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Themes & Resources

On this page you will find supplemental bibliographies, web links, and other resources for deepening your study of the themes we study each week in this seminar.

Contents

Science and Theology in the Seventeenth Century
Science and Theology in the Eighteenth Century
Science and Theology in the Nineteenth Century

Method in Science and Religion: Similarities and Differences
Method in Science and Religion: Integrative Methods

Cultural Studies of Science
Buddhist Thought and Science
Christian Theology and Science
Quantum Theory, Ontology, and Creation
Intelligent Design (ID) Controversies
Emergence and Human Nature
State of the Field of Science, Philosophy, and Religion

Theme 2: Science and Theology in the Seventeenth Century

Possible Discussion Topics

The development of the scientific method, particularly after Bacon, beyond the previously regnant Aristotelian framework, and the exemplary successes and controversies associated with Galileo, Kepler, and Newton.

The effect of Newtonian mechanics and the philosophical idea of causal determinism on conceptions of divine action.

The changing perceptions of nature and its metaphysical significance during this period.

The origins and development of the so-called “Enlightenment Religion of Reason” and Christian theological reactions, both positive and negative.

The religious convictions of early scientists (especially Newton).

The role played by the Christian West (pre- and post-Reformation) in fostering the rise of modern science.

Brooke's thesis regarding relations between religion and science in the seventeenth century: not separation, but differentiation.

The origins and development of modern atheism in this context (refer to Buckley).

Web Links

On Galileo Galilei:
The Galileo Project (Rice University)
Institute and Museum of the History of Science (Florence, Italy)
Animation of Galileo's sunspot drawings (Rice University)

On Johannes Kepler:
His Life, His Laws, and His Times (NASA)
Brief Biography of Kepler (University of St. Andrews)
Animation of Kepler's Laws (National Taiwan Normal University)

On Isaac Newton:
The Newton Project (University of Sussex)
Online Schools Newton Info (Online Schools)
The Online Newton Project (MIT)
Brief Biography of Newton (University of Florida)
A Basic Introduction to Newton's Laws (Glenbrook South High School,
Illinois)

Supplemental Bibliography

Michael Buckley, At the Origins of Modern Atheism (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University, 1987)

Edwin A. Burtt, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science; a Historical and Critical Essay, Rev. ed. (Atlantic Highlands, N. J.: Humanities Press, 1952)

Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of Modern Science, 1300--1800, Rev. ed. (New York: Macmillan Co., 1957)

I. Bernhard Cohen, ed., Puritanism and the Rise of Modern Science: The Merton Thesis (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University, 1990)

R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of Nature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1945)

Annibale Fantoli, Galileo: For Copernicanism and for the Church, 3rd edition, revised and corrected (Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory Foundation, 2003)

John Fauvel et al., eds., Let Newton Be! A New Perspective on His Life and Works (Oxford: Oxford University, 1988)

Amos Funkenstein, Theology and the Scientific Imagination: From the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986)

Toby Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993)

Christopher B. Kaiser, Creation and the History of Science (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1991)

Eugene Klaaren, Religious Origins of Modern Science (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1977)

David C. Lindberg, ed., Science in the Middle Ages (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago, 1978)

David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers, eds., God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986)

Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution (San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990)

Wolfhart Pannenberg, “The Doctrine of Creation and Modern Science,” in Toward a Theology of Nature: Essays on Science and Faith, ed. Ted Peters (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993) [significant for its argument regarding the theological significance of the principle of inertia]

Westfall, Richard S. Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 1973)

Theme 3: Science and Theology in the Eighteenth Century

Possible Discussion Topics

The collapse of the religion of reason under the force of both romanticism and philosophical critique (especially Hume), along with the subsequent rise of pietism.

The separation of the natural and moral realms within Kant’s theory of knowledge.

The use of scientific knowledge to establish God’s existence, power, wisdom, and providence (i.e., natural theology) despite the critiques leveled against this enterprise by Hume and Kant.

Enlightenment thinkers’ confidence in the powers of human reason, especially as symbolized by the deterministic and reductionistic mechanism of Laplace.

The growth of deism (so-called “rational religion”), its rejection of miracle, and its understanding of natural revelation and social progress.

