the overall probabilities of heads and tails will remain 50%-50%.  If we examine some property of the sequence (like the maximum number of heads or tails obtained in a row) a can influence the results.  For instance the run just above we have a run of 12 tails and runs of 9 and 10 Heads!

    Someone hands you a set of coins.  You tested the coins individually and saw that they were ideal (50%-50%).   When you flipped them collectively (one at a time) they yielded a larger number of ìrunsî of heads and tails then would be predicted by the statistics for non-interacting coins.  Would we say that this is an example of an emergent property?   Is the answer the same if we show that the statistics of the ìreal situationî is consistent with the simulated ìtwo coin interactionî for some specific choice of a?î 

    Local ìfew particleî interactions can yield amazingly complex organized behavior.  In fact the two particle interaction is common in physics.  In Newtonian gravity any two masses have a gravitational interaction.  This is more complicated than our example since the gravitational interaction on one mass is the sum of the interactions with all the other masses taken ìpair-wiseî and gets weaker the greater the separation between the masses.  In our simple coin model we only consider the nearest coin.

    We could similarly construct 3 coin, 4 coin all the way up to N-coin interactions.  Statistics allows us to answer questions like the expected length of a run of heads or tails.  I am hesitant to call such interactions ìemergentî since the results are direct consequences of the ìphysicsî at the lowest level and are derivable from that level.  Clearly these cases do not represent a failure of reductionism.

    The simple existence of macroscopic patterns does not in and of itself constitute proof of a failure of reductionism.  Consequently, it does not constitute proof of emergence (as we have defined it).

    B. Virtual World #2a ñ Macroscopic Driven Behavior

    Now we consider modifying the laws at the lowest level (coin flipping) by using macroscopic properties.  In order to accomplish this we will change our basic model slightly.

    Start by flipping all coins in a non-interacting random fashion.  Then let the system evolve using the following rules.  First, pick a coin at random.  Flip it with a probability determined by the ìexcessî of the number of heads currently in the population of coins.  The probability of the coin flip depends on ALL THE COINS.  Thus the behavior at the microscopic level (probability of a flip) is determined by a macroscopic property (excess of heads over tails).  This is a simple example of top-down causality32.  We continue flipping individual coins and each coin flip constitutes one ìgenerationî.  Notice that after each coin flip the probability is recomputed since the excess number of heads may change.

    In the case below we considered a sample of 1,000 coins.  The probability of flipping a head was set by using the following formula.

    PHeads =0.5 + 0.5 / (1 + exp (- excess / 100) )

    We tracked the total number of heads in the population for 3,000 generations and a graph of the results is shown in figure 2.  The simulation was run 5 times.  What are graphed are;

    1) the maximum number of heads in the five simulations (upper curve)

    2) the average number of heads in the five simulations (middle curve)

    3) the minimum number of heads in the five simulations (lower curve)

    A trend is clearly obvious; the system is headed to a situation where virtually all the coins are heads.  The distance between the top and bottom curves gives us an idea of how much variation there is in the problem.  There is an imposed organizing principle, and it clearly shows up in the graph.  The data in the figure would represent the observable data in science.  The method we just described would be one possible ìexplanation of the dataî.  But is this explanation unique?

    Figure

    C. Virtual World #2b  ñ Microscopically Driven Probabilities

    We now construct another virtual word that produces results similar to the previous case. Again; we start with all the coins flipped randomly.  We however are going to change the rules as to how we proceed.  Pick a coin at random.  Look at the two nearest coins and count the number of heads between them (0, 1 or 2).  If there are no heads flip the coin with a 70% chance of heads (consequently a 30% chance of a tail).  If one of the two nearest coins is a head our chosen coin becomes a head (100% certainty).

    Again the simulation was run on 1,000 coins and followed for 3,000 generations.  The simulation was run 5 times.  What are graphed in figure 3 is;

    1) the maximum number of heads in the five simulations (upper curve)

    2) the average number of heads in the five simulations (middle curve)

    3) the minimum number of heads in the five simulations (lower curve)

    A trend is clearly obvious the system is headed to a situation where virtually all the coins are heads.  The distance between the top and bottom curves gives us an idea of how much variation there is in the problem. 

    Figure 2 is very similar to figure 3.  In figure 4 we plot the average data from figure 3 on top of figure 2.  Notice that both averages fall within the max and minimum values for the Virtual worlds 2a simulation.  If this was real data could we tell the difference between the descriptive powers of the two different models?

    Figure

     

    D. Microscopic Vs. Macroscopically Driven Patterns

    We now have two models with very similar statistics.  One uses a global principle (excess of heads) to influence the statistics at a low level (downward causation) in order to drive the system to a desired result.  The other model uses a simple local model (nearest neighbors) to achieve the same end.  If we had experimental data, it is not clear if we could tell the difference between these two models.  Is this generally true?

