Back Transdisciplinarity and the Unity of Knowledge: Beyond the Science and Religion Dialogue


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Gelu Calina
Radu Constantinescu
Magda Stavinschi
The Universe between the Need of Faith and the Need of Knowledge:Four Centuries of Scientific Astronomy


Abstract

The paper starts from the remark that the human being, endowed with reason, has to cope with two permanent existential boundaries: the need to know and the need to believe. These boundaries apply both to the issues connected with the human being’s life and with the existence of the universe. Looking at the sky, human beings become aware of their place in the universe, afraid of their nothingness. Admittedly, this feeling inspires the need of faith, the hope that a superior force could bless and protect them.  Sometimes we deal with blind faith, directed to an unknowable entity, but sometimes we speak about rational faith, which starts from the awareness of the human limits and ends with the trust in their own strength. This last attitude is combined with the desire to understand all that we perceive or notice: a star rain, a fire, an earthquake. In all these cases, humans try to describe what they see or to create a mental representation of what they do not see but only perceive. The universe, with its unseen boundaries, becomes a mental representation, a model of  world, a system of objects and laws. The paper will focus on some key issues related to the knowledge of the universe and we shall look for answers to questions such as: What does a model mean? Could reality be described via deterministic methods? Do models offer predictability? The reality proves that, at the cosmic level, non-linearity seems to be the rule. Chaotic behaviour becomes, in this case, prevailing. The sense of classical determinism is strongly affected and new epistemological problems are generated. The idea of predictability becomes fragile and chaotic behaviour takes its place. Chaos does not mean, from the scientific point of view, uncertainty and it is not seen as a limit of knowledge.  An especially interesting and current issue related to the modern theory of chaos is brought up by the possibility of “controlling” chaos, of using it to the profit of knowledge. If scientists aimed to establish some special control techniques, they should go beyond the frontiers determining the way we conceive reality and the ontological relationship we have with it.

The study of the universe as a whole raises another crucial issue: it could not be integrated into a larger model (or system) of which we might know, by their features, the structure and laws or the evolution. Even the creation of such a supermodel is hindered by the human powers of thought or perception. No matter what picture of the universe we might construct, it will be only a partial one, there will always be something placed between the reality and the model, something that would be situated beyond our human power of representation and understanding.

Between two apparently antagonist ways of approaching cosmos and searching for its truths - science and religion – dialogue has undoubtedly become a necessity. Fortunately, more often than not, it is understood appropriately.

Biography

Gelu Calina is assistant professor at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Craiova. As theologian, he is specialized in Dogmatics and Missiology with a Ph. D in Systematic Theology. He has a second specialization as lawyer, obtained after the graduation of the Faculty of Law from the University of Craiova. He won many S&R grants, both as coordinator or as team member.



Radu Constantinescu is professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Craiova and dean of the Faculty of Physics. His PhD was in Quantum Field Theory and the fields of interest are High Energy Physics and Constrained Dynamics. He is also interested in Philosophy of sciences, field in which he won many grants. He is the author of 3 books and of more than 60 scientific papers.



Magda Stavinschi is PhD in Astronomy, president of ADSTR – The Association for the Dialogue between Science and Theology in Romania and of the Institute for Advanced Study in Science and Orthodoxy. Director of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy (1990-2005), president of the Commission "Astronomy Education and Development" of the International Astronomical Union (2006-2009), Chair of the SEAC working group "Astronomy and cultural heritage", redactor in chief of the journal "Transdisciplinarity in Science and Religion".


 

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