The concept of “laws of nature,” its development during this period, its significance within the Clarke-Leibniz debate over theological voluntarism.

The continued development of modern atheism (again, refer to Buckley).

Web Links

Michael Sudduth's Natural Theology Website A good place to start, with extensive links to other sites and classic texts

David Hume
Survey of Hume’s life and thought (Stanford Online encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Hume’s writings online (Leeds Electronic Text Centre)
An extensive collection of links (in six languages!)

Immanuel Kant
A comprehensive collection of links

Deism
Educational site with resources for teaching about deism
English Deism
French Deism

Two contemporary deist sites:
World Union of Deists
United Deist Community

Laws of Nature
Historical and philosophical overview (nice site from University of Pittsburgh)

Supplemental Bibliography

R.J. Berry, God’s Book of Works: The Theology of Nature and Natural Theology (London: T. & T. Clark, 2003)

Michael Buckley, At the Origins of Modern Atheism (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University, 1987)

John Gascoigne, Cambridge in the Age of the Enlightenment: Science, Religion and Politics from the Restoration to the French Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989)

Vicenzo Ferrone, The Intellectual Roots of the Italian Enlightenment: Newtonian Science, Religion, and Politics in the Early Eighteenth Century (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1995)

Paul Guyer, The Cambridge Campanion to Kant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992)

James Herrick, The Radical Rhetoric of the English Deists: The Discourse of Skepticism, 1680-1750 (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1997)

David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers, eds., God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986)

David Fate Norton, The Cambridge Companion to Hume (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993)

Robert Richards, The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 2002)

John Yolton, ed., Philosophy, Religion, and Science in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 1990)

Friedel Weinert, Laws of Nature: Essays on the Philosophical, Scientific and Historical Dimension (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1995)

Theme 4: Science and Theology in the Nineteenth Century

Theme 5: Method in Science and Religion: Similarities and Differences

The impact of the rise of historically and socially oriented philosophy of science for descriptions of the relationship between science and religion.

The role of models, metaphors, and paradigms in science and in religion.

The similarities and differences between attempts to adjudicate among competing scientific theories and attempts to adjudicate among competing religious traditions.

The use of “critical” realism by many theologians to bridge religious and scientific perspectives in light of the realist-antirealist debates among philosophers of science.

Debates over unity and reductionism within the sciences.

The rejection of foundationalist epistemologies in favor of postfoundationalist (holist, communitarian, etc.) approaches among philosophers of science and of religion.

The variety of meanings associated with key epistemological terms, such as “explanation,” “rationality,” “data,” “commitment,” and “community,” in scientifically and religiously oriented theories of knowledge.

Wikipedia Definition of Philosophy of Science

David Banach’s Philosophy of Science Resource Page

Bruce Janz’s Philosophy of Science Resource page

Historicist Accounts of Rationality (online encyclopedia entry summarizing several key contributions to philosophy of science in the twentieth century)

Reason and Rationality (lengthy but provocative essay; includes a discussion of evolutionary psychology)

Religious Language (brief essay placing issues in philosophical context)

Michael C. Banner, The Justification of Science and the Rationality of Religious Belief, Oxford Philosophical Monographs Series (New York: Clarendon Press, 1990)

Philip Clayton, Explanation from Physics to Theology: An Essay in Rationality and Religion (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989)

Sallie McFague, Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982)

Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962)

Mikael Stenmark, Rationality in Science, Religion, and Everyday Life: A Critical Evaluation of Four Models of Rationality (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995)

Dan R. Stiver, The Philosophy of Religious Language: Sign, Symbol, Story (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996)

Jiang Tianji, “Scientific Rationality, Formal or Informal?” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 36 (1985)

Wentzel Van Huyssteen, The Shaping of Rationality: Toward Interdisciplinarity in Theology and Science (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1999)

Theme 6: Method in Science and Religion: Integrative Methods

Theme 7: Cultural Studies of Science

Possible Discussion Topics

What light does the lens of gender shed on the contemporary and historical relations between religion and science?

In what ways do feminist epistemologies seek to reshape the meaning of “objectivity” and “cognitive authority” in science and in religion/theology?