    Given a top-down causal model is it always possible to find local models whose results agree with the top down models within a statistically reasonable measure of agreement?  If there is always an equivalent model then there is no ìdata basedî reason to choose the top-down solution over the local one.   If there isnít an equivalent model then there will be a ìdata basedî reason to utilize a top-down causal model. 

    Figure

    The fact that you could have two possible equivalent theories that have fundamentally different assumptions is expected.33  Science has usually followed Newtonís advice

     ìNo more causes of natural things should be admitted than are both true and sufficient to explain their phenomena. Ö.  Therefore the causes assigned to natural effects of the same kind must be, as far as possible, the same.î34

    and avoided introducing forces and concepts unnecessarily.

     

    IV. Challenge

    Can you create a top down causal model in our virtual coin world where the same statistical results CANNOT be obtained through the use of an N-coin bottom up causal model?  Showing that an equivalent local N-coin model can not be constructed is part of the challenge.  The models should be considered equivalent if they yield the same average excess (or deficit) of heads as a function of time (starting from the same initial distribution) to within one or two standard deviations.

    If the results can not be distinguished, how do you know from the data which situation you have?  If you can not find an equivalent local model that yields the same results, can you prove none exist? 

     

    Laughlin et al.

    ìOne of my favorite times in the academic year occurs in early spring when I give my class of extremely bright graduate students, who have mastered quantum mechanics but are otherwise unsuspecting and innocent, a take home exam in which they are asked to deduce superfluidity from first principles.  There is no doubt a special place in hell [is] being reserved for me at this very moment for this mean trick, for the task is impossible.  Superfluidity, like the fractional quantum Hall effect, is an emergent phenomenon ñ a low-energy collective effect of huge numbers of particles that cannot be deduced from the microscopic equations of motion in a rigorous way and that disappears completely when the system is taken apart.î35

    The underlining is mine.  Now you can look up superfluidity in any number of physics texts, many of which contain derivations of the phenomena36 so clearly Laughlin comments go beyond the textbook.  These textbooks usually consider an ideal Boson gas, and most superfluids are non-ideal, but so are many other systems.  Idealizations as approximations are the starting point for the analysis of many physical systems.  It hardly seems likely that this is his objection.

    The last sentence might suggest that his concern is with the derivation of viscosity (a macroscopic property) from the equations of motion.  But this is exactly where we need to employ the idea of bridge laws to connect the macroscopic to the microscopic.  The bridge laws between classical thermodynamics and mechanics are still areas of recent scholarship that is yielding interesting insights37.  The Bridge laws between quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics are similar and are areas of active research.

    To me the most disturbing part of the quote is the statements that the problem is impossible.  Almost all of the problems that science has solved were at one time unsolved.  Some took a millennium to solve38.  Quantum mechanics has not reached its 100 birthday yet and so represents a young science by historical norms.  Why would one give up so early?

     

    V. Conclusion

     Newton offered  the solar system as proof of the existence of God since he thought that it couldnít have naturally come into being.  Newtonís suggestion that the solar system was proof of a divinity had a fatal flaw.  But uncovering that flaw yielded a lot of interesting and important results.

    Claims of emergent phenomena represent a challenge to a science based on a strict reductionism.   We have used the possible type 2 failure of reductionism as the operational definition of emergence.  Like Newtonís Solar System, there is the possibility that someone will find an approach that explains the proposed emergence phenomena with out requiring a non-reductive approach.  Of course as in all science there is no guarantees or fixed time table.

    Science needs a good foil to test its mettle.  Perhaps the best way to view a claim of a emergent phenomena as a foil against which a science based on reductionism can be tested.    The challenge is to find an explanation in terms of properties at other ìlower levels.î  There is great flexibility with the ability to introduce ìN-bodyî interactions.

    But a science based on reductionism also presents a challenge to those interested in opening science to strongly emergent phenomena.  Find emergent phenomena where it can be shown that the ONLY explanation is strong emergence.  This is a far more difficult task than discovering the possibility of an emergent phenomenon.

     

    Acknowledgement

    I would like to thank Dr. John Elwood and Dr. Peter Pruim for many fascinating discussions on these issues.  I would also like to thank my father Dr. Robert D. Larrabee for a lifetime of discussions on the relationships of science, philosophy, history and religion.

