Faith in Science

Faith in Science

Author: Mark Richardson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-07-05

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1134516568

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Through intimate conversations with some of the world's most distinguished scientists (including two Nobel Laureates), Faith in Science invites us to explore the connections between scientific and religious approaches to truth. Subjects range from the existence and nature of God to the role of spirituality in modern science. The result is a clear account of how two major cultural forces can work together to offer unique insights into questions of existence.


Concealed God

Concealed God

Author: Stefan Einhorn

Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1932031375

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Highly acclaimed in Sweden where it was first published in both hardcover and paperback editions, A Concealed God poses two intriguing questions: •Does God truly exist? •If so, is the concept of God logical and in agreement with the knowledge of the world that science has provided to date? The God presented by most religions doesn't make sense in today's world; we have little room for miracles. Furthermore, there are irreconcilable aspects in the world's religions. Must we abandon our faith or belief in God? Perhaps not, says popular Swedish thinker Stefan Einhorn. We can behave as scientists do when they run experiments only to obtain contradictory results. They ask themselves whether there might not be a logical conclusion that binds all the results together and leads to the most probable explanation. Einhorn hypothesizes that if God truly exists, then many different religions would have discovered this. He finds a common denominator in the concept of a hidden God in seven major religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. But even with this shared belief, can we know if God exists? Did humankind create the idea of God to answer the unexplainable? What about evil and suffering, the absence of meaning in life, loneliness and insecurity? And most importantly, how do we search for a concealed God? Most religions share common principles for the search for "that which is concealed," including meditation, contemplation, and prayer. Whatever route is chosen, the search for God may bring us some answers. Einhorn concludes that two themes are central to the search: one is that God is both concealed and simultaneously omnipresent; the other is that only with utter humility and an awareness of our inability to fully understand may we approach the divine. In the end, there are no definite answers. But the search sheds light on the many paths to enlightenment offered by the world's religions.


Farewell to Reality

Farewell to Reality

Author: Jim Baggott

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2013-08-06

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 1453299149

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From acclaimed science author Jim Baggot, a lively, provocative, and “intellectually gratifying” critique of modern theoretical physics (The Economist). Where does one draw the line between solid science and fairy-tale physics? Jim Baggott argues that there is no observational or experimental evidence for many of the ideas of modern theoretical physics: super-symmetric particles, super strings, the multiverse, the holographic principle, or the anthropic cosmological principle. Unafraid to challenge prominent theorists, Baggott offers engaging portraits of many central figures of modern physics, including Stephen Hawking, Paul Davies, John D. Barrow, Brian Greene, and Leonard Susskind. Informed, comprehensive, and balanced, Farewell to Reality discusses the latest ideas about the nature of physical reality while clearly distinguishing between fact and fantasy, providing essential and entertaining reading for everyone interested in what we know and don’t know about the nature of the universe and reality itself.


Truth and Tension in Science and Religion

Truth and Tension in Science and Religion

Author: Varadaraja V. Raman

Publisher: Beech River Books

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 0979377862

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"An examination of the frameworks of science and religion that provides a multi-cultural view of how they affect our perception of the truth"--Provided by publisher.


The Varieties of Scientific Experience

The Varieties of Scientific Experience

Author: Carl Sagan

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-11-02

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 1101201835

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“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith “A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.” —Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as "informed worship." Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.


An Instinct for Truth

An Instinct for Truth

Author: Robert T. Pennock

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2019-08-13

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0262042584

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An exploration of the scientific mindset—such character virtues as curiosity, veracity, attentiveness, and humility to evidence—and its importance for science, democracy, and human flourishing. Exemplary scientists have a characteristic way of viewing the world and their work: their mindset and methods all aim at discovering truths about nature. In An Instinct for Truth, Robert Pennock explores this scientific mindset and argues that what Charles Darwin called “an instinct for truth, knowledge, and discovery” has a tacit moral structure—that it is important not only for scientific excellence and integrity but also for democracy and human flourishing. In an era of “post-truth,” the scientific drive to discover empirical truths has a special value. Taking a virtue-theoretic perspective, Pennock explores curiosity, veracity, skepticism, humility to evidence, and other scientific virtues and vices. He explains that curiosity is the most distinctive element of the scientific character, by which other norms are shaped; discusses the passionate nature of scientific attentiveness; and calls for science education not only to teach scientific findings and methods but also to nurture the scientific mindset and its core values. Drawing on historical sources as well as a sociological study of more than a thousand scientists, Pennock's philosophical account is grounded in values that scientists themselves recognize they should aspire to. Pennock argues that epistemic and ethical values are normatively interconnected, and that for science and society to flourish, we need not just a philosophy of science, but a philosophy of the scientist.


Merchants of Doubt

Merchants of Doubt

Author: Naomi Oreskes

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2011-10-03

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1408828774

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The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. These scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers. Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. Remarkably, the same individuals surface repeatedly-some of the same figures who have claimed that the science of global warming is "not settled" denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, historians of science, roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how ideology and corporate interests, aided by a too-compliant media, have skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.


Truth Or Beauty

Truth Or Beauty

Author: David Orrell

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2012-11-27

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 0300186614

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Questions the promises and pitfalls of associating beauty with truth, showing how ideas of mathematical elegance have inspired, and have sometimes misled, scientists attempting to understand nature. The author also shows how the ancient Greeks constructed a concept of the world based on musical harmony.