In light of their desire to speak forcefully on issues such as rape and domestic violence, how have recent feminist philosophers of science reacted to and built upon early constructivist positions such as “standpoint theory”?

What is the central conviction of Bloor’s “strong programme?” How successful is Bloor at defending this program against criticisms? Does he abandon the idea of truth as correspondence with reality?

What does Latour mean to signal in his distinction between “science in the making” and “ready made science”? In what ways does Latour’s work resemble and differ from Bloor’s? Are Bloor and Latour helpful for understanding the relations between scientific and religious claims?

In what ways does Rouse think the scientific enterprise has been distorted by recent philosophy of science? What is Rouse’s “hermeneutical” solution to this distortion?

What do the variety of cultural studies of science have to offer those who wish to draw on scientific and religious insights to solve theoretical and practical problems?

Web Links

Feminism and Science at Feminist Theory Website (extensive bibliography with brief biographies of major thinkers)

Feminist Theory and Philosophy of Science (topically organized encyclopedia article)

Critique of the Strong Programme by a Theoretical Physicist (article by Jean Bricmont published in Physics World)

A Bluffer’s Guide to Science Studies and the Sociology of “Knowledge” (survey article by Robert Nola, University of Auckland)

Fashionable Nonsense (teview of the book Fashionable Nonsense by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, as well of the “Sokal Affair”)

Overview of the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh

The Science Wars (review article by Steve Fuller locating “Science and Technology Studies” in a larger intellectual context)

Rouse on Kuhn (brief review article published in Science Magazine (accessible on campus computers)

Social Dimensions of Scientific Knowledge (survey article by Helen Longino)

Supplemental Bibliography

Joseph Rouse, “What Are Cultural Studies of Science?”, Chapter 9 in Engaging Science: How to Understand Its Practices Philosophically (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996)

See also the numerous bibliographies accessible through the links listed above.

Theme 8: Buddhist Thought and Science

Possible Discussion Topics

Wallace’s critiques of the realist and instrumentalist accounts of scientific theorizing, and his own Buddhist-participatory epistemology.

The influence of non-scientific factors, according to Wallace, on the sciences.

Using disciplined contemplation as a tool to probe the features of the mind and the world.

Wallace’s view of the mind-body relationship.

The significance of Buddhist perspectives for the science-and-religion discussion.

The integration within Wallace’s Buddhist approach of the quest for truth and the quest for solidarity.

The merits of focusing interreligious dialogue around different religions’ relationships science.

Web Links

Mind and Life Institute (organization based in Boulder, Colorado and supported by Dalai Lama to promote collaboration between science and Buddhism)

The Future of Humankind (lecture delivered at University of British Columbia, Vancouver in 1985 by the Venerable Chan Master Hsuan Hua)

Ron Epstein’s Homepage, San Francisco State University: links to sites discussing Buddhist perspectives on genetic engineering, environmentalism, and animal rights

Buddhism and the Brain (essay by Derek Ellerman, Director of the Polaris Project)

Toward a Buddhist Philosophy of Science (essay by Jim Kukula developing a “middle way” for science)

Time and Impermanence in Middle Way Buddhism and Modern Physics (essay by Victor Mansfield, physicist at Colgate University)

Supplemental Bibliography

James H. Austin, Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998)

Richard J. Davidson & Anne Harrington, eds., Visions of Compassion: Western Scientists and Tibetan Buddhists Examine Human Nature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)

Kathleen H. Dockett, et al., eds., Psychology and Buddhism: From Individual to Global Community (New York: Plenum, 2003)

Rita M. Gross, “Toward a Buddhist Environmental Ethic,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 65, no. 2 (1997): 333-53

Ian Harris, “Buddhism,” in Attitudes to Nature, ed. Jean Holm and John Bowker (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994), 8-27

Paul O. Ingram, “On Buddhist-Christian Dialogue with the Natural Sciences,” Center for Process Studies Seminar (Claremont School of Theology, 3 March 2001), unpublished paper (see Dr. Wegter-McNelly for a manuscript)

Victor Mansfield, “Time in Madhyamika Buddhism and Modern Physics,” Pacific World, New Series 11 (1995): 10-27