     

    Endnotes

    1. Quote taken from H. S. Thayer Newtonís Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his writings © 1953  Hafner Publishing Company which contains his letters to Bently

    2. See for Instance Laughlin ìThe Middle Wayî and P. W. Anderson ìMore is Differentî (see references)

    3. Phlogiston, caloric, ether, etc.

    4. This is an example of a bridge law or correspondence rule.

    5. I have in mind the BBGKY hierarchy for classical systems and its generalization for quantum systems (see Balescu 1975 page 81 classical and 98 and 490 for quantum systems)

    6. An example of one such assumption is the Ergodic Hypothesis of classical thermodynamics.

    7. Or correspondence rules, the classic description is in Nagel (1961)

    8. Middle 1600ís  Johann Becher (1635-1682)

    9. 1783 Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794)

    10. RÈne Descartes (1596-1650)

    11. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) in Novum Organum pub 1620 from the section entitled ìon the nature of heatî

    12. Robert Hooke (1635-1703)

    13. Daniel Bernoulli 1738 Hydrodynamica started the effort; in 1859 James Clerk Maxwell derived the distribution of the velocities of a gas which defines the gases temperature.

    14. The international practical temperature scale can be thought of as the experimental equivalent of the ìbridge lawsî between the macroscopic and microscopic.

    15. Or an average over the appropriate ìphase spaceî.

    16. There are of course issues associated with bridging these levels of description (see for instance Chapter 8 in Curd 1998). 

    17. Presumably such explanations would at least meet the requirements enumerated by Hemple (see Studies in the logic of Explanation reprinted in a collection of essays which is listed in the references)

    18. Other than aggregates of lower level entities.  For instance a proton can be viewed as made up of quarks.  So the proton is not viewed as a NEW entity, but rather an assemblage of lower level entities.

    19. The discrete spectral emission of gasses and ultraviolet catastrophe were ultimately explained by introducing quantum mechanics!

    20. Limited of course to those that are consistent with known empirical results.

    21. Iím taking a purely classical point of view here and not considering the Quantum mechanical considerations.

    22. Classically, just the mass times the velocity

    23. This is NOT the normal Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics which is the customary interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

    24. It has to meet several additional criteria, for instance it has to be consistent,

    25. In this proof you are only allowed to use statements within the theory.

    26. Clayton (2004) page 4

    27. If we were considering biological emergence we MIGHT add to this a requirement of a temporal increase in complexity.  Since we are primarily concerned with physics we do not need to make this distinction.

    28. We will stick with a Newtonian description for this example.

    29. With our definitions it is difficult to see how weak emergence is possible either.  There may be some  ìwiggle roomî with regard to ergodic systems (which are strictly deterministic). 

    30. For instance, the Schrˆdinger equation gives a deterministic evolution of the wave-function.  In the ìtraditional interpretationî of quantum mechanics a measurement ìcollapses the wave-function.î This collapse DOES NOT obey Schrˆdingerís equation.  After the collapse Schrˆdingerís equation again governs the wavefunction evolution.  Randomness enters during the measurement.

    31. See Joos article in The Re-Emergence of Emergence pg 53

    32. It could be argued that this is reducible, since it can be expressed in terms of the microscopic variables.  However inter-theoretic reduction starts with the establishment of just such corresponding items (bridge laws or Nagels rules of correspondence.  If this can not be done then the process doesnít even start.

    33. This is the under determination of theory by data (see section 3 of Curd 1998).

    34. Rule  I and Rule II from Book III of Newtonís Principia as translated by I Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman

    35. From the beginning of the Nobel Lecture of Dec. 8, 1998 by Robert B. Laughlin and is available at http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1998/laughlin-lecture.pdf

    36. L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz Statistical Physics © 1958 Addiston-Wesley Publishing page 191-6 or more recently A. Zee Quantum Field Theory © 2003 Princeton University Press pg 257-259.

    37. See for instance Michel C. Mackey Timeís Arrow © 1992 Springer Verlag or C. Beck and F. Schogl Thermodynamics of Chaotic Systems © 1993 Cambridge University Press

    38. Correcting Aristotleís theory of violent motion for instance.

     

    References

    Anderson. P.W.  ìMore is Different.î  Science Vol. 177 No 4047 page 393

    Balescu, Radu.  Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics.  © 1975 John Wiley and Sons

    Clayton, Phillip.  Mind & Emergence From Quantum To Consciousness.  Oxford University Press © 2004

    Clayton, Phillip, and Paul Davies.  The Re-Emergence of Emergence.  © 2006 Oxford University Press

    Curd, Martin & J. A. Cover.  Philosophy of Science.  © 1998 W. W. Norton & Company (this is a collection of classic essays)

    Hemple, Carl G. ìStudies in the Logic of Explanationî as reprinted in Philosophy of Science Edited by E.D. Klemke, Robert Hollinger and A. David Kline Prometheus Books © 1988

    Laughlin, R.B., David Pines, Joerg Schmalian, Branko P. Stojkovic, and Peter Wolynes.  ìThe Middle Way.î  Proc. Of the National Academy of Sciences.  Jan 2000 Vol 97 No 1 pg 32-37

    McShane, Philip.  Randomness, Statistics and Emergence.  University of Notre Dame Press © 1970

    Nagel, E., 1961, The Structure of Science.  Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

    Newton, Isaac.  The Principia.  translated by I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman © 1999 University of California Press.