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Ch 8 The New Religion of Science

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  • Metanexus Institute

Abstract

In our bottom-up approach to exploring religious intuitions and truth claims, we will now consider contemporary science to see how far we can climb from science to the sacred without invoking special revelation. I call this “the new religion of science,” but not in the sense of scientism, the faith of philosophical naturalism. I am not the reincarnation of Auguste Comte; this is not a resurrection of the Enlightenment project of replacing the old religions with science. Our ambitions are more modest, more interesting, and more compelling. Instead of replacing or displacing the “old” religions, we look to reinterpret and reinvent them through a constructive dialogue with contemporary science, supposing that the received traditions have intuited, experienced, discovered, and transmitted important insights into ultimate reality. This is a theology of nature from the bottom up, initially without reference to revealed scriptures and received traditions. We shall take nature as understood by contemporary science as the primary revelation to be read and interpreted in religious categories. Contrary to popular belief, contemporary science is actually conducive to certain religion-friendly interpretations. Approaching religion through science will help us get closer to some of the truth claims intuited by religions over millennia that inform religious belief and behavior.
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The New Sciences of Religion
Copyright ©William Grassie
Please send corrections, comments, and feedback to
grassie@metanexus.net
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Metanexus Imprints
New York, NY
All rights reserved.
First published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2010.
Re-released as a Metanexus Imprint in 2019.
ISBN: 9781070628325
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Cover!image:!The!dome!of!the!Church!of!the!Holy!Sepulcher,!
Jerusalem.!Photograph!by!Jeff!Lefever!©!2009.!
https://www.lefever.com!
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Table of Contents
Preface'to'the'2019'Edition'........................................................................................'iii!
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Acknowledgements'.........................................................................................................'ix!
Permissions'......................................................................................................................'xiii!
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Introduction'........................................................................................................................'1!
PART'ONE:''Religion'from'the'Outside'In'............................................................'19!
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Chapter!1:!!The!Challenge!of!!Comparative!Religion!................................!21!
Chapter!2:!The!Old!Sciences!of!Religion!........................................................!41!
Chapter!3:!The!Economics!of!Religion!...........................................................!65!
Chapter!4:!The!Evolution!of!Religion!..............................................................!99!
Chapter!5:!!The!Cognitive!Neurosciences!of!Religion!...........................!127!
Chapter!6:!!The!Medicine!of!Religion!...........................................................!153!
PART'TWO:''Religion'from'the'Bottom'Up'.......................................................'181!
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Chapter!7:!!The!Narratives!of!Religion!........................................................!183!
Chapter!8:!!The!New!Religion!of!Science!....................................................!219!
Chapter!9:!God-By-Whatever-Name!............................................................!257!
Chapter!10:!!Reiterations!and!Reflections!.................................................!289!
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About'the'Author'.........................................................................................................'301!
Bibliography'..................................................................................................................'303!
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219!
Chapter 8:
The New Religion of Science
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In!our!bottom-up!approach!to!exploring!religious!intuitions!and!
truth!claims,!we!will!now!consider!contemporary!science!to!see!
how!far!we!can!climb!from!science!to!the!sacred!without!invoking!
special!revelation.!I!call!this!“the!new!religion!of!science,”!but!not!in!
the!sense!of!scientism,!the!faith!of!philosophical!naturalism.!I!am!
not!the!reincarnation!of!Auguste!Comte;!this!is!not!a!resurrection!of!
the!Enlightenment!project!of!replacing!the!old!religions!with!
science.!Our!ambitions!are!more!modest,!more!interesting,!and!
more!compelling.!Instead!of!replacing!or!displacing!the!“old”!
religions,!we!look!to!reinterpret!and!reinvent!them!through!a!
constructive!dialogue!with!contemporary!science,!supposing!that!
the!received!traditions!have!intuited,!experienced,!discovered,!and!
transmitted!important!insights!into!ultimate!reality.!This!is!a!
theology!of!nature!from!the!bottom!up,!initially!without!reference!
to!revealed!scriptures!and!received!traditions.!We!shall!take!nature!
as!understood!by!contemporary!science!as!the!primary!revelation!
to!be!read!and!interpreted!in!religious!categories.!Contrary!to!
popular!belief,!contemporary!science!is!actually!conducive!to!
certain!religion-friendly!interpretations.!Approaching!religion!
through!science!will!help!us!get!closer!to!some!of!the!truth!claims!
intuited!by!religions!over!millennia!that!inform!religious!belief!and!
behavior.!!
This!approach!provides!an!important!service!to!contemporary!
religions!as!they!seek!to!adapt!to!new!realities!in!our!global!
civilization.!The!distinction!between!science!and!the!interpretation!
of!science!needs!to!be!more!sharply!drawn!on!both!sides!of!the!
religion-science!divide.!Good!science!is!the!precondition!to!the!
responsible!interpretation!of!science!by!philosophers!and!
theologians,!clergy!and!laity,!believers!and!practitioners!of!all!
kinds.!The!world!desperately!needs!the!constructive!integration!of!
scientific!realities!and!religious!systems!of!meaning,!if!we!are!to!
meet!the!challenges!of!the!twenty-first!century.!!
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220!
The!actual!history!of!all!religions!involved!similar!periods!of!
reinterpretation!and!reinvention,!so!there!is!historical!precedence!
for!this!enterprise!in!intellectual!and!religious!history.!For!instance,!
Islam,!Judaism,!and!Christianity!were!all!dramatically!transformed!
in!the!medieval!period!through!the!rediscovery!of!and!encounter!
with!the!“lost”!writings!of!Aristotle,!Plato,!and!others.!
Aristotelianism!was!the!best!science!at!the!time.!The!adoption!of!
this!science!required!some!interesting!theological!adaptations!on!
the!part!of!the!three!Abrahamic!faiths.
256
!Similarly,!the!rise!of!neo-
orthodoxy!and!fideism!in!the!modern!period!can!be!seen!as!a!
reinterpretation!in!reaction!to!the!remarkable!success!of!
mechanistic!and!materialist!science!in!the!nineteenth!and!early!
twentieth!centuries.
257
!Today,!the!sciences!are!very!different,!so!the!
plausible!religious!interpretations!of!science!will!also!be!quite!
different.!
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Is#Science#Simply#Another#Story?#
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First,!we!must!ask!why!we!should!privilege!science!in!this!
inquiry.!Is!not!science!just!another!story,!like!all!the!other!stories!
that!we!considered!in!the!last!chapter?!Why!should!we!let!science!
make!claims!on!the!interpretation!of!sacred!scriptures!and!
received!traditions?!Religious!fundamentalist,!postmodernist,!
feminist,!and!postcolonialist!hermeneutics!are!all!inclined!to!argue!
that!science!is!simply!another!story,!indeed!one!infected!with!many!
modes!of!domination!and!oppression.
258
!To!answer!these!
objections!means!that!we!must!consider!the!philosophy!of!science.!
The!philosophy!of!science!has!long!been!preoccupied!with!
distinguishing!science!from!nonscience!based!on!some!notion!of!a!
unique!epistemology.!The!idea!of!science!as!a!privileged!way!of!
knowing,!however,!is!widely!rejected!today!in!philosophy.!This!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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256
Richard E. Rubenstein, Aristotle’s Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered
Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages (New York: Harcourt, 2003); Norbert M.
Samuelson, Judaism and the Doctrine of Creation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1994); Samuelson, Jewish Faith and Modern Science: On the Death and Rebirth of Jewish
Philosophy (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009).
257
Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution (New
York: Harper & Row, 1980).
258
See, for instance, Sandra Harding, ed., The “Racial” Economy of Science (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1993); Harding, The Science Question in Feminism (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1986).
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259
The corollary of this is that someone might be competent in linguistics and quite incompetent in
learning foreign languages. Similarly, one can be competent in the philosophy of science and
not really be an expert in any particular science.
260
Aristotle, “Physics,” MIT, http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/physics.2.ii.html.
261
For a discussion of the Aristotle’s four causes as they pertain to the modern scientific
revolution, see Holmes Rolston, Science and Religion: A Critical Survey (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1987), 34-36; and Merchant, Death of Nature, 11-12.
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222!
Fast!forward!now!to!your!science!classes!in!high!school,!where!
you!were!probably!introduced!to!something!called!the!“scientific!
method”!or,!more!philosophically,!the!hypothetical-deductive!
method.!The!claim!is!that!modern!science!is!based!on!a!method—in!
other!words,!an!epistemology!or!way!of!knowing.!We!begin!with!a!
hypothetical!inference,!conduct!empirical!observation,!and!then!
employ!deductive!reasoning!to!verify!our!initial!inference.!The!
hypothetical-deductive!method!begins!by!posing!a!problem!or!
inferring!a!theory!about!reality!and!then!formulating!this!as!a!
question!for!verification.!This!hypothesis!is!tested!through!
empirical!observations.!The!results!of!these!structured!
observations!lead!to!the!acceptance!or!rejection!of!the!theory!
based!on!deductive!or!logical!reasoning!about!the!sequence!of!
events!and!their!apparent!causal!relationships.
262
!
This!formulation!of!the!scientific!method!is!naively!accepted!
by!most!scientists!and!science!educators,!but!few!philosophers!of!
science!today!consider!this!adequate.!On!closer!examination,!this!
description!of!science!as!an!epistemology!fails!to!distinguish!
science!from!nonscience.!As!so!described,!my!dog!is!a!scientist!
when!trying!to!solve!dog!problems!like!how!to!provoke!me!to!share!
some!of!my!food!with!her!from!the!dinner!table.!As!so!described,!a!
religious!person!is!also!a!scientist,!where!creeds!and!beliefs!serve!
the!same!function!as!theories!that!are!tested!through!lived!
experiences!from!which!rational!deductions!lead!to!verification!or!
falsification.!The!so-called!hypothetical-deductive!process!turns!
out!to!be!a!tautology!and!represents!very!muddy!water!in!the!
philosophy!of!science.!The!problem!lies!in!the!tricky!“logic”!of!
induction.!“The!theory!of!Induction,”!wrote!Alfred!North!
Whitehead,!“is!the!despair!of!philosophy—and!yet!all!our!activities!
are!based!upon!it.”
263
!
In!this!abbreviated!tutorial!in!the!philosophy!of!science,!we!
need!to!fast!forward!through!the!logical!positivism!of!Moritz!
Schlick!(18821936),!to!the!falsification!theory!of!science!
advocated!by!Karl!Popper!(19021994),!and!to!the!theory!
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262
This presentation of the scientific method was taught to me in middle school. As the discussion
below indicates, what science really is as a methodology is not so clear. For an excellent
collection of essays on the philosophy of science, see Richard Boyd, Philip Gasper, and J. D.
Trout, eds., The Philosophy of Science (Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press, 1991).
263
Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (New York: Free Press, [1925] 1967),
35.
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dependency!of!observations!of!Willard!Quine!(19082000)!and!
Hilary!Putnam!(b.!1926),!among!others.
264
!The!end!result!of!this!
rational!and!empirical!reflection!on!the!nature!of!science!was!the!
collapse!of!positivism!and!formalism!in!the!philosophy!of!science.!
There!is!no!way!to!define!science!abstractly!as!a!particular!and!
uniquely!privileged!epistemology.!Fortunately,!none!of!these!
philosophical!debates!has!in!any!way!hampered!science!from!
making!tremendous!discoveries!over!this!same!time!period,!an!
important!point!to!which!we!will!return.!
Enter!now!Thomas!Kuhn!(19221996)!and!his!1962!book!,-(.
/'#0*'0#(."!./*)(+')!)*.1(2"&0')"+34.Kuhn!applies!historical,!causal!
analysis!to!the!developments!of!modern!science!and,!in!so!doing,!
unleashes!a!revolution!of!his!own.!Kuhn!turns!the!analytic!tools!of!
science!on!itself!in!search!of!causative!formative!factors!within!the!
development!of!science.!He!uses!“science”!to!study!science,!not!as!
some!idealized!epistemology!but!as!an!actual,!historically!
dependent!process.!To!say!that!the!developments!and!results!of!
modern!scientific!inquiry!are!socially!and!historically!contingent,!
and!not!simply!the!product!of!a!universally!verifiable!method!of!
inquiry,!was!a!radical!move!at!the!time.!It!contributed!mightily!to!
the!intellectual!dethronement!of!science!in!the!humanities.!
Fortunately,!none!of!this!intellectual!tempest!in!a!teapot!really!
hindered!the!exponential!advance!of!the!scientific!enterprise!in!the!
ensuing!decades,!because,!as!previously!stated,!you!do!not!need!the!
philosophy!of!science!to!do!good!science.!Philosophy!of!science,!
however,!is!essential!when!it!comes!to!interpreting!science,!which!
is!the!purpose!of!this!chapter.!