Nobuhiko Matsugi, “A Contemporary Buddhist’s Critical Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Culture,” in Faith and Science in an Unjust World: Report of the World Council of Churches’ Conference on Faith, Science, and the Future, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA 12-24 July, 1979, ed. Roger L. Shinn, vol. 1, Plenary Presentations (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1980), 149-152

Mahinda Palihawadana, “Buddhism and the Scientific Enterprise,” in Faith and Science in an Unjust World: Report of the World Council of Churches' Conference on Faith, Science, and the Future, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA 12--24 July, 1979, ed. Roger L. Shinn, vol. 1, Plenary Presentations (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1980), 138-148

Richard K. Payne, “Buddhism and the Sciences: Historical Background, Contemporary Developments,” in Bridging Science and Religion, ed. Ted Peters and Gaymon Bennett (London: SCM Press, 2002), 153-72

Geoffrey P. Redmond, “Comparing Science and Buddhism,” Pacific World, New Series 11 (1995): 70-117

Matthieu Ricard and Xuan Thuan Trinh, The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Religion Meet (New York: Crown Publishers, 2001)

Martin J. Verhoeven, “Buddhism and Science: Probing the Boundaries of Faith and Reason,” Religion East & West 1, no. 1 (June 2001): 77-97

B. Allan Wallace, Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003)

Theme 9: Christian Theology and Science

Possible Discussion Topics

Peacocke’s emphasis on the role for theology in the search for intelligibility.

Peacocke’s characterization of God the creator as an “improvisational composer.”

Peacocke’s panentheistic account of divine action in terms of analogies such as “whole-part” and “top-down” causation.

Peacocke’s insistence upon the physical mediatedness of all human engagement with reality, including God.

The usefulness of Peacocke’s diagram of emergence-relations (p. 217) not only with regard to anthropology but also with regard to to the relations among the sciences and humanities.

Peacocke’s justification for turning specifically to Jesus of Nazareth (and only secondarily to the Christian tradition) in his attempt to answer the “basic challenge concerning the nature and purpose of God” (p. 260).

Peacocke’s interpretation of traditional Christian notions such as “resurrection,” “virgin birth,” “incarnation,” and “atonement,” in terms more amenable to his scientifically informed worldview.

Peacocke’s brief postscript on trinitarian language for God (note that “Trinity” is absent from the index).

Web Links

Video Interviews with Peacocke:
Counterbalance website (search on “video Peacocke”)
Robert Wright’s Meaningoflife.tv website (select Peacocke from the list on the left)

Ian Ramsey Centre (Religion-and-science center directed by Peacocke from the mid 1980s through the 1990s)

“Examining Peacocke’s Plumage” (an attack on Peacocke’s theology that appeared in appeared in Christianity Today (March 12, 2001) and was prompted by Peacocke's winning the 2001 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion)

Supplemental Bibliography

Arthur Peacocke — Selected Works

The Molecular Basis of Heredity, with R.B. Drysdale (Washington: Butterworths, 1965)

Science and the Christian Experiment (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1971)

Creation and the World of Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979, reissued 2004)

An Introduction to the Physical Chemistry of Biological Organization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983)

Intimations of Reality: Critical Realism in Science and Religion (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984)

God and the New Biology (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986)

“The Challenge of Science to Theology and the Church,” in The New Faith-Science Debate: Probing Cosmology, Technology, and Theology, ed. John M. Mangum (Minneapolis/ Geneva: Fortress Press/WCC Publications, 1989)

“Theology and Science Today,” in Cosmos as Creation: Theology and Science in Consonance, ed. Ted Peters (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 28-44

Theology for a Scientific Age: Being and Becoming--Natural, Divine and Human (Minneapolis: Fortress press, 1993)

God and Science: A Quest for Christian Credibility (London: SCM Press, 1996)

“Biological Evolution--A Positive Theological Appraisal,” in Evolutionary and Molecular Biology: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action, ed. Robert J. Russell, William R. Stoeger, S.J. and Francisco J. Ayala (Vatican City State/Berkeley, Calif.: Vatican Observatory/Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 1998), 357-76.

