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Ellis and Murphy show how contemporary sciences actually support a religiously based ethic of nonviolence, not by appealing to the Enlightment's mechanismic Creator God or revelation's Father God but by discerning the transcendent ground in the laws of nature, the emergence of intelligent freedom, and the echoes of "knoetic" self-giving in cosmology and biology.
Within the last one hundred years, the scientific conception of the universe has undergone radical change. As a result a new field has evolved, called "cosmology," that examines the philosophical and scientific nature of the universe. Cosmology conceives of a material universe in which the interior of atoms do not act in the same predictable manner as the objects we can see and in which space is no longer empty volume unaffected by the matter within it. The universe is not a machine that operates with the same set of rules, but rather a living, growing organism. This new cosmology is forcing a consideration of the meaning of life that also calls for a reconsideration of moral law—the doctrine of natural right. Natural law theory is based on a cosmology that is grounded in classical metaphysics. John C. Caiazza uses the term "natural right" rather than "natural law" since his argument for cosmic teleology is based on the cosmology of contemporary science and not that of classical metaphysics. If evolution and development are the key to understanding nature, it is important to get the evolutionary concept of nature right, especially when it involves ethics. The universe can be viewed in two ways. One can admire the intricacy of the cosmological process on the physical, chemical, and astronomical levels. Or, one can look at this process as a result of design or providence. These two options should not preclude each other, Caiazza asserts; we should instead look closely at what science reveals about design. This volume offers an opportunity to reconcile the thinking of those who hold to traditional religious views on the origins of the universe and those who look to scientific explanations.
Two familiar worldviews dominate Western philosophy: materialist atheism and the benevolent God of the Abrahamic faiths. Tim Mulgan explores a third way. Ananthropocentric Purposivism claims that there is a cosmic purpose, but human beings are irrelevant to it. Purpose in the Universe develops a philosophical case for Ananthropocentric Purposivism that it is at least as strong as the case for either theism or atheism. The book borrows traditional theist arguments to defend a cosmic purpose. These include cosmological, teleological, ontological, meta-ethical, and mystical arguments. It then borrows traditional atheist arguments to reject a human-centred purpose. These include arguments based on evil, diversity, and the scale of the universe. Mulgan also highlights connections between morality and metaphysics, arguing that evaluative premises play a crucial and underappreciated role in metaphysical debates about the existence of God, and Ananthropocentric Purposivism mutually supports an austere consequentialist morality based on objective values. He concludes that, by drawing on a range of secular and religious ethical traditions, a non-human-centred cosmic purpose can ground a distinctive human morality. Our moral practices, our view of the moral universe, and our moral theory are all transformed if we shift from the familiar choice between a universe without meaning and a universe where humans matter to the less self-aggrandising thought that, while it is about something, the universe is not about us.
Tests the views and metaphor of 19th-century utilitarian philosopher Henry Sidgwick against a variety of contemporary views on ethics, determining that they are defensible and thus providing a defense of objectivism in ethics and of hedonistic utilitarianism.
Within the last one hundred years, the scientific conception of the universe has undergone radical change. As a result a new field has evolved, called “cosmology,” that examines the philosophical and scientific nature of the universe. Cosmology conceives of a material universe in which the interior of atoms do not act in the same predictable manner as the objects we can see and in which space is no longer empty volume unaffected by the matter within it. The universe is not a machine that operates with the same set of rules, but rather a living, growing organism. This new cosmology is forcing a consideration of the meaning of life that also calls for a reconsideration of moral law—the doctrine of natural right. Natural law theory is based on a cosmology that is grounded in classical metaphysics. John C. Caiazza uses the term “natural right” rather than “natural law” since his argument for cosmic teleology is based on the cosmology of contemporary science and not that of classical metaphysics. If evolution and development are the key to understanding nature, it is important to get the evolutionary concept of nature right, especially when it involves ethics. The universe can be viewed in two ways. One can admire the intricacy of the cosmological process on the physical, chemical, and astronomical levels. Or, one can look at this process as a result of design or providence. These two options should not preclude each other, Caiazza asserts; we should instead look closely at what science reveals about design. This volume offers an opportunity to reconcile the thinking of those who hold to traditional religious views on the origins of the universe and those who look to scientific explanations.
The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.
Over the last forty years, scientists have uncovered evidence that if the Universe had been forged with even slightly different properties, life as we know it - and life as we can imagine it - would be impossible. Join us on a journey through how we understand the Universe, from its most basic particles and forces, to planets, stars and galaxies, and back through cosmic history to the birth of the cosmos. Conflicting notions about our place in the Universe are defined, defended and critiqued from scientific, philosophical and religious viewpoints. The authors' engaging and witty style addresses what fine-tuning might mean for the future of physics and the search for the ultimate laws of nature. Tackling difficult questions and providing thought-provoking answers, this volumes challenges us to consider our place in the cosmos, regardless of our initial convictions.