Not!only!is!the!practice!of!science!theory-dependent,!Kuhn!
argues,!but!the!observations!are!also!theory-dependent.!In!those!
moments!in!history!when!two!theories!collide,!the!data!cannot!
always!be!appealed!to!as!a!final!arbitrator!between!conflicting!
theories.!Kuhn!does!a!historical!analysis!of!what!he!calls!“scientific!
revolutions”!or!“paradigm!changes,”!in!which!there!is!no!rational!
basis!to!choose!the!new!paradigm!over!the!old!because!there!was!
an!underdetermination!in!the!observational!data.!He!defines!
scientific!revolutions!to!be!“those!non-cumulative!developmental!
episodes!in!which!an!older!paradigm!is!replaced!in!whole!or!in!part!
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264
Boyd, Gasper, and Trout, Philosophy of Science.
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224!
by!an!incompatible!new!one.”!In!these!instances!in!the!history!of!
science,!the!choice!between!the!old!and!the!new!paradigms!“cannot!
be!determined!merely!by!the!evaluative!procedures!characteristic!
of!normal!science,!these!depend!in!part!upon!a!particular!
paradigm,!and!that!paradigm!is!at!issue.”
265
!!
Kuhn’s!work!is!filled!with!historical!examples!of!how!these!
paradigm!changes!have!actually!functioned!in!the!real!practice!of!
science.!In!subsequent!decades,!his!approach!unleashed!a!vast!
quantity!of!new!scholarly!research!on!the!history,!anthropology,!
sociology,!and!psychology!of!science.!Feminists,!postmodern,!and!
postcolonial!studies!of!science!all!draw!on!Kuhn’s!basic!insight,!as!
they!seek!to!deconstruct!the!underlying!“irrational”!and!
“oppressive”!forces!operating!within!the!actual!practice!of!
science.
266
!!
What!“the!theory!dependency!of!observation”!means!in!the!
common!parlance!is!“I!wouldn’t!have!seen!it,!if!I!hadn’t!believed!it.”!
And!therein!lies!its!problem.!However!compelling!Kuhn’s!
arguments!may!be,!his!social-constructionist!approach!to!science,!
and!those!who!have!followed!in!his!footsteps,!has!been!criticized!as!
subjectivist,!relativistic,!and!irrational.
267
!Kuhn!responds!that!he!is!
not!subjectivist!in!an!individualistic!sense!but!in!an!intersubjective-
group!context!and!that,!within!a!given!group,!the!discourse!is!
highly!structured,!rule-governed,!and!rational.!This!is!something!
more!akin!to!the!way!language-communities!function,!though!Kuhn!
leaves!us!uncertain!about!the!possibility!of!translation!between!
incommensurate!scientific!paradigms.
268
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265
Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, [1962] 1972), 92-94.
266
See, for instance, Trevor Pinch, “Theory Testing in ScienceThe Case of Solar Neutrinos: Do
Crucial Experiments Test Theories or Theorists?” Philosophy of Sociology of Science 15
(1985); H. M. Collins and T. J. Pinch, “The Construction of the Paranormal: Nothing
Unscientific Is Happening,” in On the Margins of Science: The Social Construction of Rejected
Knowledge, ed. Roy Wallis (Keele: The Sociological Review, 1978); Ronald N. Giere, “The
Philosophy of Science Naturalized,” Philosophy of Science 52 (1985); and Paul Thagard, “The
Conceptual Structure of the Chemical Revolution,” Philosophy of Science 57 (1990). For a
bibliography and review of the literature, see Steve Fuller, “The Philosophy of Science since
Kuhn: Readings on the Revolution That Has yet to Come,” Choice 27 (1989).
267
Kuhn responds to his critics in a Postscript to The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 17475.
268
Perhaps Ludwig Wittgenstein is the background here. In the Tractatus (1921), Wittgenstein is a
logical positivist, indeed an active member of the Vienna School along with Moritz Schlick.
Late in his life, Wittgenstein wrote Philosophical Investigations (1953), in which he promotes
the idea of incommensurate “language games.” One could talk about rationality and
irrationality within particular language games, but comparing language games was comparing
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225!
Within!a!given!scientific!paradigm,!what!Kuhn!calls!“normal!
science”!or!“puzzle!solving,”!there!is!a!deductive-thought!process!
with!rules!for!“rational”!discourse.!Between!scientific!paradigms,!
however,!the!rationality!of!one!group!makes!no!sense!to!a!group!
that!follows!an!incommensurate!paradigm.!In!this!formulation,!
science!can!be!seen!as!just!another!story,!which!we!are!free!to!
believe!or!not.!Thoughtful!religious!doubters!of!evolution,!for!
instance,!draw!heavily!on!Thomas!Kuhn!(as!well!as!Karl!Popper)!to!
justify!their!rejection!of!evolution.!So!too!do!those!who!seek!to!
rationalize!some!complementary!and!alternative!medicine!practice!
as!a!“paradigm!shift.”!Unrealistic!epistemological!abstractions,!
social!constructionism,!and!postmodernism!have!gotten!us!in!a!real!
philosophical!pickle!and!led!to!some!unfortunate!confusion!and!
heated!debates.!
A!purely!social-constructionist!model!for!the!history!and!
philosophy!of!science!tends!to!render!the!predictive,!practical,!and!
explanatory!results!of!scientific!inquiry!as!miraculous!and!
unintelligible!coincidences.!The!physical!reality!of!the!“external”!
world!has!a!kind!of!“facticity”!that!the!“internal”!realm!of!“mere”!
human!sensation-perception-preference-ideology!does!not!have.!
When!physicists!design!nuclear!power!plants!or!physicians!
administer!antibiotics,!there!is!more!going!on!than!simply!
“incommensurate!theory-dependent!observations”!with!some!
other!worldview.!When!we!log!on!to!the!Internet!or!use!fossil!fuels!
that!are!200!million!years!old,!we!affirm!the!reality!of!science,!
although!we!may!not!understand!this!reality.!There!is!a!dangerous!
schizophrenia!in!contemporary!technoscientific!civilization.!In!his!
last!book,!The.Demon-Haunted.World,!the!late!astronomer!Carl!
Sagan!wrote:!
!
We’ve!arranged!a!global!civilization!in!which!most!crucial!
elements!profoundly!depend!on!science!and!technology.!We!
have!also!arranged!things!so!that!almost!no!one!understands!
science!and!technology.!This!is!a!prescription!for!disaster.!We!
might!get!away!with!it!for!a!while,!but!sooner!or!later!this!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
other-rationalities. Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Wittgenstein Reader, ed. Anthony Kenny
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1994).
!
!
226!
combustible!mixture!of!ignorance!and!power!is!going!to!blow!
up!in!our!faces.
269
!
!
The!miracle!of!science!is!that,!in!spite!of!our!all-too-human!
imperfections,!which!scientists!possess!in!equal!distribution!as!the!
rest!of!humanity,!science!continues!to!progress!and!evolve!
evermore!factual!insights!into!the!workings!of!the!universe!and!
ourselves.!Science!is!a!self-transcending!learning!process,!but!how!
does!it!work?!One!implication!from!our!discussion!so!far!is!that!we!
might!better!teach!the!actual!history!of!discovery,!the!methods!and!
madness!of!real!scientists,!rather!than!teach!the!abstract!
formulation!of!some!imagined!hypothetical!deductive!method.!
All!that!being!said,!we!still!need!to!account!for!why!the!actual!
content!of!science!is!reliable!knowledge.!And!with!that,!why!and!
how!should!it!be!thought!of!as!privileged!knowledge?!While!there!
is!no!unified!scientific!epistemology,!it!turns!out!that!science!is!a!
unified!body!of!knowledge,!knowledge!that!also!turns!out!to!be!an!
interesting!new!metanarrative!of!the!universe!and!ourselves.!Yet!
the!interpretation!of!that!metanarrative,!we!will!learn,!is!open!to!
many!possibilities.!How!and!where!do!we!draw!the!line!between!
the!content!of!science!and!the!interpretation!of!science,!given!that!
we!propose!to!reinterpret!science!in!religious!categories!and!need!
some!rules!for!doing!so?!
!
Critical#Realism#
!
The!consensus!in!the!philosophy!of!science!today!might!be!
called!pragmatic!operationalism!or!instrumentalism.!In!this!view,!
there!are!many!different!scientific!specializations,!each!one!having!
its!own!methods!and!history!of!discovery.!Different!sciences!have!
different!rules!of!evidence!and!verification,!different!peer-review!
processes!and!standards,!different!professional!associations!and!
journals.!Depending!on!what!one!wants!to!study,!one!pragmatically!
poses!questions!as!appropriate!to!the!phenomenon.!The!
established!science!then!makes!its!way!down!into!disciplinary!
textbooks,!which!are!regularly!expanded!and!updated.!There!is!no!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
269
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York:
Ballantine Books, 1996).
!
!
227!
grand!unified!epistemology!of!science,!but!within!the!many!
domains!of!science,!there!are!exponentially!more!reliable!facts.!
Most!philosophers!of!science!also!now!recognize!that!the!
traditional!fact-value!distinction!is!bogus.!This!distinction!has!been!
prominently!mapped!onto!the!science-and-religion!divide.!Science!
is!supposed!to!be!about!facts;!religion!is!supposed!to!be!about!
values.!Science!answers!“what”;!religion!answers!“why.”!Science,!
however,!is!not!a!value-free!enterprise!(and!religion,!for!that!
matter,!also!makes!truth!claims).!!
Science!is!best!when!it!comes!with!a!passion!for!rigor!and!
debate.!Scientists!exhibit!an!intrinsic!fascination!with!how!things!
work.!Most!scientists!presuppose!a!profound!commitment!to!
studying!natural!entities!from!the!microcosmic!to!the!macrocosmic!
that!they!perceive!to!being!endlessly!fascinating.!They!share!
amazement!at!the!intricate,!beautiful,!and!elegant!structures!of!
stuff,!life,!and!consciousness.!In!other!words,!the!universe!that!
science!studies!is!filled!with!intrinsic!values,!though!scientists!are!
at!a!loss!for!words!to!say!why!this!is!so.!Scientists!preach!a!passion!
for!truth!wherever!it!leads.!Thou!shalt!not!cook!the!data.!Science!
thrives!in!a!spirit!of!competition!but!also!in!highly!evolved!
cooperation.!Scientists!preach!humanistic!purposes!informed!by!
the!best!knowledge!obtainable!and!promote!codes!of!ethics,!such!
that!the!powers!unleashed!through!science!benefit!and!not!harm!
humanity!or!the!unique!and!precious!planet!that!we!inhabit.!When!
scientists!are!at!their!best,!they!practice!what!I!call!“altruistic!
fidelity!to!the!phenomena,”!a!phrase!we!will!need!to!unpack!later.!
These!values!often!put!science!at!odds!with!authorities,!be!they!
religious,!corporate,!or!governmental.!!
Of!course,!this!is!an!idealized!account!of!science!and!scientists.!
Science!is!also!a!very!messy!business.!There!are!egos!and!interests!
involved.!Personalities,!power,!and!politics!are!also!part!of!the!
often-chaotic!process.!There!are!Promethean!tragedies!enacted!and!
feared,!terrible!possibilities!unleashed,!powers!and!principalities!
supported!by!the!applications!of!science.!Scientists!can!be!corrupt.!
They!can!also!blindly!follow!money!or!ideologies.!Scientists!may!
also!possess!increased!powers!of!selfish!rationalization.!They!tend!
to!be!overly!compartmentalized!in!their!lives.!Their!myopic!visions!
can!become!dogmatic!propositions.!They!are!humans,!after!all,!and!
exhibit!all!the!flaws!and!failings!that!we!encounter!in!other!
!
!
228!
domains!of!human!life.!Science!is!always!social,!political,!personal,!
economic,!cultural,!and!historical.!In!spite!of!this,!the!miracle!of!
science!is!that!there!is!a!progressive!unfolding!of!reality,!a!process!
that!allows!for!self-transcending!knowledge,!if!not!always!
appropriate!wisdom!and!noble!purpose.!
I!want!to!propose!that!the!problem!with!the!social-
constructionist!account!of!science,!and!its!postmodern!and!
postcolonial!offshoots,!is!that!it!draws!the!circle!of!intersubjectivity!
too!narrowly.!A!purely!social-constructionist!account!of!science,!for!
instance,!fails!to!explain!why!physicists!came!to!accept!quantum!
mechanics!in!the!1930s,!when!none!of!them!wanted!to!believe!it!
was!true.!The!phenomena!can!trump!the!community’s!dogmatic!
preferences,!indeed!often!do.!If!we!include!all!nature!as!part!of!the!
intersubjective!community,!the!phenomena!playing!an!active!role!
in!the!conversations!of!scientists,!then!the!problem!of!philosophical!
relativism!disappears.!Philosophical!anthropocentrism!is!the!
downfall!of!social!constructionism.!Nature-centrism!rescues!social!
constructionism!and!gives!us!a!more!robust,!realist,!and!critical!
philosophy!of!science.!!
Critical!realism!then!leads!to!the!concept!of!symbolic!realism.!
