Showing papers in "Zygon in 1984"
TL;DR: In this article, the left mind, which utilizes rational vigilance and the imperative instructions of proclamation, names and analyzes the urgently right mind, and discloses the relational responsiveness of numinous presence and natural symbolism, is immersed in and integrates the ultimately real.
Abstract: . Because the mind is the significance of the brain and God is the significance of the mind, the concept “mind” bridges how the brain works and traditional patterns of belief. The left mind, which utilizes rational vigilance and the imperative instructions of proclamation, names and analyzes the urgently right. The right mind, which discloses the relational responsiveness of numinous presence and natural symbolism, is immersed in and integrates the ultimately real. Together they provide a typology of mind-states with which to assess regressive, functional, and creative patterns. Hand dominance, gender differences, and cultural bias qualify the use of the metaphor.
45 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a possible relationship between entropy and evil in terms of metaphor is explored, and it is hypothesized that, if evil is real in nature, entropy is what one would expect to find at the level of physical processes, and conversely, if entropy is coupled to a physical arrow of time, one could find dissipative yet catalytic processes in history and religious experience.
Abstract: . This paper explores a possible relationship between entropy and evil in terms of metaphor. After presenting the various meanings of entropy in classical thermodynamics and statical mechanics, and the Augustinian and Irenaean theodicies, several similarities and dissimilarities between entropy and evil are described. Underlying the concepts of evil and entropy is the assumption that time has a direction. After examining the scientific basis for this assumption, it is hypothesized that, if evil is real in nature, entropy is what one would expect to find at the level of physical processes, and conversely that, if entropy is coupled to a physical arrow of time, one could expect to find dissipative yet catalytic processes in history and religious experience.
24 citations
TL;DR: The Bible gives no support to those who would exploit the earth's resources at the cost of destroying any species of life as discussed by the authors. But the great weight of biblical tradition-including the Genesis creation narrative-represents God as caring actively for all living beings, and humanity as having not only dominion over, but also responsibility for the well-being of other creatures.
Abstract: . Historian Lynn White, Jr.'s theory that the current ecological crisis derives from the biblical creation story still has its adherents. There is no single biblical viewpoint on ecology, nor were the biblical writers addressing twentieth–century problems. Yet the great weight of biblical tradition-including the Genesis creation narrative-represents God as caring actively for all living beings, and humanity as having not only dominion over, but also responsibility for the well–being of other creatures. The Bible gives no support to those who would exploit the earth's resources at the cost of destroying any species of life.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the limits of technological fixes are revealed by current economic, social, and environmental problems; these problems cannot be solved by a technological fix but require alternative forms of activity and being; and realizing these limits makes possible the re-emergence of the sacred.
Abstract: . Three points are discussed: first, that limits of technological fixes are revealed by current economic, social, and environmental problems; second, that these problems cannot be solved by a technological fix but require alternative forms of activity and being; third, that realizing these limits makes possible the re-emergence of the sacred. Two attitudes toward technology, nature, and the sacred are described: Technocrats desacralize nature and strive to shape it technologically for human ends alone; pernetarians resacralize nature and develop a perennial philosophy (synthesized from elements of different spiritual disciplines) allied with an enlarged, artful science, so as to design activities compatible with nature.
20 citations
TL;DR: This essay assesses the significance of sociobiology for ethics and argues that sociobiologists have misunderstood the relevance of facts to values and that their larger ambitions for their subject are bound to remain unfulfilled.
Abstract: . Sociobiologists make large claims for their subject. Knowing about the genetic underpinnings of human society will, they claim, enable us to understand all of human behavior and even to solve the ancient philosophical questions of how we ought to live. This essay assesses the significance of sociobiology for ethics. It argues that sociobiologists have misunderstood the relevance of facts to values and that their larger ambitions for their subject are bound to remain unfulfilled. Nevertheless, philosophers are wrong to ignore sociobiology. To give a genetic account of the existence of a widely held value does not justify that value, but it does say something of relevance to the ethical issues. The problem is to work out just what difference such an explanation makes.
20 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the role of probability and irreversibility in the conception of the universe and the conflictual situation between the static description proposed by classical physics, based on deterministic and time-reversible laws, and the world as it is known now.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of probability and irreversibility in the conception of the universe. Different approaches to this question are well exemplified by the three excerpts from Einstein (1916), Kuznetzov (1987), Lucretius (∼ −60 BC). The analogy between Einstein and Lucretius is that the precise time of elementary processes is determined by chance. The basic problem is the conflictual situation between the static description proposed by classical physics, based on deterministic and time-reversible laws, and the world as it is known now, which includes probability and irreversibility as basic elements. According to the standard model, the entropy of the universe would remain constant, while its temperature decreases with the adiabatic expansion of the universe. the classical view expresses a dualistic structure: the phenomenological level corresponds indeed to irreversible and stochastic laws, while at the fundamental level, classical or quantum, there are time-reversible, deterministic laws.