“The Sound of Sheer Silence: How Does God Communicate with Humanity?” in Neuroscience and the Person: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action, ed. Robert J. Russell et al. (Vatican City State/Berkeley, Calif.: Vatican Observatory/Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 1999), 215-48

Paths from Science Towards God: The End of All Our Exploring (Oxford: Oneworld, 2001)

“The Challenges and Possibilities for Western Monotheism,” in Science and the Spiritual Quest: New Essays by Leading Scientists, ed. W. Mark Richardson et al. (London: Routledge, 2002), 233-42

Arthur Peacocke — Secondary Works

David R. Copestake, “Emergent Evolution and the Incarnation of Christ,” Modern Believing 36 (Oct. 1995): 27-33

Cornel W. Du Toit, “The Contribution of Arthur Peacocke to the Science-Theology Debate,” Skrif en Kerk 18.1 (1997): 67-85

John W. Haas, Jr., “Arthur Peacocke’s New Biology,” Science and Christian Belief 1 (Oct. 1989): 161-6

John C. Polkinghorne, Scientists as Theologians: A Comparison of the Writings of Ian Barbour, Arthur Peacocke and John Polkinghorne (London: SPCK, 1996)

Vol. 26 (Dec. 1991) of the journal Zygon, devoted to an assessment of Peacocke’s work

Theme 10: Quantum Theory, Ontology, and Creation

Possible Discussion Topics

Arguments for and against drawing ontological implications from quantum theory.

Einstein’s objections to quantum theory as a complete account of microphysical processes.

The meaning of “relational holism” as it emerges in discussions of quantum theory. The (ir)relevance of David Bohm’s program to this concept.

Attempts, such as Chang and Cartwright’s, to provide a causal (non-holistic) account of EPR correlations.

The significance of holistic interpretations of quantum theory in light of the correspondence principle (i.e., regardless of any strange behavior occurring at the quantum level, quantum processes produce the familiar world of classical physics at our own level of existence and experience).

The legitimacy of exporting a metaphor such as entanglement from the interpretive debates in the philosophy of quantum theory into a theological context.

The plausibility and force of connections between the idea of physical entanglement and the notion of a relational God who is entangled within Godself and to the world.

Web Links

Quantum Entanglement: Wikipedia overview, including basic mathematics

Quantum Entanglement Illustrated: Decent explanation by Dave Jarvis, starting from first principles (quantumly speaking) with helpful illustrations

Quantum Entanglement and Information: Stanford Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy – relates theoretical considerations to the prospects for harnessing entanglement in quantum computing

Quantum Entanglement Responsible for Mass? Article in New Scientist (October 24, 2004) reporting recent theoretical speculation implicating entanglement in the mass of everyday objects

Supplemental Bibliography

Amir D. Aczel, Entanglement: The Greatest Mystery in Physics (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002)

Raymond Y. Chiao, “Quantum Nonlocalities: Experimental Evidence,” in Quantum Mechanics: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action, ed. Robert J. Russell et al. (Vatican City State; Berkeley, Calif.: Vatican Observatory; Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 2001), 17-40

James T. Cushing and Ernan McMullin, eds., Philosophical Consequences of Quantum Theory: Reflections on Bell’s Theorem, Studies in Science and the Humanities from the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, vol. 2 (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame, 1989)

Tim Maudlin, Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics, 2d ed. (Oxford: B. Blackwell, 2002)

Gerard Milburn, The Feynman Processor : Quantum Entanglement and the Computing Revolution (New York: Perseus Publishing, 1999)

Michael L.G. Redhead, Incompleteness, Nonlocality, and Realism: A Prolegomenon to the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987)

Robert J. Russell, “Quantum Physics in Philosophical and Theological Perspective,” in Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding, ed. Robert J. Russell, William R. Stoeger, S.J. and George V. Coyne, S.J. (Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory Publications, 1988), 343-74

Kevin Sharpe, David Bohm’s World: New Physics and New Religion (Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University, 1993)

Ernest L. Simmons, “The Sighs of God: Kenosis, Quantum Field Theory, and the Spirit,” Word and World Supplement Series no. 4 (2000): 182-91