To!grant!the!nonhuman!an!active!“voice”!in!our!scientific!
conversations!requires!a!more!expanded!understanding!of!
“language”!and!ultimately!also!a!new!metaphysics.
270
!I!call!this!
symbolic.realism.
271
!In!this!view,!nature!is!already!“linguistic”!
through!and!through.!If!nature!were!not!already!symbolic!and!filled!
with!semantic!meanings,!we!could!not!be!a!linguistic!species.!
Nature!teaches!us!how!to!speak!our!own!human!languages!in!the!
coevolution!of!our!nature-body-brain-minds-languages-cultures!
over!millions!of!years.
272
!The!innate!intelligibility-intelligence!of!
nature!is!itself!the!precondition!of!any!science!of!nature.!Science,!
then,!is!a!particular!genre!of!translation!projects!in!which!scientists!
listen!carefully!to!natural!phenomena!and!try!to!translate!their!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
270
David Abram prefers the term “more-than-human” in his effort to build a nature-centric
understanding of human language. See David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception
and Language in a More-Than-Human World (New York: Pantheon, 1996).
271
Here I am drawing on the synthetic philosophy of Paul Ricoeur, which I discussed in chapter 3
of my dissertation. William J. Grassie, "Reinventing Nature: Science Narratives as Myths for an
Endangered Planet," Ph.D. diss., Temple University, 1994.
272
See Abram, Spell of the Sensuous; and Terrence W. Deacon, The Symbolic Species: The Co-
Evolution of Language and the Brain (New York: Norton, 1997).
!
!
229!
languages!into!symbolic!systems!that!we!can!understand!and!use.!
The!dominant!metaphor!for!seeking!scientific!truth!shifts!from!
“seeing”!to!“listening.”!!
I!define!science!as!altruistic!fidelity!to!phenomena;!in!other!
words,!selfless!listening!to!the!“voices”!of!natural!phenomena.!We!
can!say,!for!instance,!that!rocks!participate!in!the!science!of!geology!
by!way!of!presenting!themselves!as!a!limited!field!of!plausible!
interpretation!at!different!levels!of!analysis.!Leave!the!rocks!out!of!
geology!and!we!cannot!understand!the!geologists.!And,!yes,!of!
course,!the!geologists!are!profoundly!influenced!by!social,!
economic,!political,!cultural,!and!historical!factors;!but!without!the!
rocks,!mountains,!volcanoes,!plate!tectonics,!earthquakes,!erosion,!
fossils,!chemistry,!radioactive!dating,!and!the!rest,!there!would!be!
no!geologists.!Science!is!about!trying!to!put!the!phenomena!first
hence!the!fidelity!and!the!altruism.!In!the!next!chapter,!we!will!
explore!a!new!metaphysics!based!in!part!on!these!insights,!as!we!
work!toward!a!new!concept!of!transcendence.!
By!including!natural!phenomena!as!active!participants!in!the!
explorations!of!science,!an!obvious!though!neglected!perspective!in!
scientific!philosophy,!we!strengthen!pragmatic!instrumentalism,!
social!constructionism,!and!critical!realism!in!our!philosophy!of!
science.!Note!that!this!new!philosophy!of!science!is!not!unlike!our!
proposed!nonreductive!functionalist!approach!to!religions.!Science!
cannot!be!reduced!to!a!single!epistemology;!instead,!it!is!a!diversity!
of!methods!that!function!and!sometimes!dysfunction!in!specific!
contexts.!
The!upshot!of!this!truncated!discussion!of!the!philosophy!of!
science!is!perhaps!a!new!definition.!Science!is!(1)!different!
methods!for!detecting!patterned!phenomena!and!explaining!causal!
relationships,!(2)!applied!by!communities!of!specialists!(3)!in!
rigorous!“dialogue”!with!phenomena,!(4)!always!implicated!in!lived!
historical!contexts!and!limitations,!(5)!resulting!in!a!self-correcting,!
self-transcending,!and!progressive!learning!process!that!(6)!makes!
strongly!objective!truth!claims,!(7)!which!facts!are!pragmatically!
verified!in!practical!applications.!We!will!further!expand!this!
definition!of!science!below.!
!
!
!
!
!
230!
Reductionism#and#Holism#
!
Typically,!science!tries!to!understand!a!phenomenon!by!taking!
it!apart,!by!trying!to!see!how!the!constituent!components!work!to!
create!the!whole.!This!is!reflected!in!the!etymology!of!the!word!
science,!which!derives!from!the!Latin!scire,!to!know,!probably!akin!
to!the!Latin!scindere!“to!split”!and!the!Sanskrit!chyati,!“to!cut!off.”!
Recall!that!the!etymology!of!the!word!religion!is!the!Latin!verb!
religare,!“to!bind!together.”!So,!in!the!etymology!of!these!two!
words,!religion!and!science,!we!have!some!indication!of!conflict!but!
also!a!necessary!relationship.!Science!is!to!split!apart;!religion!is!to!
bind!the!parts!together.!The!concepts!of!reductionism!and!holism!
are!embedded!in!the!very!etymology!of!the!two!words.!
For!instance,!in!the!science!of!botany,!we!might!see!what!
plants!are!made!of!with!our!microscopes!and!other!tools,!noting!
the!existence!of!differentiated!cells,!the!chemical!composition!of!
these!cells,!the!molecular!processes!inside!the!cells,!the!genetic!
structure!of!different!plant!species,!the!taxonomy!of!different!
plants,!the!interactions!of!plants!with!their!environment,!and!the!
evolution!of!a!plant!over!eons.!The!working!assumption!is!that!a!
plant,!or!any!phenomenon,!is!best!understood!by!a!reductionist!
approach,!one!that!takes!phenomena!apart,!seeing!how!all!the!
pieces!fit!together.!The!science!of!botany!would!further!assume!
that!the!causal!influences!that!give!rise!to!the!particular!plant!in!
question!are!all!material;!there!are!no!mystical!vitalist!forces!
behind!living!things,!just!a!lot!of!complicated!chemistry!underneath!
the!biology!and!physics!underneath!the!chemistry.!Science!works!
by!pursuing!causation!from!the!bottom!up,!even!if!the!scientist!
herself!is!an!example!of!causation!from!the!top!down.!
Let!us!look!at!an!example!from!simple-cell!biology,!the!inner!
life!of!a!bacteria!as!described!by!Bill!Bryson!in!his!remarkable!book!
A.Short.History.of.Nearly.Everything:!
!
Blown!up!to!a!scale!at!which!atoms!were!about!the!size!of!
peas,!a!cell!would!be!a!sphere!roughly!half!a!mile!across,!and!
supported!by!a!complex!framework!of!girders!called!the!
cytoskelton.!Within!it,!millions!upon!millions!of!objectssome!
the!size!of!basketballs,!others!the!size!of!carswould!whiz!
about!like!bullets.!There!wouldn’t!be!a!place!you!could!stand!
!
!
231!
without!being!pummelled!and!ripped!thousands!of!times!every!
second!from!every!direction.!Even!for!its!full-time!occupants!
the!inside!of!a!cell!is!a!hazardous!place.!Each!strand!of!DNA!is!
on!average!attacked!or!damaged!once!every!8.4!secondsten!
thousand!times!in!a!dayby!chemicals!and!other!agents!that!
whack!into!or!carelessly!slice!through!it,!and!each!of!these!
wounds!must!be!swiftly!stitched!up!if!the!cell!is!not!to!perish.!
The!proteins!are!especially!lively,!spinning,!pulsating!and!
flying!into!each!other!up!to!a!billion!times!a!second.!Enzymes,!
themselves!a!type!of!protein,!dash!everywhere,!performing!up!
to!a!thousand!tasks!a!second.!Like!greatly!speeded-up!worker!
ants,!they!busily!build!and!rebuild!molecules,!hauling!a!piece!
off!this!one,!adding!a!piece!to!that!one.!Some!monitor!passing!
proteins!and!mark!with!a!chemical!those!that!are!irreparably!
damaged!or!flawed.!Once!so!selected,!the!doomed!proteins!
proceed!to!a!structure!called!a!proteasome,!where!they!are!
stripped!down!and!their!components!used!to!build!new!
proteins.!Some!types!of!protein!exist!for!less!than!half!an!hour;!
others!survive!for!weeks.!But!all!lead!existences!that!are!
inconceivably!frenzied.
273
!
!
A!typical!cell!contains!twenty!thousand!different!types!of!
proteins.!A!small!cell!contains!perhaps!100!million!protein!
molecules.!The!adult!human!body,!for!instance,!contains!some!10!
trillion!(1013)!cells!in!210!tissue!types.!Remember!that!these!all!
began!as!a!single!fertilized!cell!in!your!mother’s!womb,!a!cell!that!
replicated!and!differentiated!into!these!210!tissue!types!in!their!
proper!organs,!performing!their!proper!function.!In!addition!to!
these!eukaryotic!“human”!cells!that!compose!our!bodies,!there!are!
perhaps!100!trillion!prokaryotic!cells!living!in!our!intestinal!track!
(as!well!as!on!our!skin.)!This!rich!ecology!of!bacteria!in!our!gut!is!
symbiotic.!They!do!not!“belong”!to!us!but!are!freeloaders!who!
happen!to!add!a!lot!of!value,!as!we!do!to!them.
274
!This!is!pretty!
amazing!stuff,!and!most!of!what!is!described!above!is!new!to!
science.!Fifty!years!ago,!not!much!of!this!was!known!in!any!detail.!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
273
Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition (New York:
Broadway Books, 2003, 2005), 477-78.
274
Scott F. Gilbert and David Epel, Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics,
Medicine, and Evolution (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 2009), 98.
!
!
232!
We!can!learn!a!lot!of!interesting!things!about!a!cell!by!studying!
its!parts!and!its!chemistry.!A!quick!perusal!of!the!typically!heavy!
undergraduate!textbook!on!cell!biology!should!be!adequate!to!
demonstrate!just!how!much!we!have!learned!in!the!last!century!
through!this!kind!of!reductionist!approach.!That!being!said,!the!cell!
itself!could!not!be!adequately!described!solely!on!the!basis!of!its!
constituent!components,!even!less!so!the!phenomenon!of!the!
particular!plant.!The!plant!is!an!emergent!phenomenon,!both!in!its!
ontogeny—!developmental!biologyand!its!phylogeny
evolutionary!biology.!To!this!we!must!add!ecological!systems!in!
which!the!plant!both!contributes!to!creating!the!selective!
environment!and!is!also!acted!on!by!the!selective!environment!in!a!
fine!piece!of!circular!logic.!Ecology,!we!are!told,!is!a!“subversive!
science”!precisely!because!it!is!about!emergent!phenomena!and!
does!not!fit!the!dominant!reductionist!paradigm!in!science.
275
!The!
concept!of!emergence!says!simply!that!the.whole.is.more.than.the.
sum.of.its.partsin!this!case,!an!ecology!is!more!than!the!sum!of!all!
the!species!within!a!bioregional!system,!just!as!a!cell!is!more!than!
the!sum!of!its!proteins!and!other!chemical!processes.!
While!we!have!learned!a!lot!about!how!a!cell!works,!the!
unified!phenomenon!of!a!cell!could!hardly!be!predicted!by!studying!
its!100!million!parts,!and!much!less!so!could!the!phenomenon!of!
your!personhood!be!described!by!separately!examining!the!10!
trillion!cells!in!your!body.!As!science!has!acquired!exponentially!
more!knowledge!through!reductionism,!it!has!also!increasingly!
embraced!robust!concepts!of!emergence!as!essential!to!scientific!
explanation.!!
Emergence!is!not!just!“soft”!concepts!from!cell!biology!and!
ecology!that!burst!the!reductionist!dream!of!a!completely!
mechanistic!account!of!complex!phenomena.!From!the!surface!
tension!of!water!in!a!glass!to!superfluidity!and!superconductivity!in!
a!physicist’s!lab,!the!behavior!of!huge!numbers!of!particles!cannot!
be!deduced!from!the!properties!of!a!single!atom!or!molecule.!In!
accepting!the!Nobel!Prize!for!Physics!in!1998,!Robert!Laughlin!
noted:!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
275
Paul Shepard and Daniel McKinley, eds., The Subversive Science: Essays toward an Ecology
of Man (Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin,1969).
!
!
233!
The!world!is!full!of!things!for!which!one’s!understanding,!i.e.!
one’s!ability!to!predict!what!will!happen!in!an!experiment,!is!
degraded!by!taking!the!system!apart,!including!most!
delightfully!the!standard!model!of!elementary!particles!itself.!I!
myself!have!come!to!suspect!most!of!the!important!
outstanding!problems!in!physics!are!emergent!in!nature,!
including!particularly!quantum!gravity.
276
!
!
Materialism#and#Information#
!
To!say!that!one!is!a!materialist!today!requires!some!
explication,!because!matter!turns!out!to!be!rather!bizarre!stuff.!
