Showing posts with label Cosmology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cosmology. Show all posts

Hawking and the Mind of God

Hawking and the Mind of God examines the pseudoreligious connotations of some of the key themes in Hawking's work, and how these shed light not only on the Hawking cult itself, but also on the wider issue of how scientists represent themselves in the media.

Peter Coles was born in 1963. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge and his doctorate from the University of Sussex. He is a professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University. His primary subject of interest is Cosmology and he has written numerous books on the subject.

Science and Religion in Search of Cosmic Purpose

John F. Haught is Landegger Distinguished Professor of Theology at Georgetown University and director of the Georgetown Center for the Study of Science and Religion. He is the author of numerous books, including God after Darwin: A Theology of Evolution (Westview Press, 1999). 

Many scientists today think of the universe as essentially purposeless. Likewise, modern and postmodern philosophers have often been suspicious of any religious claims that the natural world embodies and eternal meaning or teleology. Not all scientific thinkers subscribe to this cosmic pessimism, however, and some would even argue that contemporary knowledge is consistent with a religious sense of cosmic purpose. 

This book offers candid reflections on the question of cosmic purpose written both by prominent scientists and by scholars representing the world's religious traditions. Examining the issue from a wide variety of perspectives, this is the only current book to deal with cosmic purpose from an interreligious and interdisciplinary perspective.

Philosophy in Science

  • Focuses on the deep relationship between philosophical concepts and modern scientific theory
  • Traces the complex historical paths along which basic concepts of the natural world have evolved
  • Written by an esteemed philosopher and author, Michael Heller, who is also the winner of the 2008 Templeton Prize
The traditional topics of the "philosophy of nature" — space, time, causality, the structure of the universe — are overwhelmingly present in our modern scientific theories. This book traces the complex paths that discussion of these topics has followed, from Plato and Aristotle, through Descartes, Leibniz, Kant and other great thinkers, right up to the relativistic cosmologies and the grand unified theories of contemporary science. In the light of this historical development, it becomes clear that modern science gives us not only a technological power over the world, but also a deeper understanding of physical reality. In this sense, science could be regarded as an heir to the traditional "philosophy of nature". Moreover, the reader will learn why science itself deserves to be the subject of philosophical reflection.

Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries In Nature's Ability To Order Universe

In this critically acclaimed book, first published in 1988 and now reprinted in paperback, scientist and author Paul Davies explains how recent scientific advances are transforming our understanding of the emergence of complexity and organization in the universe.

Melding a variety of ideas and disciplines from biology, fundamental physics, computer science, mathematics, genetics, and neurology, Davies presents his provocative theory on the source of the universe's creative potency. He explores the new paradigm (replacing the centuries-old Newtonian view of the universe) that recognizes the collective and holistic properties of physical systems and the power of self-organization. He casts the laws in physics in the role of a "blueprint," embodying a grand cosmic scheme that progressively unfolds as the universe develops.

Challenging the viewpoint that the physical universe is a meaningless collection particles, he finds overwhelming evidence for an underlying purpose: "Science may explain all the processes whereby the universe evolves its own destiny, but that still leaves room for there to be a meaning behind existence."

Ultimate Explanations of the Universe

We humans are collectively driven by a powerful - yet not fully explained - instinct to understand. We would like to see everything established, proven, laid bare. The more important an issue, the more we desire to see it clarified, stripped of all secrets, all shades of gray. What could be more important than to understand the Universe and ourselves as a part of it? To find a window onto our origin and our destiny? This book examines how far our modern cosmological theories - with their sometimes audacious models, such as inflation, cyclic histories, quantum creation, parallel universes - can take us towards answering these questions. Can such theories lead us to ultimate truths, leaving nothing unexplained? Last, but not least, Heller addresses the thorny problem of why and whether we should expect to find theories with all-encompassing explicative power.

Cosmic Impressions: Traces of God in the Laws of Nature

Walter Thirring is an internationally renowned scientist who took part in and worked among those involved in many of the scientific developments of the twentieth century. His book, about the knowledge of the world as illuminated by twentieth century science, was originally published in German. This is the first English translation and is a book that is easily accessible to readers of popular science books and magazines.
 
Professor Thirring starts with cosmology as he examines scientific questions and theories concerning the intricacy of nature and the universe. He branches into an exposition of chaos and its connection to the macroscopic world, as well as to life sciences, touching on such diverse related subjects as the structure of the water molecule. He speaks of advances with which he was personally involved, and offers priceless vignettes of great scientists with whom he exchanged discussions, including Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and Wolfgang Pauli.
 
His study of scientific theory and the intricacy of nature and the universe illuminates his argument for the role of a Creator. "Reflections on the creation of the universe lead to reflections about the Creator," he writes. And arguing against atheism, he points out:
“When we are moved by a fantastic building, a cathedral or a mosque and have finally realized what is behind the glorious proportions, who would then say, ‘Now we don't need the architect anymore. There might not even be one, that could all just be the random product of circumstance.’”
 
Furthermore, in making humankind special in his creation, the Creator gave us the responsibility of seeking an understanding of creation and protecting it.
 
Tackling complex issues in science and religion, Professor Thirring presents a compelling argument for their synthesis. His tenure and influence in the scientific field make this argument even more compelling.

Origin and creation in the Big-Bang universe

All ancient civilizations wondered about the nature of celestial objects and developed mythological accounts for the origin of an ordered cosmos from a primordial substance (water, chaos, etc.). The Judo-Christian tradition introduced an entirely new concept of creation, by which the universe (all that is, every creature, each instant of time) emerges from nothingness by the free act of a loving and rational God. Modern science has developed a remarkably faithful description of the physical processes responsible for the formation of the basic structures in the universe, from planetary to cosmic scales. While several issues are still open and pose serious challenges, we can describe in coherent physical terms the main stages of cosmic evolution. Initially the universe was characterised by a state of extreme simplicity, with high temperature and density, with slight density perturbations which acted as gravitational seeds for structure formation. The combination of cosmic expansion and of a variety of physical processes acting at local scales produced a series of transitions to increasingly complex systems. Cosmological observations now underway are producing a snapshot of the early universe with unprecedented detail, shedding new light on the physics at work some 14 billion years ago, just a tiny fraction of a second after the big bang. Thus scientific cosmology has superseded the mythological accounts of ancient cultures, by providing a rational description of the origin of structures through the wonderful fabric of natural laws. On the other hand, modern science leaves untouched the big question of creation: What is the ultimate source of all-that-is? Why reality (including space-time), instead of no-reality? Furthermore, modern cosmology arouses new fundamental questions: Why is the universe suitable for life and consciousness? What is the nature of physical laws driving cosmic evolution? What makes our understanding of the universe possible? (Video)

Marco Bersanelli

Marco Bersanelli

Marco Bersanelli is Full Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Director of the PhD School in Physics at the University of Milan, where he does research in observational cosmology. He has participated in a number of experiments in cosmology, including two expeditions to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. He is one of the leading scientists of the Planck space mission, the European Space Agency project studying the early universe, successfully launched in 2009. In addition to numerous science papers, he published scientific and interdisciplinary essays and books, including From Galileo to Gell-Mann (Templeton Press, 2009) about the human adventure of scientific research. He serves as Science Director of Euresis, a scientific association promoting science as an expression of the broader quest for beauty and meaning.

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