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Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science
44 (1), March 2009
Table of Contents
Editorial
The Evolutionary Epic
by Philip Hefner
Thirty years ago, in his book On Human Nature, Edward Wilson wrote that "the evolutionary epic is probably the best myth we will ever have" (1978, 201). In the years since, an enormous amount of attention has been given to constructing this myth. Such efforts commonly go under the names "evolutionary epic," "epic of evolution," or "epic of creation." A Google search of "epic of evolution" finds this brief definition: "The epic of evolution is the scientific story of the universe told in a meaningful and empowering way" (Wiserearth 2007).
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00980.x
The Really Hard Problem, Meaning in a Material World—Symposium with Owen Flanagan
Bridging Science and Religion: "the More" and "the Less"
in William James and Owen Flanagan by Ann Taves
ABSTRACT:
There is a kinship between Owen Flanagan's The Really Hard
Problem and William James's The Varieties of Religious
Experience that not only can help us to understand Flanagan's
book but also can help scholars, particularly scholars of
religion, to be attentive to an important development in the
realm of the "spiritual but not religious." Specifically,
Flanagan's book continues a tradition in philosophy, exemplified
by James, that addresses questions of religious or spiritual
meaning in terms accessible to a broad audience outside the
context of organized religions. Both James and Flanagan are
concerned to refute the popular perception that the sciences
of the mind pose a threat to meaning and particularly to meaningful
processes of human growth and transformation. Where James
used the subconscious to bridge between science and religion
and persuade his readers of the reality of the More, Flanagan
uses a scientifically grounded understanding of transcendence
to enchant his readers into believing in Less. Although I
think that Flanagan's attempt to link the psychological and
sociocultural levels of analysis via the concept of transcendence
is scientifically premature, his attempt at a naturalistic
spirituality raises questions of definition that scholars
of religion need to take seriously.
KEYWORDS:
William James natural spirituality science and religion
transcendence
Ann Taves is Professor of Religious Studies, University of
California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3130;
email: taves @ religion.ucsb.edu
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00981.x
A Hard Problem Indeed by Gregory R. Peterson
ABSTRACT:
Owen Flanagan's The Really Hard Problem provides a rich source of reflection on the question of meaning and ethics within the context of philosophical naturalism. I affirm the title's claim that the quest to find meaning in a purely physical universe is indeed a hard problem by addressing three issues: Flanagan's claim that there can be a scientific/empirical theory of ethics (eudaimonics), that ethics requires moral glue, and whether, in the end, Flanagan solves the hard problem. I suggest that he does not, although he provides much that is of importance and useful for further reflection along the way.
KEYWORDS:
ethics Owen Flanagan naturalism
Gregory R. Peterson is
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion
at South Dakota State University and Program Coordinator of
the Philosophy and Religion Department, Box 504 Scobey 336,
SDSU, Brookings, SD 57007; e-mail greg.peterson @ sdstate.edu
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00982.x
A Scientific Account of Meaning: Deflationary but Not Disenchanting
by Donald Wiebe
ABSTRACT:
In The Really Hard Problem, Owen Flanagan maintains that
accounting for meaning requires going beyond the resources of
the physical, biological, social, and mind sciences. He notes
that the religious myths and fantastical stories that once "funded"
flourishing lives and made life meaningful have been epistemically
discredited by science but nevertheless insists that meaning
does exist and can be fully accounted for only in a form of
systematic philosophical theorizing that is continuous with
science and does not need to invoke myth. He sees such a mode
of thought as a new, empirical-normative science, which he labels
eudaimonistic scientia, that evades the disenchantment
produced by natural scientific accounts of meaning. I argue
that such an empirical-normative science does not provide us
with a scientific account of meaning but is itself simply another
way of making sense of one's life that is open to scientific
explanation. Such an explanation will be deflationary in the
sense that it presumes no greater scheme of things for meaning
beyond the span of human existence (collective and possibly
individual) but not disenchanting in that it does not explain
away the flourishing lives human persons and communities create
for themselves.
KEYWORDS:
disenchantment eudaimonia flourishing lives meaning myth/religion naturalism science
Donald Wiebe is Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Trinity College
in the University of Toronto, 6 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto, Canada;
e-mail donald.wiebe @ utoronto.ca
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00983.x
One Enchanted Being: Neuroexistentialism and Meaning
by Owen Flanagan
ABSTRACT:
The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World is my attempt
to explain whether and how existential meaning is possible in
a material world, and how such meaning is best conceived naturalistically.