Atoms!are!not!fundamental;!they!are!divisible,!on!the!first!order,!
into!protons,!neutrons,!and!electrons.!Far!from!being!“matter,”!the!
atom!turns!out!to!be!mostly!empty!space!on!a!scale!difficult!to!
conceptualize.!The!single!proton!at!the!center!of!a!simple!hydrogen!
atom!is!something!like!a!baseball!sitting!on!the!pitcher’s!mound!at!
Yankee!stadium,!and!the!single!electron!is!not!even!the!size!of!a!flea!
buzzing!around!in!a!“probability!space”!at!the!farthest!edge!of!the!
stadium.!If!we!break!these!atomic!components!down!further,!we!
end!up!with!other!subatomic!particles!whose!“materiality”!is!rather!
strange!indeed.!Materialism!reduced!to!this!level!of!“matter”!
disintegrates!into!forces!and!fields,!entangled!relationships,!and!
ephemeral!existence—quarks,!leptons,!electrons,!neutrinos,!
photons,!gluons,!W!&!Z,!and!gravitons.!!
Reductionism!and!materialism,!however!useful!as!
methodological!approaches!in!science,!self-destruct!as!
philosophical!propositions!when!we!push!them!to!the!limits!of!the!
very!small,!the!very!fast,!the!very!cold,!the!very!hot,!the!very!dense,!
the!very!large,!and!the!very!complex.!Frankly,!it!is!embarrassing!
that!otherwise!brilliant!people!think!nothing!of!invoking!
“materialism”!today!as!one!of!the!hallmarks!of!science.!The!concept!
of!materialism!deconstructed!itself!with!the!advent!of!quantum!
mechanics!and!particle!physics.!None!of!this!means!that!we!are!
compelled!to!adopt!some!form!of!supernaturalism,!but!the!
fundamental!nature!of!nature!turns!out!to!be!fantastically!super.
277
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
276
Robert B. Laughlin, “Fractional Quantisation,” Review of Modern Physics 71, no. 4 (1998).
277
Naturalism is a similarly tricky term, an abstraction that defines itself largely by what it
opposes. In other words, “naturalism” is anything that is not “supernaturalism,” so we are
!
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!
thrown back into metaphysics. This is one of the reasons that I spurn the use of the term
“supernatural” in my preferred definition of religion. If God exists, then God is completely
“natural” and only works through emergent “natural” processes. Mythological stories are not
description of real events in history but profound metaphorical interpretations produced by
prescientific peoples.
278
Varadaraja V. Raman, Truth and Tension in Science and Religion (Center Ossipee, NH: Beech
River Books, 2009), 115.
!
!
235!
to!its!supervenience,!but!the!character!and!nuances!of!this!new!
metaphysical!vision!have!barely!been!explored.!!
In!physics,!we!now!talk!about!the!information!states!of!
quantum!phenomena.!In!cosmology,!we!speculate!about!a!
preexistent!mathematical!order,!through!which!the!cosmos!
unfolds.!Challenge!a!hard-nosed,!reductionistic!physicist!about!his!
mathematics,!and!you!are!likely!to!find!a!soft-hearted!Neoplatonist.!!
With!the!genomic!revolution,!biologists!now!also!talk!about!
information!residing!at!the!center!of!life!processes.!In!cellular-
signal!transduction,!the!genomic!“Word”!becomes!living!flesh.!
Though!species!come!and!go!in!the!evolutionary!epic,!much!of!the!
genomic!memory!of!the!past!is!retained!in!contemporary!genomes.!
As!new!evolutionary!niches!are!explored,!the!“figurative”!becomes!
“literal,”!as!new!species!are!reconfigured!by!selection!into!new!
emergent!possibilities,!adding!new!chapters!to!the!book!of!life.!
The!neurosciences!today!see!the!brain!as!an!information-
processing!system.!While!no!doubt!beautiful!to!the!discerning!eye!
of!a!scientist,!a!single!neuron!is!rather!dumb.!A!hundred!billion!
neurons!in!the!human!brain,!however,!wired!in!a!massively!parallel!
system,!become!potentially!the!most!complex!entity!in!the!
universe.!The!neurons!fire!in!on!and!off!states!through!the!synaptic!
media!to!mediate!every!human!experience!and!memory,!including!
the!self-transcending!neuronal!activities!of!scientists!doing!science.!
Laying!down!neural!networks!is!another!way!of!talking!about!
encoding!information,!as!the!inside!informational!world!of!the!
brain!maps!with!the!outside!informational!world!of!nature,!culture,!
and!cosmos.!
This!new!metaphysical!movement!in!the!sciences!has!largely!
been!mediated!by!the!computer!as!both!tool!and!metaphor.!Among!
diverse!scientific!disciplines,!the!real!scientific!revolution!in!the!
last!decades!of!the!twentieth!century!has!been!the!ability!to!collect!
and!analyze!large!data!sets!and!to!manipulate!these!data!sets!
further!through!powerful!computer!simulations.!Computers!
provide!not!just!the!tools!for!new!scientific!discoveries!but!also!the!
new!metaphors!that!now!also!dominate!scientific!discourse.!
Algorithms,!binary!code,!hardware,!software,!and!networks!are!
terms!that!have!traveled!widely!outside!the!domain!of!the!
computer!sciences.!Computational!finitude,!however,!also!points!
toward!a!complexity!horizon!that!may!thwart!our!unbridled!
!
!
236!
desires!for!controlling!and!predictive!knowledge.
279
!The!universe!
may!be!a!single!database,!but!it!is!so!profoundly!relational!that!the!
easy!hackings!of!the!codes!by!earlier!science!may!soon!be!
exhausted.
280
!!
This!new!relational,!information-centered!ontology!arising!in!
the!sciences!today!provides!a!wonderful!moment!for!the!recovery!
and!reinterpretation!of!traditional!religious!worldviews.!Many!
religions!have!understood!language!to!be!in!some!way!primordial!
to!the!material!constitution!of!the!universe.!In!Hinduism,!the!
Upanishads!talk!of!a!primal!word,!Om,!that!functions!as!the!creative!
source!of!all!nature.!In!Jewish!Midrash,!the!grammatical!ambiguity!
of!the!first!line!of!Genesis!and!the!extravagant!linguistic!creativity!
of!Elohim!lead!to!philosophical!speculation!about!a!preexistent!
Torah,!which!God!uses!to!speak!reality!into!being.!In!medieval!
Judaism,!this!rabbinic!tradition!gave!rise!to!the!wild!speculations!
and!philosophical!subtleties!of!the!Kabbalah.!The!Greeks,!including!
Plato,!drew!upon!Heraclitus’s!notion!of!logos,!viewing!the!
embodied!word!as!the!fire!that!animated!and!ruled!the!world,!to!
explain!their!understanding!of!primeval,!material!language.!In!the!
Gospel!of!John,!Christians!celebrate!this!Word!or!Logos!in!a!radical!
incarnationalist!vision!of!a!cosmic!Christ!in!whom!and!through!
whom!all!things!come!into!being.!Today,!the!universe!is!far!grander!
than!our!ancestors!could!have!possibly!imagined,!but!somehow!
they!seem!to!have!already!intuited!the!deep!informational!
structure!of!the!universe!through!which!all!things!come!into!being.!
!
Hierarchies#of#Explanation#
!
At!this!point,!we!have!a!number!of!interesting!categories!in!
our!new!metaphysics!of!science.!We!have!space-time,!matter-
energy,!and!information.!We!also!have!a!powerful!dialectic!
between!reductionism!and!emergence.!We!have!diverse!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
279
David Harel, Computers Ltd.: What They Really Can’t Do (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000); John D. Barrow, Impossibility: The Limits of Science and the Science of Limits
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); Orrin H. Pilkey and Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Useless
Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can’t Predict the Future (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2007); William Grassie, “Useless Arithmetic and Inconvenient Truths: A
Review,” Metanexus (2007), https://metanexus.net/useless-arithmetic-and-inconvenient-truths/
280
John Horgan, The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the
Scientific Age (New York: Addison-Wesley, 1996).
!
!
237!
methodologies!for!studying!different!types!of!phenomena.!All!these!
are!in!some!sense!both!symbolic!and!real!in!that!they!can!be!
intelligibly!represented!in!the!semiotics!of!human!language.!We!can!
now!introduce!hierarchies!of!scale,!time,!and!complexity!into!our!
reading!of!contemporary!science.!
The!sciences!are!organized!hierarchically!from!the!
microcosmic!to!the!mesocosmic!to!the!macrocosmic.!You!will!recall!
from!chapter!two!that!August!Comte!already!proposed!such!a!
hierarchy!of!the!sciences,!but!we!know!so!much!more!than!he!or!
his!contemporaries!could!have!imagined.!At!the!bottom!of!the!
reductionist!hierarchy!is!particle!physics,!which!is!required!for!
atomic!physics.!The!properties!of!atoms!are!necessary!for!simple!
and!complex!chemistry!to!arise.!Chemistry!is!necessary!for!there!to!
be!biology,!geology,!and!other!mesocosmic!sciences.!Biology!is!
necessary!for!there!to!be!human!consciousness!and!culture.!Our!
sciences!of!religion!enter!into!this!hierarchy!at!this!stage,!but!our!
new!religion!of!science!must!deal!with!the!synthetic!interpretation!
of!the!entire!cosmological!hierarchy.
281
!
Of!course,!a!universe!is!required!to!contain!the!atomic!
particles!and!give!rise!to!the!properties!of!physics!in!the!first!place,!
a!time!and!a!place!for!all!the!complex,!evolving!stuff!we!see!around!
us.!So,!we!need!a!universe!of!space-time!and!matter-energy.!In!
ways!not!fully!understood,!it!also!appears!that!the!science!of!the!
very!small,!particle!physics!may!tell!us!something!important!about!
the!science!of!the!origins!of!the!universe!as!a!whole,!so!the!
microcosmic!and!macrocosmic!scales!may!loop!back!together.!
Particle!physics!turns!out!to!be!helpful!in!thinking!about!
cosmological!questions!about!the!early!universe.
282
!This!is!the!
hierarchy!of!scale.!Everything!discovered!by!science!is!related!in!
size.!!
There!is!also!a!hierarchy!of!time!in!the!chronological!unfolding!
of!the!13.7-billion-year!evolving!universe.!Stellar!fusion!creates!the!
heavy!elements,!which!then!give!rise!to!complex!chemistry!in!
second-!and!third-generation!solar!systems,!whichat!least!on!one!
planetgave!rise!to!life!and!consciousness.!Thus,!there!is!both!a!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
281
For a discussion of emergent hierarchies in science, see George F. R. Ellis and Nancey Murphy,
On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics (Minneapolis, MN:
Fortress Press, 1996).
282
Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams, The View from the Center of the Universe:
Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos (New York: Riverhead, 2006).
!
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0'4420+5=2!42/)&5&6?!H12!.)2=5'(7!2.'017!8'!&'+!857/..2/)?!
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0',.4235+527!/)2!/8828!'&+'!+12!(&82)4;5&6!7+)(0+()27?
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0/40(4/+27!+12!2&2)6;-82&75+;!<4':7!/+!85<<2)2&+!42=247!'<!
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<4':5&6!+1)'(61!/!7;7+2,!5&!)27.20+!+'!5+7!,/77!'=2)!+5,29!5&!+157!
0/72!,2/7()28!/7!2)6!.2)!720'&87!.2)!6)/,7!a2)6!7-#!6!-#c?!H12!
2/)+1]7!045,/7.12)29!:1501!0'&757+7!'<!+12!/+,'7.12)2!/&8!'02/&79!
1/7!)'(614;!/!1(&8)28!+5,27!+12!2&2)6;-82&75+;!<4':!'<!/!+;.50/4!
7+/)!')!6/4/3;?!H1)'(61!.1'+'7;&+127579!.4/&+7!/0152=2!/&!2&2)6;-
82&75+;!<4':!)'(614;!/!+1'(7/&8!+5,27!,')2!+1/&!+1/+!'<!/!7+/)?!H12!
1(,/&!*'8;!57!7(7+/5&28!*;!/!8/54;!<''8!5&+/>2!)27(4+5&6!5&!/&!
2&2)6;-82&75+;!<4':!/*'(+!+:2&+;!+1'(7/&8!+5,27!,')2!+1/&!+1/+!
'<!/!+;.50/4!7+/)?!V2,2,*2)!+1/+!:2!/)2!0',./)5&6!+12!)/+5'!'<!
2&2)6;!0'&7(,28!+'!,/77!'<!+12!'*F20+7?!g2)2!57!/&'+12)!:/;!+'!
+15&>!'<!+157?!%<!/!1(,/&!*'8;!0'(48!*2!70/428!(.!+'!+12!,/77!'<!'()!
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5+!0'(48!'*+/5&!2&'(61!<''8!2&2)6;Xc?!H12!1(,/&!*)/5&9!:1501!