14 citations
TL;DR: For example, this article pointed out that if the characteristics used by anthropologists in defining religion precisely applied to Western societies, then several other kinds of organizations, ceremonials, and practices would have as much, or even greater, claim to being included within the rubric of religion as the Christian and allied churches.
Abstract: . The English term religion is used to refer to local Christian churches, their organizations, and their practices. Nevertheless, Western anthropologists have tried to utilize it as if it were a technical term with universal applicability. Anthropologists have sought to characterize religion by several dichotomies, although their own field researches have revealed the irrelevance of such dichotomies as well as the fact that non-Western peoples do not recognize an entity equivalent to religion. Were the characteristics used by anthropologists in defining religion precisely applied to Western societies, then several other kinds of organizations, ceremonials, and practices would have as much, or even greater, claim to being included within the rubric of religion as the Christian and allied churches. The consequence of this conceptual imprecision has been the theoretical stagnation noted by eminent theorists.
12 citations
TL;DR: The second law of thermodynamics connects chance and teleology in the operations of nature and provides for a causal hierarchy in which decision and volitional behavior co-participate with the laws of nature to determine the course of evolution as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: . This paper views such distinctions as creation and degeneration or good and evil in the Eastern sense of unity in polarity rather than in the Western sense of dual, antagonistic principles. Hence it considers the thermodynamic forces of evolution as processes of creation driven by entropy dissipation and explores the analogies this conception bears to the Hindu image of nature as the changing mist of a universal breath. Using this image, the paper examines the sense in which the second law of thermodynamics connects chance and teleology in the operations of nature and provides for a causal hierarchy in which decision and volitional behavior co-participate with the laws of nature to determine the course of evolution.
9 citations
TL;DR: The basic features of thermodynamics as the “science of the possible” are outlined with a special emphasis on the role of the concept of entropy as a measure of irreversibility in natural processes and its relation to “order,” precisely defined.
Abstract: . The basic features of thermodynamics as the “science of the possible” are outlined with a special emphasis on the role of the concept of entropy as a measure of irreversibility in natural processes and its relation to “order,” precisely defined. Natural processes may lead to an increase in complexity, and this concept has a subtle relationship to those of order, organization, and information. These concepts are analyzed with respect to their relation to biological evolution, together with other ways of attempting to quantify it. Thermodynamic interpretations of evolution are described and critically compared, and the significance of dissipative structures, of “order through fluctuations,” is emphasized in relation both to the evolutionary succession of temporarily stable forms and to kinetic mechanisms producing new patterns.
9 citations
TL;DR: The second law of thermodynamics is of wide human concern, because it touches experience which is existentially charged and therefore which humans must interpret in broad metaphysical terms as mentioned in this paper, and the human quest for meaning is an attempt to bring experience into conjunction with illuminating concepts.
Abstract: . The human quest for meaning is an attempt to bring experience into conjunction with illuminating concepts. The second law of thermodynamics is of wide human concern, because it touches experience which is existentially charged and therefore which humans must interpret in broad metaphysical terms. Five types of experience have been incorporated into the second law: running down, degeneracy, mixed-up-ness, irreversibility of time, and emergence of new possibilities. The dominant Western tradition (Plato) places these experiences within a metaphysical scheme that evaluates them negatively, whereas a minority tradition (Berdyaev) evaluates them positively. The former makes entropy anti-God; the latter places entropy within God.
6 citations
TL;DR: The implications of sociobiology for theology are developed with respect to the general impact of evolutionary ideas, the reductionist assumptions of Sociobiologists, whether or not “survival” can be a value, and more holistic accounts of the physical and biological grounding of the mental and spiritual lives of human beings.
Abstract: . The broad character of the arguments used by sociobiologists is assessed, particularly in relation to criticisms coming from anthropology. The implications of sociobiology for theology are developed with respect to the general impact of evolutionary ideas, the reductionist assumptions of sociobiologists, whether or not “survival” can be a value, and more holistic accounts of the physical and biological grounding of the mental and spiritual lives of human beings.
TL;DR: In this article, the task of ethics is properly to discern what sociobiology has to tell us about the fundamentals of life and persuasively to direct our actions in accord with those fundamentals, in a manner that is consistent with our essential humanity.
Abstract: . The topic of sociobiology and ethics opens up a range of questions that have to do with important relationships: between the history of nature and human being, between biological evolution and psychosocial evolution, between is and ought, between language usages in one domain and another. The task of ethics is properly to discern what sociobiology has to tell us about the fundamentals of life and persuasively to direct our actions in accord with those fundamentals, in a manner that is consistent with our essential humanity. From the theological perspective all of this transpires within the creative will of God.
TL;DR: It is argued that there are neither moral considerations that in principle forbid the development or use of recom-binant DNA technology, nor grounds to hold that its application is likely to cause more harm than good.