Neuroexistentialism conceives of our predicament in accordance
with Darwin plus neuroscience. The prospects for our kind of
being-in-the-world are limited by our natures as smart but fully
embodied short-lived animals. Many find this picture disenchanting,
even depressing. I respond to four criticisms of my relentless
upbeat naturalism: that naturalism can make no room for norms,
for values; that I overvalue truth at the expense of happiness;
that I underestimate the extent to which supernaturalism has
made peace with naturalism; and that I can give no account for
why humans as finite animals should want to overcome our given
natures and seek impersonal, self-transcendent value.
KEYWORDS:
eudaimonia eudaimonics naturalism neuroexistentialism
supernaturalism
Owen Flanagan is James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy, Professor
of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Professor of Neurobiology
at Duke University, Durham NC 27701 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00984.x
Voices from Medicine
Our Common Enemy: Combatting the World's Deadliest Viruses
to Ensure Equity Health Care in Developing Nations by John
J. Carvalho IV
ABSTRACT:
In a previous issue of Zygon (Carvalho 2007), I explored
the role of scientists—especially those engaging the science-religion
dialogue—within the arena of global equity health, world poverty,
and human rights. I contended that experimental biologists,
who might have reduced agency because of their professional
workload or lack of individual resources, can still unite into
collective forces with other scientists as well as human rights
organizations, medical doctors, and political and civic leaders
to foster progressive change in our world. In this article,
I present some recent findings from research on three emerging
viruses—HIV, dengue, and rotavirus—to explore the factors that
lead to the geographical expansion of these viruses and the
increase in frequency of the infectious diseases they cause.
I show how these viruses are generating problems for geopolitical
stability, human rights, and equity health care for developing
nations that are already experiencing a growing poverty crisis.
I suggest some avenues of future research for the scientific
community for the movement toward resolution of these problems
and indicate where the science-religion field can be of additional
aid.
KEYWORDS:
dengue virus equity health care geopolitical stability global warming HIV/AIDS human rights infectious diseases rotavirus science-religion world health world poverty
John J. Carvalho IV is Assistant Professor of Biology and winner of the
United States National Research Service Award in the Biology
Department at California State University Dominguez Hills. His
mailing address is Biology Department NSM A-135, California
State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson,
CA 90747; e-mail jcarvalho @ csudh.edu DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00985.x
An Ontology of Health: A Characterization of Human Health
and Existence by Ryan J. Fante
ABSTRACT:
The pursuit of health is one of the most basic and prevalent
concerns of humanity. In order to better attain and preserve
health, a fundamental and unified description of the concept
is required. Using Paul Tillich's ontological framework, I introduce
a complete characterization of health and disease is that is
useful to the philosophy of medicine and for health-care workers.
Health cannot be understood merely as proper functioning of
the physical body or of the separated levels of body, mind,
and soul. Rather, the multidimensional unity that is the essence
of human life requires a new understanding of health as balanced
self-integration within the multiple human dimensions. The ontological
description of health and disease has concrete implications
for how health-care workers should approach healing. It calls
for a multidimensional approach to healing in which particular
healing is needed and helpful if it considers the other realms
of the human. It reveals the importance of accepting limited
health as well as the value of faith understood as an ultimate
concern because of its ability to wholly integrate the person.
KEYWORDS:
being disease existentialism faith healing health medicine multidimensional unity ontology Paul Tillich
Ryan J. Fante is a medical student at the University of Colorado School
of Medicine, 7504 East 4th Ave. #403, Denver, CO 80230; e-mail
ryanjfante @ gmail.com
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00986.x
God, Disease, and Spiritual Dilemmas: Reading the Lives
of Women with Breast Cancer by Megan Eide and Ann Milliken
Pederson
ABSTRACT:
To write about the disease of breast cancer from both scientific
and spiritual perspectives is to reflect upon our genetic and
spiritual ancestry. We examine the issues involved in breast
cancer at the intersections of spirituality, technology, and
science, using the fundamental thing we know about being human:
our bodies. Our goal in this essay is to offer close readings
of women's spiritual and bodily journeys through the disease
of breast cancer. We have discovered that both illness and health
come within the stories of particular people and particular
disciplines. And to learn more about breast cancer, both scientific
and spiritual aspects, one must be attentive to such particularities.
Medicine and religion are bodily experiences, and being a body-self
is what it means to be human.