0'&7(,27!/*'(+!"L!.2)02&+!'<!'()!2&2)6;!5&+/>2!:1542!0'&7+5+(+5&6!
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#QL9LLL!+5,27!+1/+!'<!/!+;.50/4!7+/)?!B&89!<5&/44;9!,'82)&!1(,/&!
05=545J/+5'&!1/7!/&!2&2)6;-82&75+;!)/+5'!7',2!<5=2!1(&8)28!
+1'(7/&8!+5,27!+1/+!'<!/!+;.50/4!7+/)?
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
283
Eric Chaisson, Epic of Evolution : Seven Ages of the Cosmos (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2006).
284
Chaisson, Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2001), 139; Chaisson, Epic of Evolution, 293 - 96; Christian, Maps of Time:
An Introduction to Big History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004).
!
!
239!
In!the!background!of!this!discussion!of!increasing!complexity!
is!the!second!law!of!thermodynamics,!which!states!simply!that!
entropy!increases!in!any!closed!system.!Without!new!sources!of!
energy!flowing!into!a!system,!the!system!will!deteriorate!into!less!
complex,!more!diffuse!states.!In!lay!terminology,!the!second!law!of!
thermodynamics!is!the!certainty!of!death!and!taxes.!Everything!
tends!toward!equilibrious!disordered!states!(e.g.,!death),!while!
disequilibrious!ordered!states!(e.g.,!life)!can!only!be!maintained!by!
paying!energy-intake!taxes.!In!other!words,!there!are!no!free!
lunches,!and!you!work!until!you!die.!!
The!complexity!of!life!on!earth!is!ultimately!sustained!by!the!
flow!of!energy!from!the!sun!to!the!planet,!which!energy!is!then!
captured!by!photosynthesis.!The!food!we!eat,!and!with!which!we!
think!and!act,!is!ultimately!solar!energy!passed!along!through!the!
food!chain.!Fossil!fuels!can!be!thought!of!as!part!of!this!
photosynthetic!energy!flow.!Contemporary!ecoromantics!get!it!
partly!wrong!and!partly!right.!There!is!always!a!cost!to!life,!which!
we!can!refer!to!as!the!Great!Eucharistic!law:!eat!and!be!eaten.!
Without!killing!and!harvesting!energy!from!other!sources,!which!
means!ultimately!the!sun,!we!would!cease!to!exist.!The!slogan!
“reduce,!reuse,!recycle”!is!only!partly!right!because!what!drives!the!
evolution!of!increasing!complexity!on!our!planet!and!in!the!
universe!is!actually!“consume!more!energy!in!order!to!be!more!
complex.”!The!real!evolutionary!morality!tale!can!be!better!
summed!up!in!the!new!aphorism!“minimize!entropy,!maximize!
creativity.”!What!environmentalists!get!right!is!the!centrality!of!
solar!energy!to!our!lives!and!the!possibility!that!we!can!do!
complexity!better,!more!elegantly,!and!less!destructively.!Note!that!
sun-worshipping!religions!of!the!past!intuited!something!profound!
about!contemporary!science!and!thermodynamics.!
While!nothing!violates!the!letter!of!the!law—the!second!law!of!
thermodynamicsthe!actual!evolutionary!history!of!the!universe!
violates!the!spirit!of!the!law.
285
!Science!offers!no!adequate!
explanation!for!why!the!particular!complexity!we!observe!today!
should!have!evolved.!Many!other!universes!and!many!other!types!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
285
One possible exception to the second law of thermodynamics is the impact of gravity in giving
structure to the early universe. By drawing clouds of hydrogen and helium together into denser
and denser regions, gravity ignited stellar fusion. Once stellar fusion begins, the second law
applies to the life cycle of a star, but apparently not before.
!
!
240!
of!complexity!can!be!imagined.!The!observed!complexification!of!
the!universe!allows!us!to!postulate!a!purposeful!directionality!in!
the!universe.!This!purpose!we!shall!tentatively!characterize!as!
increasing!complexification.!This!inference!can!be!made!based!on!
the!observed!history!of!the!universe;!the!evolution!of!life!on!the!
planet;!and!the!development!of!human!culture,!economics,!science,!
and!technology.!!
At!this!point,!it!is!useful!to!distinguish!between!teleonomy!and!
teleology.!The!latter!refers!to!a!goal!to!which!something!aspires,!as!
in!Aristotle’s!notion!of!final!cause.!Teleonomy,!on!the!other!hand,!
can!be!thought!of!as!an!implied!trajectory!based!on!past!history!
and!need!not!make!reference!to!future!purposes.!The!observed!
history!of!the!universe––its!teleonomy––is!indicative!of!increasing!
complexification!as!the!“purpose”!of!the!universe––a!possible!
teleology.!
Skeptics!will!immediately!retort!that!the!trajectory!of!the!
universe!is!death,!in!either!an!entropic!dispersal!of!matter-energy!
or!a!cosmic!collapse!in!a!so-called!“Big!Crunch.”!When!the!sun!
exhausts!its!nuclear!fuel!in!another!4!billion!years,!we!can!well!
predict!the!end!of!the!earth,!if!not!sooner.!Earth’s!complexity!will!
eventually!cease.!The!increased!complexification!that!earth!has!
experienced!over!the!preceding!4!billion!years!is!because!of!the!
energy!flow!from!the!sun.!For!the!time!being,!the!earth!is!not!a!
closed!system,!so!increasing!complexity!overrules!the!intractable!
necessity!of!entropy.!!
We!do!not!really!know,!however,!whether!the!universe!as!a!
whole!is!actually!a!closed!system,!though!this!is!the!default!
assumption!in!cosmology.!The!theistic!hypothesis,!of!course,!is!that!
the!universe!is!not!a!closed!system,!that!there!is!some!kind!of!
forcemind!or!beingthat!transcends!the!universe.!In!this!
formulation,!information!may!be!the!key!to!understanding!what!it!
means!to!talk!of!God-by-whatever-name!and!the!nature!of!divine!
intervention.
286
!This!divine!intervention,!however,!would!be!
something!more!like!Adam!Smith’s!image!of!an!“Invisible!Hand”!at!
work!within!economic!markets.!We!shall!come!back!to!this!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
286
This interpretation has been advanced by physicist-turned-theologian John Polkinghorne. See,
for instance, John C. Polkinghorne, Science and Providence (London: SPCK, 1989);
Polkinghorne, Faith of a Physicist, The: Reflections of a Bottom-up Thinker, Gifford Lectures
for 1993-4 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994); Polkinghorne, Belief in God in an
Age of Science (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998).
!
!
241!
interpretation!in!the!next!chapter,!when!we!further!explore!the!
implied!purposes!of!the!universe,!as!we!work!from!the!bottom!up!
toward!God-by-whatever-name.!
!
Emergence#and#Transcendence#
!
The!concept!of!emergence!gets!us!closer!to!the!possibility!of!
certain!religious!truth!claims!being!plausible.!An!emergent!and!
layered!understanding!of!science!leads!to!different!levels!of!
explanation.!Particle!physics,!for!instance,!is!not!the!least!bit!
helpful!in!doing!botany.!Indeed,!particle!physics!has!limited!utility!
in!even!normal!chemistry.!Nor!does!knowing!chemistry!help!an!
economist.!The!pursuit!of!a!reductionist!account!of!phenomena!has!
not!led!to!a!grand!unified!theory!of!science!but!to!now!thousands!of!
disciplines!and!specializations!within!science.!As!already!detailed,!
there!is!no!such!thing!as!a!“scientific!method”!true!for!all!these!
different!disciplines!and!specializations.!Scientists!try!to!solve!
particular!problems!within!the!parameters!set!by!the!phenomenon!
in!question,!pragmatically!adopting!the!tools!and!methods!most!
appropriate!to!that!problem.!There!are!levels!of!analyses;!and!
biologists,!or!even!economists,!can!safely!know!nothing!about!
particle!physics!and!still!do!excellent!science.!!
There!are!different!meanings!of!emergence!in!our!bottom-up!
approach!to!transcendence.!First,!there!is!ontological!emergence!in!
evolution.!New!entities!come!into!being!that!previously!did!not!
exist.!For!a!long!time,!there!were!no!carbon!atoms!in!the!universe,!
but!then!stellar!fusion!created!carbon.!For!a!long!time,!there!was!no!
life!in!the!universe,!but,!on!at!least!one!planet,!complex!chemistry!
catalyzed!into!a!self-replicating,!adaptive,!and!thermodynamic!
process.!For!a!long!time,!there!was!no!eyesight!in!the!universe,!but!
finally!eyes!evolved,!and!the!capacity!of!sight!emerged!as!a!novel!
event!in!evolution.!Ontological!emergence!entails!epistemological!
emergence,!different!ways!of!knowing!appropriate!to!different!
levels!of!reality!and!complexity.!
The!concept!of!emergence,!as!we!have!already!examined,!also!
means!that!different!levels!of!reality!require!different!scientific!
practices!appropriate!at!each!level.!Emergence!puts!some!
limitations!on!reductionist!explanations.!For!instance,!emergence!
places!philosophical!limits!on!the!claims!of!some!social!scientists!to!
!
!
242!
explain!away!religion!reductionistically!or,!for!that!matter,!any!
other!complex!human!or!natural!phenomenon.!Emergence!is!
central!to!nonreductive!functionalism!because!religion!is!an!
emergent!phenomena!both!in!its!ontogeny!and!its!phylogeny.!
A!robust!understanding!of!emergence,!and!with!it!different!
levels!of!analysis!and!interpretation,!opens!up!a!possibility!space!
within!the!soul!of!the!scientific!enterprise!for!religious!notions!of!
transcendence,!the!God-by-whatever-name!mystery.!We!will!
tentatively!define!God-by-whatever-name!as!the!set!of!all!
phenomenapast,!present,!futureas!well!as!that!which!may!also!
in!some!sense!precede!and!transcend!this!universe.!Contemporary!
science!is!actually!more!suggestive!of!some!notion!of!
transcendence!than!it!is!of!atheistic!materialism.!There!is!a!cultural!
lag!in!absorbing!these!insights!on!both!sides!of!the!religion-science!
divide.!!
While!it!is!possible!to!think!from!the!bottom!up!toward!the!
possibility!of!God-by-whatever-name,!it!is!not!possible!to!think!
from!the!bottom!up!to!establish!God-by-any-particular-name!of!any!
specific!revealed!tradition.!Science!will!not!give!us!the!God!of!
Abraham,!Isaac,!and!Jacob,!or!Jesus!Christ,!my!Lord!and!Savior,!or!
Allah!and!Mohammad!as!His!Prophet!(PBUH),!the!avatars!of!
Brahma,!or!the!Buddha!Nature!in!All!Things.!Once!we!grant!the!
possibility!of!a!God-by-whatever-name,!however,!we!should!also!
grant!the!possibility,!that!this!may!also!be!a!God-by-a-particular-
name.!Who!are!we!to!tell!God!what!God!can!and!cannot!be!in!the!
realm!of!ultimate!reality.!Any!such!“god”!that!we!could!contain!
within!our!intellectual!constructs!would!simply!not!be!God.!Top-
down!revelation!is!a!real!possibility.!God!may!well!“speak”!to!us!in!
human!languages!and!in!very!personal!ways.!Of!course,!the!
interpretations!and!faith!commitments!of!particular!religious!
communities!are!certainly!self-serving!on!this!point,!but!God!may!
well!enough!choose!one!particular!historical!moment!and!one!
particular!revelation!to!be!the!definitive!text.!
For!instance,!maybe!the!revelation!received!by!Mohammad,!
peace!be!upon!him,!is!indeed!God’s!final!revelation,!given!to!an!
illiterate!merchant!in!the!language!of!Arabic!some!1,400!years!ago!
in!the!deserts!of!Arabia.!Science!cannot!rule!out!that!the!God!might!
choose!to!reveal!herself!to!humans!through!certain!privileged!
revelations,!but!science!can!put!some!parameters!on!the!
!
!
243!
plausibility!of!different!readings!of!those!traditions.!In!other!words,!
certain!readings!of!the!first!chapters!of!Genesis!or!the!Qur’an!are!
just!wrong,!not!that!the!Bible!or!the!Qur’an!are!stupidfar!from!it.!
God,!as!often!understood!by!traditional!religions,!seems!rather!
small!and!parochial!in!view!of!what!we!now!understand!to!be!a!
fantastically!large!universe,!but!the!concept!of!God!is!no!less!robust!
in!light!of!contemporary!science.!There!is!a!secular!logic!to!
religious!exclusivism,!as!there!is!to!human!languages,!which!has!to!
do!with!the!dynamics!of!being!human,!even!if!it!makes!no!sense!for!
our!bottom-up!theology!of!nature.!The!logic!of!group!selection!in!
evolutionary!psychology,!the!economics!of!irreversible!choices,!and!
the!perennial!psychological!need!for!certainty!in!the!face!of!
cognitive!dissonance!mitigate!against!a!truly!universalist!
reinterpretation!and!reinvention!of!our!received!religious!
traditions.!We!will!come!back!to!this!exclusivist-universalist!
challenge!in!the!next!chapter.!