Abstract: . This article argues that there are neither moral considerations that in principle forbid the development or use of recom-binant DNA technology, nor grounds to hold that its application is likely to cause more harm than good. A defensible moral position would enjoin a prudent assessment of consequences, rather than an absolute prohibition. The technology may remain controversial because it presupposes the difference between being a person, an entity who can evaluate and manipulate its own biological structure, and human-ness as a biological structure likely to be the subject of engineering over the long-range future.
TL;DR: It is argued that thoughts of changing the human species into a race of supermen and superwomen are based on weak premises.
Abstract: . We are faced with growing powers of manipulation of our human genetic makeup. While not denying that these powers can be used for great good, it behooves us to think now of possible upper limits to the change that we might want to effect. I argue that thoughts of changing the human species into a race of supermen and superwomen are based on weak premises. Genetic fine-tuning may indeed be in order; wholesale genetic change is not.
TL;DR: The author is joined by a philosopher, a geneticist, and a religion scholar in a discussion of “gene culture co-evolution” and of other issues raised by sociobiology.
Abstract: . The 1981 book Genes, Mind and Culture by Edward O. Wilson and Charles J. Lumsden attempts to offer a comprehensive theory of the linkage between biological and cultural evolution. In the following 21 May 1982 radio broadcast, produced by Julian Brown under the auspices of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Wilson is joined by a philosopher, a geneticist, and a religion scholar in a discussion of “gene culture co-evolution” and of other issues raised by sociobiology. The discussion is introduced and chaired by the editor of Nature, John Maddox.
Abstract: The thought of Bernard Lonergan provides an epistemological position that is both true to the exigencies of modern science and yet open to the possibility of God and revealed religion In this paper I outline Lonergan's “transcendental method,” which describes the basic pattern of operations involved in any act of human knowing, and discuss how Lonergan uses this cognitional theory as a basis for an epistemological position of critical realism Then I explain how his approach handles some philosophical problems raised by classical and modern science and show how his thought provides an intelligible link between the scientific and religious horizons
TL;DR: Eiseley is known both as a scientist and an essayist/poet as mentioned in this paper, and in content and style Eiseley writes as a religious writer in the sense that he reaffirms what is necessary for humankind to be happy and even to be saved.
Abstract: . Loren Eiseley is known both as a scientist and an essayist/poet. The disillusionment with science and technology among many in the late 1950s and the search for new values in the 1960s help account for Eiseley's significance as a writer. He appears to offer a solution to mankind's contemporary disillusionment by reminding that science has limits and that intuitive, nonscientific insight is valid, especially when it is complementary to scientific knowledge. The thesis of this essay is that in content and style Eiseley writes as a religious writer in the sense that he reaffirms what is necessary for humankind to be happy and even to be “saved.”
TL;DR: The authors argue that Singer's critique of Wilson's attempt to bridge the gap between fact and value using empirical reason is unconvincing and Singer's own ethical principle of disinterestedness requires major support from empirical reason and is not sustainable by pure reason alone.
Abstract: . E. O. Wilson argues that we must use scientifically based reason to solve the values dilemma created by the loss of a transcendent foundation for values. Peter Singer allows that sociobiology can help us understand the evolutionary origin of ethics, but denies the claim that sociobiology or any science can furnish us with ultimate ethical principles. We argue that Singer's critique of Wilson's attempt to bridge the gap between fact and value using empirical reason is unconvincing and that Singer's own ethical principle of disinterestedness requires major support from empirical reason and is not sustainable by pure reason alone.
TL;DR: Working groups chaired by the coauthors outlined some of the prospects for the use of somatic and germ line genetic engineering and related biological technologies to alleviate disease and to modify human behavior.
Abstract: . At the 1983 Summer Conference on the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, working groups chaired by the coauthors outlined some of the prospects for the use of somatic and germ line genetic engineering and related biological technologies to alleviate disease and to modify human behavior. They then offered a series of recommendations concerning the application of genetic engineering to persons and the monitoring of medical research and therapy.
TL;DR: A study of the place of human sexuality in religious systems indicates a possible universal stress on sexual attraction as mentioned in this paper, which could be explained by using the theories of Richard Dawkins and other sociobiologists: the philandering male and the coy female express the best strategies for the survival of the selfish gene.
Abstract: . A study of the place of human sexuality in religious systems indicates a possible universal stress on sexual attraction. This could be explained by using the theories of Richard Dawkins and other sociobiologists: the philandering male and the coy female express the best strategies for the survival of the “selfish gene.” Closer analysis of four religious systems throws doubt on these theories. In some systems the strategies are contradicted while in others there is stress on cooperative restraint rather than on survival through selfish propagation. The principal objection to the sociobiological approach is its assumption of conflict between the sexes.
TL;DR: In his writings, Eiseley revealed the feelings and the wonder that inspire many scientists in their work but that most scientists are unable or unwilling to write about as discussed by the authors. But they were also at once an anthropologist of science and the scientist's bard.
Abstract: . In his writings, Loren Eiseley revealed the feelings and the wonder that inspire many scientists in their work but that most scientists are unable or unwilling to write about. He was at once an anthropologist of science and the scientist's bard.