Theme 11: Intelligent Design (ID) Controversies

Possible Discussion Topics

The history of the ID movement

Differences and similarities between Paley’s argument from design and ID arguments

The use of teleological language within neo-Darwinist theory

The claim that ID theory is theologically neutral (i.e., the relationship between ID and creationism)

Arguments for and against Behe’s notion of “irreducible complexity”

The meaning of “specified complexity” and its role in Dembski’s argument against Darwinian accounts of design

The meaning(s) of “naturalism” and its role in scientific investigation

Web Links

Wikipedia entry “ID”: Detailed survey article with numerous links

National Center for Science Education: Defends the teaching of evolutionary theory in public schools

Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture: Primary institutional supporter of ID movement

Intelligent Design Network: Focuses on the Kansas School Board’s textbook battle

International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design: Professional society supporting intelligent-design friendly investigation into complex systems

Access Research Network: Resource sites for ID materials

Origins: Resource sites for ID materials

Supplemental Bibliography (in chronological order)

Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley, and Roger L. Olsen, The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories (Dallas, Tx.: Lewis and Stanley, 1984)

Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (New York: Adler & Adler, 1986)

Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial, 2d ed. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993 [1st ed., 1991])

Michael J. Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (New York: Free Press, 1996)

William A. Dembski, The Design Inference : Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities, Cambridge Studies in Probability, Induction and Decision Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Robert T. Pennock, Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism (Cambridge: MIT Press/Bradford, 1999)

William A. Dembski, Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999)

Kenneth R. Miller, Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution (New York: HarperCollins, 1999)

Michael J. Behe, Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe (San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, 2000)

Michael J. Behe, William A. Dembski, and Stephen C. Meyer, Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe, The Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute, vol. 9 (San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, 2000)

Phillip E. Johnson, The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 2000)

Michael Ruse, Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution – Science or Myth? Why Much of What we Teach about Evolution is Wrong (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2000)

Niles Eldredge, The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism (New York: Owl Books, 2001)

Robert T. Pennock, ed., Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives (Cambridge, Mass.: Bradford Books, 2001)

William A. Dembski, No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased Without Intelligence (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001)

Michael Denton, Nature’s Destiny : How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe (New York: Free Press, 2002)

Themes for Week 12: Emergence and Human Nature

Possible Discussion Topics

The relation between the concepts of “emergence” and “supervenience” when employed within physicalist strategies to resist stronger forms of reductionism

The force of the dualist, emergentist, and pansychist accounts of consciousness from various scientific perspectives

Religious perspectives on mind/body dualism

The significance of contemporary emergentist understandings of human nature for theological anthropology

Nancey Murphy’s appeal to causally layered complex systems to defend against reductionism

Philip Clayton’s argument for emergence as a fundamental feature of the natural world and his claim that consciousness is “just another emergent level”

Web Links

Journal of Consciousness Studies: Peer-reviewed journal covering intersection of cognitive science, neurophysiology, and philosophy (main page includes links to full text of selected articles)

Online Dictionary of Philosophy of Mind: Edited by Chris Eliasmith of Washington University (St. Louis)

Emergence & Mind Bibliography: Maintained by Tullio Tinti

“Emergent Properties”; “Panpsychism”; “Dualism” (in Philosophy of Mind): Entries at Stanford’s Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy; the first focuses on the history of debates over, and the different proposals for, a concept of emergence

Supplemental Bibliography

Deacon, Terrence. The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain (New York: W.W. Norton, 1998)

Freeman, Anthony. The Emergence of Consciousness (Imprint Academic: 2001); the essays in this volume original appeared in a special issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies 8 nos. 9 and 10 (2001)

Kim, Jaegwon. Mind in a Physical World (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998)

McLaughlin, Brain P. The Rise and Fall of British Emergentism. Emergence or Reduction?: Essays on the Prospects of Nonreductive Physicalism (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1992)

Morowitz, Harold J. The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)

Scott, Alwyn. Stairway to the Mind: The Controversial New Science of Consciousness (New York: Copernicus Books, 1995)

Theme 13: State of the Field of Science, Philosophy, and Religion

COMING SOON

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