Just!because!nature!turns!out!to!be!super,!fantastically!super,!
does!not!mean!that!it!is!“supernatural.”!And!while!much!of!science!
is!also!fantastically!strange,!this!does!not!mean!that!every!strange!
belief!and!practice!humans!have!or!have!had!is!therefore!true.!Just!
because!quantum!mechanics!is!weird!does!not!mean!that!every!
weird!idea!that!people!come!up!with!is!true,!even!if!it!is!dressed!up!
with!the!patina!of!quantum!mechanics.!Just!because!there!is!
ontological!emergence!of!novelty!in!the!evolution!of!the!universe!
does!not!mean!every!novel!notion!that!people!invent!is!true.!!
The!concept!of!emergence!creates!a!possibility!space!for!a!lot!
of!strange!beliefs!and!practicesthe!i-Ching,!the!Bible-code,!Reiki,!
the!Book!of!Revelations,!astrology,!parapsychologybut!it!does!
not!mean!that!any!of!this!stuff!is,!in!fact,!true.!Should!these!
paranormal!processes!actually!exist,!science!will!not!be!of!much!
use!in!verifying!“unnatural”!emergent!phenomena.!Strictly!
speaking,!miracles!are!possible!within!the!metaphysical!system!
that!we!are!exploring!here,!but!why!postulate!“miracles”!unless!
they!are!based!on!one’s!own!lived!experiences?!If!one!has!a!
profound!personal!experience!of!a!miraculous!or!mystical!nature,!
one!should!not!necessarily!discredit!these.!And!while!emergent!
“unnatural”!or!“paranormal”!phenomena!may!be!possible!in!this!
framework,!it!is!also!important!to!recognize!that!certain!
interpretations!of!religion!can!also!be!falsified,!as!in!the!example!of!
!
!
244!
Young!Earth!Creationists!promoting!an!alternative!natural!history!
of!the!planet!based!on!uninformed!biblical!literalism!and!no!
serious!understanding!of!science.!Remember!the!scriptures!are!not!
true;!they!are!profound.!
In!the!same!vein,!we!should!not!read!popular-science!writers!
as!offering!the!necessary!and!correct!interpretation!of!science.!
There!is!a!difference!between!the!content!and!interpretation!of!
science,!just!as!there!is!a!difference!between!a!sacred!text!and!the!
interpretation!of!the!sacred!text.!The!dominant!culture!of!science!
today!reads!the!content!of!science!with!Stoic!and!Existentialist!
biases,!what!is!called!scientism.!This!is!not!a!necessary!
interpretation,!though!like!all!fundamentalisms,!scientism!seeks!to!
present!its!interpretation!as!the!“one-true-story.”!
Let!me!give!two!examples!of!antireligious!biases!in!the!
interpretation!of!contemporary!science—multiverse!theory!and!
Darwinian!evolution.!
!
Which#Universe#Do#You#Live#In?#
!
The!success!of!modern!cosmology!in!understanding!the!
history!and!structure!of!the!universe!has!led!to!a!profound!crisis!in!
the!field,!which!has!a!curious!religious!subtext.!The!topography!of!
the!universe!discovered!by!astronomers,!physicists,!and!
cosmologists!is!extraordinary.!Our!sun,!at!a!distance!of!93!million!
miles,!is!but!a!small!star!in!a!vast!galaxy!of!some!100!billion!stars.!
This!galaxy!is!but!one!of!100!billion!other!galaxies!stretching!back!
some!13!billion!years!at!the!speed!of!light!into!an!infinitely!dense!
and!infinitely!hot!originating!mystery.!It!was!not!until!1922!that!
the!astronomer!Edwin!Hubble!(18891954)!discovered!galaxies!
and!we!began!to!understand!the!large-scale!structure!of!the!
universe.!!
One!thing!this!new!cosmology!teaches!us!is!that!whatever!
humans!in!the!past!believed!about!God!is!way!too!small.
287
!Most!
cosmologists,!astronomers,!and!physicists,!however,!are!not!
interested!in!doing!God-talk;!but!those!of!us!who!do!talk-the-talk!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
287
Hindu cosmologies are the only ones in traditional religion that approach the scale of our
contemporary understanding of the universe, albeit framed in unbelievable characters and
details that have nothing to do with science.
!
!
245!
should!certainly!be!paying!attention!to!the!current!cosmos!
conversation.!
The!situation!is!such.!Imagine!that!you!walk!into!a!classroom!
and!notice!that!there!is!a!pencil!standing!on!its!point!on!the!table.!
In!all!those!years!in!elementary!school,!no!matter!how!hard!you!
tried,!you!could!not!make!a!pencil!stand!up!on!its!point.!But!here,!
one!day!in!graduate!school,!you!walk!into!an!empty!classroom,!and!
there!is!this!pencil!standing!on!its!point.!So,!you!call!in!the!physics!
department!to!help!study!this!strange!occurrence.!!
One!possibility!is!that!there!is!some!strange,!invisible!force!
that!causes!this!pencil!to!stand!on!its!point.!Gravity!aside,!
physicists!are!averse!to!postulating!strange,!invisible!forces,!so!
perhaps!this!strange!pencil!is!just!a!weird,!fluky!event,!however!
improbable.!Physicists,!however,!do!not!tend!to!go!for!weird,!fluky!
improbabilities.!
Such!is!the!case!in!contemporary!cosmology!in!what!is!
referred!to!as!“the!fine-tuning!problem.”!There!are!a!dozen!such!
fine-tuning!issues!that!confound!cosmologists.!The!expansion!rate!
of!the!universe,!the!ratio!of!matter!to!antimatter!in!the!early!
universe,!the!specific!values!of!the!weak!and!strong!nuclear!forces,!
the!mass!ratios!between!electrons,!protons,!and!neutronsthe!list!
goes!on.!If!any!of!these!variables!was!ever!so!slightly!different,!then!
none!of!the!complexity!we!see!around!or!inside!us!would!be!
possible.!In!other!words,!life!and!consciousness!could!not!have!
evolved.!Where!biologists!see!random!drift!and!natural!selection!in!
the!messy!story!of!life,!physicists!see!elegant!improbabilities!in!the!
ordered!and!intelligible!nature!of!the!cosmos.!
Some!extend!the!weird!role!of!the!observer!in!fixing!the!
uncertainty!in!quantum!events!to!apply!to!the!universe!as!a!whole.!
Perhaps!the!universe!as!a!whole!is!a!kind!of!quantum!event!that!
requires!an!observer!with!something!like!human!consciousness!to!
observe!it.!“The!more!I!examine!the!universe!and!study!the!details!
of!its!architecture,”!writes!the!physicist!Freeman!Dyson,!“the!more!
evidence!I!find!that!the!universe!in!some!sense!must!have!known!
we!were!coming.”
288
!This!interpretation!is!referred!to!as!the!
anthropic!principle.!It!comes!in!weak!and!strong!flavors.!This!
interpretation!implies!a!kind!of!future!necessity!of!our!just-so!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
288
Freeman Dyson, Disturbing the Universe (New York: Basic Books, 1979), 250.
!
!
246!
universe,!such!that!present-day!consciousness!determines!past!
actualities.!Physicists,!however,!are!also!averse!to!invisible!
necessities!in!which!future!possibilities!determine!past!realities.!
At!this!point,!the!normal!graduate!student!trying!to!figure!out!
why!the!pencil!is!standing!on!its!point!would!probably!be!happy!to!
reconsider!the!possibility!of!an!invisible!force.!Our!physicists!and!
cosmologists!are!very!clever!with!mathematics,!which!allows!them!
not!only!to!discover!realities!but!also!to!imagine!possibilities!that!
may!not!be!real!at!all.!Such!is!the!case!with!multiverse!theory!and!
its!cousin!string-theory,!the!big!new!fads!in!contemporary!
cosmology.!The!theory!goes!something!like!this:!we!just!happen!to!
live!in!a!universe!in!which!the!pencil!stands!on!a!point.!There!are!
an!infinite!number!of!parallel!universes,!in!which!the!pencil!
realizes!every!other!potential!state!by!falling!down.!While!there!are!
sophisticated!mathematical!models!that!might!predict!the!
existence!of!multiple!universes,!as!there!have!long!been!for!
multiple!dimensions,!it!is!not!clear!that!we!could!ever!have!
empirical!knowledge!of!these!other!universes,!if!they!really!exist.!
As!the!physicist!Paul!Davies!has!observed,!in!both!cases,!theism!or!
multiverse!theory,!we!are!compelled!to!postulate!an!infinite!
something!unseen!to!account!for!a!finite!something!that!is!seen.
289
!
Multiverse!theory!has!standing!within!the!community!of!
cosmologists;!theism!has!no!standing.!
Far!be!it!for!me,!uninitiated!and!dimly!lit,!to!weigh!in!on!these!
complex!cosmological!considerations.!I!do!not!understand!the!math!
or!the!physics.!“Since!our!theories!are!so!far!ahead!of!experimental!
capabilities,!we!are!forced!to!use!mathematics!as!our!eyes,”!notes!
Brian!Greene,!a!Columbia!University!cosmologist!and!author!of!a!
popular!text,!The.Elegant.Universe.!“That’s!why!we!follow!it!
[mathematics]!where!it!takes!us!even!if!we!can’t!see!where!we’re!
going.”
290
!!
In!the!past,!mathematics!has!brought!us!to!many!stunning!new!
insights!about!the!universe.!There!may!be!compelling!reasons!to!
suppose!that!our!universe!really!is!one!piece!of!a!vast!multiverse,!in!
which!case!the!theists!will!need!to!revise!the!scale!of!God’s!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
289
Paul C. W. Davies, “Science and Religion in the 21st Century,”
http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/2592/Default.aspx.
290
As quoted by Dennis Overbye, “Pure Math, Pure Joy,” New York Times, June 29, 2003,
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/weekinreview/29OVER.html.
!
!
247!
exuberant!creativity!that!much!more.!On!the!other!hand,!
multiverse!theory!may!be!the!twenty-first-century!equivalent!of!
counting!how!many!angels!will!fit!on!the!head!of!a!pin.!In!the!latter!
case,!all!these!sophisticated!mathematical!contortions!are!merely!a!
way!of!avoiding!postulating!an!invisible,!intelligent,!and!conscious!
force!underlying!the!fine-tuned!structures!of!the!universe.!This!is!
the!antireligious!subtext!to!multiverse!theory.!!
!
What#Is#with#Evolution?#
!
Charles!Darwin!(18091882)!did!not!invent!the!idea!of!
evolution.!Scientists!and!philosophers!had!been!interested!in!
evolutionary!theories!for!some!time!before!Darwin!arrived!on!the!
scene.!And!yet!for!some!reason!in!the!contemporary!scientific!and!
public!debates!about!the!meaning!of!evolution,!we!have!collapsed!
the!distinction!between!evolution,!an!observed!pattern!in!natural!
history,!and!Darwinism,!a!theory!for!how!that!pattern!occurs.
291
!
There!is!an!important!religious!subtext!in!the!obfuscation!of!this!
distinction.!
The!evidence!in!favor!of!evolution!of!different!species!from!
common!ancestors!over!deep!time!has!grown!dramatically!in!the!
last!century.!We!must!affirm!with!Theodosius!Dobzhansky!that!
“[n]othing!in!biology!makes!sense!except!in!the!light!of!
evolution.”
292
!The!overwhelming!evidence!for!evolution,!however,!
does!not!then!imply!that!Darwin’s!theory!of!natural!selection!is!
necessarily!an!adequate!account!of!how!that!process!actually!
occurs.!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
291
The pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus (ca. 535475 B.C.E.) famously proposed an early
vision of a universe characterized by transformation and change. Certainly, Buddhism, arising
in a different place around the same time, also promoted a concept of endless change as the
fundamental characteristic of reality. In the modern Europe, we encounter the French
philosopher Denis Diderot (17131784) speculating about evolution in a 1769 book. The
French biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck (17441829) proposed a theory of evolution prior to
Darwin’s theory of natural selection in the first decade of the nineteenth century. In 1803,
Erasmus Darwin, Charles’s grandfather, invoked evolutionary concepts in his book The Temple
of Nature. Erasmus appeals to his Muse to tell him “how rose from elemental strife / Organic
forms, and kindled into life.” The Muse responds with an evolutionary story of how “imperious
man, who rules the bestial crowd, / . . . Arose from rudiments of form and sense.” Richard
Lewontin, “Why Darwin?” New York Review of Books 56, no. 9 (2009).
292
Theodosius Dobzhansky, “Biology, Molecular and Organismic,” American Zoology 4 (1964):
443.
!
!
248!
The!logic!on!natural!selection!is!simple!and!compelling.
293
!