KEYWORDS:
ancestry biotechnology body-self breast cancer genes medical science religion
Megan Eide is a
Master of Divinity student at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 1100 E. 55th St., Chicago, IL 60615. Ann Milliken
Pederson is Professor of Religion at Augustana College, 2001 S. Summit, Sioux Falls, SD 57197 and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Section of Ethics and Humanities at the University of South Dakota School of Medicine.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00987.x
Dietrich and Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer
The Brothers Bonhoeffer on Science, Morality, and Theology
by Larry Rasmussen
ABSTRACT:
On one level this is a case study in science, religion, and
morality, with special attention to the consequences for morality
of science's embeddedness in society. On another level this
is the science-and-theology dialogue between the theologian
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his brother Karl-Friedrich, a physicist.
The influence of Karl-Friedrich and the brothers' exchanges
on Dietrich's prison theology receives special attention. Because
this study is set in Germany in the 1930s and 40s, and Karl-Friedrich's
work intersected Germany's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon,
the discussion leads to Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project.
The attention there is to the interplay of science, religion,
and morality at the time the bomb was detonated at the Trinity
site.
KEYWORDS:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer deus ex machina Fritz Haber individual and communal moral responsibility Manhattan Project Robert Oppenheimer science, morality, and religion scientific knowledge Leo Szilard theology
Larry Rasmussen is
Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York City. His mailing address is 605 Calle de Marcos, Santa Fe, NM 87505; e-mail lrryrasmussen @ yahoo.com
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00988.x
Science and Religion in the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
by Rodney D. Holder
ABSTRACT:
The German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer is not widely known for engaging with scientific thought, having been heavily influenced by Karl Barth's celebrated stance against natural theology. However, during the period of his maturing theology in prison Bonhoeffer read a significant scientific work, Carl Friedrich von Weizsδcker's The World Read of Physics. From this he gained two major insights for his theological outlook. First, he realized that the notion of a "God of the gaps" is futile, not just in science but in other areas of human inquiry. Second, he felt that an infinite universe, as considered by science, would be self-subsistent and could exist as if there were no God. Bonhoeffer replaced Barth's radical critique of religion with the even more extreme Read that it is a mere passing phase in history that grown-up humanity can dispense with. At the same time Bonhoeffer began an important critique of Barth's reaction, namely, the latter's retreat to a "positivism of revelation." While Bonhoeffer did not go quite as far as one might like, his approach opened up hopeful avenues for an answer to "the liberal question" and even a revived place for some kind of natural theology.
KEYWORDS:
Karl Barth Dietrich Bonhoeffer Charles Coulson God of the gaps infinite universe natural theology positivism of revelation Carl Friedrich von Weizsδcker world come of age
Rodney D. Holder is Course Director at The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St. Edmund's College, Cambridge CB3 0BN, U.K.; e-mail rdh39 @ cam.ac.uk.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00989.x
Reflecting on Michael Oakeshott
Introduction to the Symposium by Leslie Marsh
ABSTRACT:
This paper introduces a symposium discussing Michael Oakeshott's understanding of the relationship of religion, science and politics. Essays by Elizabeth Corey, Timothy Fuller, Byron Kaldis, and Corey Abel are followed by a reRead of Corey's recent book by Efraim Podoksik.
KEYWORDS:
category error creationist science Stephen Jay Gould ignoratio elenchi modality non-overlapping magisteria Michael Oakeshott politics religion science
Leslie Marsh is a researcher at the Centre for Research in Cognitive Science, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, United Kingdom; e-mail l.marsh @ sussex.ac.uk.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00990.x
Religion and the Mode of Practice in Michael Oakeshott
by Elizabeth Corey
ABSTRACT:
Michael Oakeshott's religious Read of the world stands behind much of his political and philosophical writing. In this essay I first discuss Oakeshott's Read of religion and the mode of practice in his own terms. I attempt next to illuminate his idea of religion by describing it in less technical language, drawing upon other thinkers such as Georg Simmel and George Santayana, who share similar Reads. I then evaluate Oakeshott's Read as a whole, considering whether his ideas about religion can stand up to careful scrutiny and whether they have value for present-day reflection on religion.
KEYWORDS:
British Idealism modality Michael Oakeshott practical mode practice religion George Santayana Georg Simmel Eric Voegelin
Elizabeth Corey
is Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Honors College, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97122, Waco, TX 76798-7122; e-mail Elizabeth_Corey @ baylor.edu.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00991.x
Oakeshott on the Character of Religious Experience: Need
There Be a Conflict Between Science and Religion? by Timothy
Fuller
ABSTRACT:
Michael Oakeshott reflected on the character of religious experience
in various writings throughout his life. In Experience and Its
Modes (1933) he analyzed science as a distinctive "mode," or
account of experience as a whole, identifying those assumptions
necessary for science to achieve its coherent account of experience
in contrast to other modes of experience whose quests for coherence
depend on different assumptions. Religious experience, he thought,
was integral to the practical mode. The latter experiences the
world as interminable tension between what is and what ought
to be. The question, Is there a conflict between science and
religion? is, in Oakeshott's approach, the question, Is there
a conflict between the scientific mode of experience and the
practical mode? Insofar as we tend to treat every question as
a practical one, these questions seem to make sense. But Oakeshott's
analysis leads to the Read that scientific experience and religious
experience are categorically different accounts of experience
abstracted from the whole of experience. They are voices of
experience that may speak to each other, but they are not ordered
hierarchically. Nor can either absorb the other without insoluble
contradictions.