Darwin’s!“long!argument”!consists!of!a!few!simple!premises.!First,!
there!are!among!offspring!not!only!similar!hereditary!
characteristics!resulting!from!having!the!same!parents,!but!there!
are!also!variations!among!offspring!from!the!same!parents.!Second,!
every!species!exhibits!an!exponential!ratio!of!increase!resulting!
from!the!number!of!offspring!it!is!able!to!produce.!Third,!this!
exponential!rate!of!increase!results!in!a!universal!struggle!for!
survival!as!individual!members!of!a!species!compete!for!food,!
water,!habitat,!and!mates.!Fourth,!those!variations!among!offspring!
that!increase!the!likelihood!of!survival!and!reproduction!for!
individual!members!of!a!species!will!tend!to!persist!over!time,!
while!those!variations!that!do!not!increase!the!likelihood!of!
survival!and!reproduction!will!tend!to!die!off.!Fifth,!the!
accumulation!of!all!these!incremental!“selections”!over!long!
periods!of!time,!involving!also!changes!in!the!environment!and!
geographic!isolation,!will!result!in!the!transmutation!of!one!species!
into!others,!hence!the!title!of!Darwin’s!revolutionary!book!The.
Origin.of.Species.!Today,!we!add!the!insights!from!population!
genetics!in!what!is!called!the!Neo-Darwinian!synthesis.!The!
catechism!of!natural!selection!is!random!drift,!universal!
competition,!differential!survival,!differential!reproduction,!all!
leading!to!the!transmutation!of!species!into!new!species,!which!
processes!are!accentuated!by!changing!environments!and!
geographical!isolation!of!breeding!populations!over!long!periods!of!
time.!!
Darwin’s!argument!is!seductively!simple,!so!much!so!that!even!
philosophers!and!lay!readers!can!understand!the!logic.!As!Alfred!
North!Whitehead!warned,!however,!“[t]he!guiding!motto!in!the!life!
of!every!natural!philosopher!should!be:!seek!simplicityand!
distrust!it.”
294
!Real!biology!is!hugely!complicated!and!context-
specific,!as!any!contemporary!undergraduate!biology!textbook!
reveals.!The!simple!theory!becomes!a!stand-in!for!having!to!learn!
about!the!incredibly!complicated!fields!of!biochemistry,!genetics,!
proteomics,!epigenesis,!ecology,!and!so!forth.!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
293
See, for instance, Daniel C. Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of
Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995).
294
A. N. Whitehead, The Concept of Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1926), 163.
!
!
249!
To!reduce!evolution!to!random!drift,!competition,!survival,!and!
reproduction!is!inadequate!in!light!of!new!insights!arising!from!
developmental!biology,!ecology,!multilevel!selection!theory,!
complexity!theory,!symbiosis,!and!many!other!areas.!Evolution,!as!
in!common!descent!with!modification,!has!never!been!more!true;!
but!how!evolution!occurs!is!now!open!to!serious!scientific!debate.!
The!typical!account!of!evolution!offered!in!popular!literature!is!
inadequate!and!misleading.
295
!When!these!categoriesrandom!
drift,!competition,!survival,!and!reproductionare!then!translated!
into!interpreting!the!human!person,!as!is!done!by!evolutionary!
psychology,!we!are!at!risk!of!getting!things!very!confused.!!
This!new!integrated!developmental!perspective!on!evolution,!
sometimes!referred!to!as!evo-devo!or!developmental-systems!
theory,!plays!havoc!with!simple!Darwinism.
296
!The!natural!
selectionist!algorithm!breaks!down!into!thousands!of!feedback!
loops!and!contextual!variables.!Complexity!and!chaos!now!replace!
survival!and!reproduction!as!the!driving!force!in!the!evolution!of!
life!and,!by!extension,!all!the!more!so!in!the!evolution!of!human!
culture,!including!that!dimension!of!culture!that!we!label!religion.!
Any!simple!theory!of!evolution!has!imploded.!We!should!be!all!that!
much!more!skeptical!of!simplistic!attempts!to!understand!religion!
and!other!cultural!phenomena!in!the!framework!of!survival!and!
reproduction,!as!we!explored!in!chapter!4.!Applying!Darwinian!
categories!to!the!study!of!religion!may!just!be!a!huge!category!
mistake,!like!trying!to!measure!the!success!of!computer!science!and!
the!computer!industry!by!studying!the!reproductive!success!of!
computer!programmers.!!
Particularly!pernicious!in!Darwinism!is!the!use!of!the!terms!
“random”!or!“chance.”!Darwin!himself!talks!about!“variations,”!not!
“random!chance.”!Evolution!is!a!historical!science.!We!have!only!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
295
See a standard introductory biology textbook, for instance, William K. Purves et al., Life: The
Science of Biology (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 1998). For discussions of the
inadequacies of natural selection as explanation, see David Depew and Bruce Weber,
Darwinism Evolving: Systems Dynamics and the Genealogy of Natural Selection (Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 1996); Robert Wesson, Beyond Natural Selection (Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1991); Simon Conway Morris, Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003); Ian Stewart, Life’s Other Secret: The New
Mathematics of the Living World (New York: Wiley & Sons, 1998). See especially Gilbert and
Epel, Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics, Medicine, and Evolution.
296
For a discussion of the philosophical implications of developmental systems theory, see the
coda in Gilbert and Epel, Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics,
Medicine, and Evolution.
!
!
250!
one!case!study!of!the!macroevolution!of!life!on!the!planet.!We!
cannot!run!history!through!multiple!iterations!as!in!a!laboratory!
science.!We!simply!cannot!tell!whether!what!we!observe!in!the!
macrohistorical!record!is!“chance”!or!in!some!sense!“necessity.”
297
!
The!same!dilemma!should!also!inform!our!interpretations!of!the!
fine-tuning!problem!in!cosmology,!which!we!discussed!in!the!
previous!section.!Distinguishing!between!random!and!necessary!
events!requires!the!possibility!of!multiple!iterations,!like!flipping!a!
coin.!We!cannot!do!that!with!historical!events!locked!in!the!past,!
hence!the!important!distinction!between!laboratory!and!historical!
sciences,!which!necessarily!have!different!criteria!for!evidence!and!
validation.!What!we!have!access!to!is!an!observed!pattern!in!
evolutionary!history,!and!we!need!to!distinguish!this!actual!history!
from!the!question!of!how!this!occurs.!
The!religious!subtext!to!Darwinism!plays!out!on!both!sides!of!
the!“chance”!and!“necessity”!divide.!In!emphasizing!chance,!there!is!
an!implied!rejection!of!natural!theology!in!which!one!argues!from!
“design!in!nature”!to!the!concept!of!a!“Designer.”!Many!thoughtful!
religious!interpreters,!however,!embrace!this!notion!of!
randomness!because!it!provides!a!way!to!introduce!free!will,!both!
human!and!divine,!into!the!evolutionary!epic.!A!“necessary”!
evolution!is!more!conducive!to!deterministic!philosophies!of!
science.!A!necessary!evolution!is!also!more!conducive!to!
deterministic!theologies,!for!instance,!in!the!Calvinist!concept!of!
predestination,!in!which!God!is!seen!as!an!all-knowing!and!all-
powerful!dictator!in!the!sky.!
Note!that!one!cannot!simply!dispense!with!the!theology!of!
nature!with!a!wave!of!the!hand!or!an!invocation!of!David!Hume.!
Whether!for!or!against!some!concept!of!God-by-whatever-name,!
both!atheists!and!believers!are!making!inference!judgments!based!
on!science,!nature,!and!lived!experiences!about!the!existence!and!
nature!of!a!creator,!sustainer,!and!redeemer!God.!Inductive!
generalizations!are!always!tricky!when!contrasted!with!deductive!
logical!processes.!The!interpretation!of!the!whole!of!science!is!an!
inductive!process,!which!science!qua!science!is!not!qualified!to!do.!
Similarly,!the!problem!of!evil!is!often!used!as!evidence!against!
the!existence!of!God.!Of!course,!this!problem!of!evil!existed!long!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
297
Jacques Monod, Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern
Biology, trans. Austryn Wainhouse (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971).
!
!
251!
before!evolutionary!theory!and!modern!science.!The!theodicy!
argument!against!the!existence!or!goodness!of!God!has!been!with!
us!since!the!beginning!of!human!wonderment.!The!existence!of!
natural!and!human!evil,!much!like!the!question!of!chance!or!
necessity!in!evolution,!can!be!interpreted!in!divergent!religious!and!
antireligious!ways.!!
The!sciences!of!evolution!challenge!the!plausibility!of!certain!
interpretations!of!traditional!cosmologies,!true,!but!in!no!way!
challenge!the!judgment!of!whether!God-by-whatever-name!exists.!
Evolution!and!the!interpretation!thereof!do!have!implications!for!
how!we!understand!the!nature!of!a!creator,!sustainer,!and!
redeemer!God,!should!one!posit!the!existence!of!such!a!God-by-
whatever-name!for!whatever!reasons.!This!will!be!the!topic!of!the!
next!chapter.!
The!evolution!of!the!cosmos,!life,!and!humans!is!not!just!any!
old!story;!it!is!a!privileged!narrative.!This!epic!of!evolution!can!be!
interpreted!in!many!different!ways,!but!it!trumps!earlier!
cosmologies!of!ancient!religions.!Literal!readings!of!ancient!
religious!cosmologies!are!a!great!embarrassment!to!religions!and!
actually!undermine!the!intellectual!integrity!of!religious!
movements!that!are!seduced!to!follow!this!unfortunate!strategy.!
Mythological!interpretations!of!ancient!religious!cosmologies,!on!
the!other!hand,!often!turn!out!to!be!profoundly!true!to!life.!
!
A#Privileged#Narrative#
!
In!the!previous!chapter,!we!considered!the!narrative!structure!
of!different!religions!and!ideologies.!We!engaged!in!an!elaborate!
philosophical!reflection!on!the!hermeneutics!of!different!
worldviews!and!world!doings.!These!metanarratives!structure!the!
way!people!think!and!even!what!they!consider!to!be!the!relevant!
evidence.!We!were!confronted!with!the!spectra!of!postmodern!
relativism!in!which!ideological!and!religious!disagreements!could!
only!be!solved!by!a!will!to!power.!I!developed!a!hermeneutical!
approach!to!adjudicating!between!these!different!worldviews!by!
intentionally!adopting!multiple!perspectives,!including!scientific!
perspectives,!in!what!I!called!intellectual!nonviolence.!!
In!trying!to!weave!together!the!many!entangled!narratives,!
inhabiting!as!many!different!perspectives!and!truths!as!possible!
!
!
252!
with!our!limited!intellect!and!lifespan,!it!is!important!to!realize!that!
we!have!now!a!loom!on!which!to!weave!the!many!pieces!of!truth!
and!goodness!that!we!discover!along!the!way,!including!the!
scientific!truths.!That!loom!is!the!history!of!our!species!over!the!
last!million-plus!years,!the!evolution!of!life!and!our!planet!over!the!
last!4!billion!years,!and!the!evolution!of!the!universe!over!some!13!
billion!years.!This!is!the!story!that!science!has!discovered!over!the!
last!few!decades,!though!it!really!represents!the!achievement!of!all!
humanity!over!the!millennia.!The!German!physicist!Carl!Friedrich!
von!Weizsäcker!(19122007)!considered!this!“history!of!nature”!to!
be!“the!most!important!discovery!of!modern!science.”
298
!
Few!of!us!have!explored!what!it!would!mean!to!integrate!this!
new!story!of!the!universe!into!our!own!special!metanarratives!and!
received!traditions.!One!of!the!greatest!challenges!today!is!to!
integrate!this!new,!remarkable,!and!evolving!scientific!story!of!the!
cosmos,!society,!and!self!into!our!diverse,!traditional!narratives.!
Science!turns!out!not!to!be!a!privileged!epistemology!but!rather!a!
privileged!narrative.!Some!call!it!“Big!History;”!others!call!it!“the!
Epic!of!Evolution”!or!“the!History!of!Nature.”!I!prefer!to!call!it!“Our!
Common!Story”!because!it!includes!all!humanity,!all!plants!and!
animals,!the!solar!system,!and!the!galaxies.
299
!!
The!grand!scientific!metanarrative!is!quite!new!and!still!
evolving,!so!much!so!that!we!do!not!really!have!an!adequate!
interpretative!tradition!surrounding!it.!In!brief!outline,!this!
omnicentric!universe!began!some!13!billion!years!ago!as!
something!approaching!infinite!heat,!infinite!density,!and!total!
symmetry.!The!universe!expanded!and!evolved!into!more!
differentiated!and!complex!structuresforces,!quarks,!hydrogen,!
helium,!galaxies,!stars,!heavier!elements,!complex!chemistry,!
planetary!systems.!Some!3.5!billion!years!ago,!in!a!small!second-!or!
third-generation!solar!system,!the!intricate!processes!called!life!
began!on!at!least!one!small!planet.!Animate!matter-energy!on!Earth!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
298
Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, Die Geschichte Der Natur (Frankfurt: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1962), cited in the foreword to Bernd-Olaf Küppers, Der Ursprung biologischer
Information (Munich: R. Piper and Co., 1986); Küppers Information and the Origin of Life,
trans. Paul Wooley (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990), xi.
299
Christian, Maps of Time; Cynthia Stokes Brown, Big History : From the Big Bang to the
Present (New York: New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2007); Chaisson, Epic of
Evolution; McNeill and McNeill, The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History (New
York: W.W. Norton, 2003); Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything; Primack and
Abrams, The View from the Center of the Universe; Berry and Swimme, The Universe Story.
!
!
253!
presented!itself!as!a!marvelous!new!intensification!of!the!creative!
dynamic!at!work!in!the!universe.!Then,!some!2!million!years!ago,!as!
if!yesterday!in!the!enormous!time!scales!of!the!universe,!
protohumans!emerged!on!the!savanna!of!Africa!with!their!
enormously!heightened!capacities!for!conscious!self-reflection,!
language,!and!tool!making.!And!this!unfolding!leads!us!all!the!way!
to!today,!to!this!collection!of!atoms!reading!this!particular!book,!all!
of!us!recycled!stardust-become-conscious-beings,!engaged!in!this!
global!conversation!about!our!entangled!and!competing!
worldviews,!brought!to!use!by!ephemeral!electrons!and!photons!
cascading!through!the!Internet!and!bouncing!off!satellites.!How!
then!do!we!interpret!this!new!story!of!creation!and!evolution?!
!
Interpreting#Science#
!
To!our!earlier!definition!of!science,!we!can!now!add!two!more!
points.!Science!is!(8)!a!cumulatively!related!body!of!knowledge!(9)!
that!can!be!organized!hierarchically!by!chronology!of!emergence,!
scales!of!size,!and!degrees!of!complexity.!The!unity!of!science!turns!
out!not!to!be!a!privileged!epistemology!but!rather!a!privileged!
metanarrative.!Science!qua!science,!however,!does!not!authorize!
any!particular!grand!synthetic!interpretation!of!this!new!book!of!
nature.!The!metanarrative!is!open!to!multiple!interpretations,!
including!robust!theistic!interpretations,!which!we!will!soon!
explore.!Here!I!am!drawing!a!distinction!between!the!content!of!
science!and!the!interpretation!of!science,!though!the!distinction!
will!be!more!like!a!membrane!than!a!hermetic!boundary.!There!are!
stories!about!science!and!then!there!is!science,!which!is!more!than!
mere!story.!
Contestations!about!science!are!very!much!part!of!our!
entangled!world!of!competing!religious!and!ideological!stories,!as!
witnessed!by!antievolution!debates!among!Christians!and!Muslims!
and!various!ethnosciences!proposed!in!postcolonial!societies.!
Unless!we!better!police!the!boundaries!between!science!and!the!
interpretations!of!science,!we!are!bound!to!get!self-defeating!
confusion.!The!new!metanarrative!of!science!is!not!open!to!debate.!
Some!version!of!deep!time!and!evolution!is!here!to!stay.!It!is!a!
metanarrative!in!which!all!our!separate!stories!must!necessarily!
!
!
254!
find!their!home!and!their!partial!validity.!The!metanarrative!of!
science,!however,!is!open!to!multiple!interpretations.!!
We!recall!Hayden!White’s!modes!of!emplotment—romantic,!
tragic,!comic,!and!ironic.!The!new!universe!story!is!a!
historiography!that!includes!many!tragedies,!too!immense!even!to!
comprehend;!but!it!is!also!a!story!of!cosmic!and!comic!
improbabilities!resulting!in!many!fortuitous!new!possibilities.!It!is!
a!story!with!irony,!for!instance,!foisted!upon!us!by!our!biology!and!
our!brains,!ironic!also!because!none!of!the!scientists!involved!in!
piecing!this!puzzle!together!really!understood!that!the!
collaborative!results!would!be!a!fantastic!and!evolving!creation!
story!of!stunning!complexity!and!grandeur.!Finally,!it!is!a!story!
with!a!great!deal!of!romantic!appeal!for!all!its!majesty!and!beauty.!
Science!has!done!the!work!of!continuing!revelation!in!the!twentieth!
century.!
This!new!story!of!the!universe!necessarily!includes!humans,!
contrary!to!the!abstractions!of!the!scientists.!All!our!subjective!
experiences!are!part!of!this!new!objective!story!of!the!cosmos.!
Indeed,!subjective!experience!is!the!most!fundamental!way!in!
which!we!relate!to!each!other!and!the!universe.!It!is!a!story!in!
which!all!the!different!narratives!told!by!humans!around!the!world!
have!their!place!within!the!unfolding!plot,!all!within!their!
appropriate!context.!!
Some!say!that!the!story!of!the!universe!and!humans!within!it!is!
meaningless,!employing!an!ironic!trope.!The!emplotment!of!this!
new!universe!story,!however,!is!a!free!choice,!first!because!the!data!
can!be!read!in!multiple!ways!and!second!because!the!story!itself!
has!not!ended.!The!emplotment!can!be!Jewish,!Christian,!Muslim,!
Hindu,!Buddhist,!secular,!and!so!on.!That!is!a!free!choice!of!the!
interpreter,!though!the!skill!of!the!synthesizer!and!storyteller!will!
need!to!be!convincing!and!accurate!to!the!science.!Remember!
Ricoeur’s!warning!in!the!last!chapter:!even!though!we!have!the!
same!text,!not!all!interpretations!are!plausible,!not!all!
interpretations!equal.!Today,!we!have!a!new,!evolving!book!of!
nature,!and!the!reading!and!interpretation!of!that!common!text!are!
perhaps!the!greatest!challenges!that!humans!have!ever!faced.!How!
we!interpret!the!new!book!of!nature!will!largely!determine!how!we!
reinvent!nature!and!ourselves!in!what!scientists!are!now!calling!
the!Anthropocene,!a!new!era!in!the!evolution!of!the!planet!in!which!
!
!
255!
human!desires!and!activities!come!to!dominate!the!biosphere.!
Humans!turn!out!to!be!a!Lamarckian!wildcard!in!the!epic!of!
evolution.!Metaphysics!turns!out!to!be!politics!by!other!means.!
In!the!end,!our!entangled!religious!and!ideological!narratives!must!
somehow!incorporate!and!answer!to!the!unfolding!discoveries!of!
the!scientific,!evolutionary!cosmology.!Triumph!or!tragedy,!it!is!
certainly!an!epic!story,!an!epic!of!evolution.!Hayden!White!
neglected!to!include!epic!as!a!possible!trope,!assuming!that!the!
category!is!subsumed!by!one!of!the!other!four!tropes,!but!this!need!
not!be!so.!An!epic!need!only!be!a!story!that!never!ends,!that!has!
many!twists!and!turns,!but!just!goes!on!and!on.!!
Every!time!we!use!a!cell!phone,!pump!200-million-year-old!
rainforests!into!the!gas!tanks!of!our!cars,!travel!across!the!
continents!in!an!airplane,!or!log!on!to!the!Internet,!we!affirm!the!
reality!of!this!new!scientific,!evolutionary!cosmology!in!deed,!if!not!
in!thought!or!understanding.!With!this!common!cosmology!as!a!
basis,!a!hermeneutical!foundation!that!also!happens!to!be!
progressively!true,!our!global!civilization!would!be!much!better!
situated!to!solve!the!great!religious!and!ideological!debates!and!
practical!challenges!of!our!time.!Of!course,!we!would!not!all!have!
the!same!interpretations!of!this!evolutionary!cosmology,!but!we!
would!have!a!common!conversation!and!a!better!possibility!for!a!
future!“fusion!of!horizons.”!!
This!story!of!the!universe!and!all!our!separate!metanarratives!
within!it!are!woven!together!on!a!cosmic!loom,!each!of!us!a!thread!
in!a!greater!tapestry!of!unfolding!truth.!If!we!listen!carefully!to!
each!other!and!to!nature,!adopting!a!hermeneutics!of!intellectual!
nonviolence,!then!our!common!future!may!also!be!a!self-
transcending!process!leading!to!greater!truth,!beauty,!and!
goodness.!!
This,!then,!is!the!new!religion!of!science.!It!is!a!commitment!to!
general!scientific!literacy,!the!unity!of!knowledge,!and!an!open-
ended!and!rigorous!dialogue!about!plausible!and!probable!
interpretations!of!science!in!conversation!with!the!received!and!
evolved!wisdom!traditions!of!humanity.!
We!have!defined!science!as!(1)!different!methods!for!detecting!
patterned!phenomena!and!explaining!causal!relationships,!(2)!
applied!by!communities!of!specialists!(3)!in!rigorous!“dialogue”!
with!phenomena,!(4)!always!implicated!in!lived!historical!contexts!
!
!
256!
and!limitations,!(5)!resulting!in!a!self-correcting,!self-transcending,!
and!progressive!learning!process!that!(6)!makes!strongly!objective!
truth!claims,!(7)!which!facts!are!pragmatically!verified!in!practical!
applications!(8)!and!cumulatively!related!in!a!unified!body!of!
knowledge!(9)!that!can!be!organized!hierarchically!by!chronology!
of!emergence,!scales!of!size,!and!degrees!of!complexity.!This!
definition!of!science!embraces!pragmatic!operationalism,!social!
constructionism,!and!critical!realism,!in!part!by!granting!the!
phenomena!an!active!role!in!the!intersubjective!communities!of!
science.!The!latter!I!have!called!“symbolic!realism”!in!a!
phenomenal!universe!that!we!understand!to!be!“linguistic”!in!
nature!and!imbued!with!“intelligibility/intelligence,”!as!the!
precondition!of!any!science.!I!draw!a!distinction!between!the!
content!of!science!and!the!interpretation!of!science.!In!the!next!
chapter,!I!will!offer!a!religious!interpretation!of!science.!
!
Article
En el último tercio del siglo XIX, el pensamiento teológico protestante fue puesto en entredicho, en especial en el carácter sobrenatural de la fe. Los principales desafíos se originaron en los nuevos desarrollos científicos, la filología, los cuestionamientos de la "alta crítica", los estudios de las religiones comparadas y los cambios que planteaban la urbanización y el industrialismo emergente. En ese marco, la teología revelada ofreció confianza y seguridad en medio de las grandes transformaciones. A fines de siglo XIX, el sobrenaturalismo continuaba brindando sus explicaciones y su fe en el futuro, pero sin embargo las nuevas perspectivas habían desafiado de manera irreductible y definitiva los límites de la teología. En este artículo intentaremos precisar dichos desafíos y las respuestas operadas en el contexto norteamericano debido al peso que las posiciones asumidas tuvieron en los desarrollos del movimiento misionero y el protestantismo latinoamericano.
Article
Every year millions of people flock to complementary and alternative therapists offering a vast array of treatments ranging from acupuncture to biofeedback to urine injections. Millions more purchase over-the-counter alternative medications, such as glucosamine, herbs, and homeopathic remedies. While consumer motivations for turning to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) vary, there is one common element among them all: a belief in their effectiveness. This belief appears to be prevalent among all elements of society, from scientists and physicians to celebrities such as Prince Charles and Oprah Winfrey to clerical workers and senior citizens. Do these therapies actually work? And if they work, how do they work? This book is about the science of complementary and alternative medicine, about how that science is conducted, how it is evaluated, and how it is synthesised to arrive at a conclusion about whether CAM therapies work. It is also about the phenomenon of the placebo effect, and the extent to which it is at play in a given CAM therapy’s efficacy. Are CAM therapies in fact nothing more than creatively packaged placebos? In exploring this question, Barker Bausell provides an authoritative and engaging look at the nature of scientific evidence and at the logical, psychological, and physiological impediments that can confound such evidence in the world of CAM research. Ultimately, the book is not so much opposed to CAM as to the shoddy science upon which CAM claims are based, and in fact it closes with a chapter about how one might maximise the placebo effect that Bausell asserts is the main ‘ingredient’ of most CAM therapies. This book is a learned, witty examination not just of the scientific process as it is applied to CAM but also of the wonders of the human mind/body system.
Book
The topic of this book is 'creation'. It breaks down into discussions of two distinct, but interrelated, questions: what does the universe look like, and what is its origin? The opinions about creation considered by Norbert Samuelson come from the Hebrew scriptures, Greek philosophy, Jewish philosophy and contemporary physics. His perspective is Jewish, liberal and philosophical. It is 'Jewish' because the foundation of the discussion is biblical texts interpreted in the light of traditional rabbinic texts. It is 'philosophical' because the subject matter is important in both past and present philosophical texts, and to Jewish philosophy in particular. Finally, it is 'liberal' because the authorities consulted include heterodox as well as orthodox Jewish sources. The ensuing discussion leads to original conclusions about a diversity of topics, including the limits of human reason and religious faith, and the relevance of scientific models to religious doctrine.