KEYWORDS:
Christianity experience unmodified historical experience modes of experience practical experience religious life scientific experience worldliness
Timothy Fuller is Lloyd E. Worner Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Political Science, Colorado College, 14 E. Cache La Poudre, Colorado Springs, CO 80903; email tfuller @ coloradocollege.edu.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00992.x
Oakeshott on Science as a Mode of Experience by Byron
Kaldis
ABSTRACT:
I offer a critical exposition and reconstruction of Michael Oakeshott's Reads on natural science. The principal aim is to enrich Oakeshott's modal schema by throwing light on it in terms of its internal consistency and by bringing to bear on it recent developments in philosophy in general and the philosophy of science in particular. The discussion brings out the special place reserved for philosophy, the crucial tenet of the separateness of these modes seen as Leibnizian monads as well as the special status allowed to science. It considers the possibility of combining one moment of philosophical thinking, namely ethics, with science in the midst of such modal separateness. I first offer a general introduction of how to approach Oakeshott's Reads on science. The next section stresses philosophy and its relation to science. This is followed by an elaboration of what the modes of experience are meant to be and how science is placed among them. An examination of Oakeshott's more particular Reads on science concludes the essay.
KEYWORDS:
definition designation ethics holism mode of experience naturalism naturalized epistemology Michael Oakeshott philosophy of science religion science
Byron Kaldis is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion, School of Humanities, The Hellenic Open University, Speusippou 27, Athens 106 76, Greece; e-mail bkald @ eap.gr.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00993.x
Oakeshottian Modes at the Crossroads of the Evolution Debates
by Corey Abel
ABSTRACT:
I examine Michael Oakeshott's theory of modes of experience in light of today's evolution debates and argue that in much of our current debate science and religion irrelevantly attack each other or, less commonly but still irrelevantly, seek out support from the other. An analysis of Oakeshott's idea of religion finds links between his early holistic theory of the state, his individualistic account of religious sensibility, and his theory of political, moral, and religious authority. Such analysis shows that a modern individualistic theory of the state need not be barrenly secular and suggests that a religious sensibility need not be translated into an overmastering desire to use state power to pursue moral or spiritual ends in politics. Finally, Oakeshott's vision of a civil conversation, as both a metaphor for Western civilization and as a quasi-ethical ideal, shows us how we might balance the recognition of diverse modal truths, the pursuit of singular religious or philosophic truth, and a free political order.
KEYWORDS:
apology Augustine authority Christianity civil association Francis Collins conversation Richard Dawkins evolution Stephen Jay Gould history mode nonoverlapping magisteria Michael Oakeshott practical experience religion science theism
Corey Abel is an independent scholar who has taught at The University
of Colorado, The Colorado College, and The United States Air
Force Academy. His mailing address is 2530 Eudora Street, Denver,
CO, 80207; e-mail csabel123 @ msn.com
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00994.x
Commentary on Elizabeth Corey's Interpretation of Michael
Oakeshott by Efraim Podoksik
ABSTRACT:
Elizabeth Corey suggests that in order to understand Michael Oakeshott's worldview one should pay special attention to two subjects, religion and aesthetics, and analyze the connection between these two realms and the idea of practical life in general and of politics in particular. Her book provides a sympathetic but also critical conversation with Oakeshott's ideas, ultimately offering us a coherent picture of the place of the religious, poetical, and political in the totality of his thought. Corey persuasively shows that the major ideas of the mature Oakeshott originated in his earlier religious convictions and that his philosophy of aesthetics, contrary to what his critics claimed, fit nicely in the general framework of his thought.
[ Michael Oakeshott on Religion, Aesthetics, and Politics. By Elizabeth Corey. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006). xiv + 253 pages. $39.95.]
KEYWORDS:
aesthetics Elizabeth Corey Michael Oakeshott politics practice present religion world
Efraim Podoksik is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem,
91905, Israel; email E.Podoksik.99 @ cantab.net
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.00995.x
Tables of Contents, Articles & Abstracts
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