ISBN : 9780198824589
An Oxford physics professor gives a fascinating reply to Richard Dawkins and Sean Carroll. For the general educated reader, this book presents the nature of the physical world, and the role of well-motivated religious response. It aims to reconfigure the whole public understanding of science. Science does not present a machine-like paradigm for the physical world, but something much more rich and subtle. It does not replace other avenues of truth-seeking, such as the arts and humanities. Darwinian evolution in particular is re-examined, allowing it to act by its own rules without bringing in logical fallacies. Human values such as fair treatment, consideration, and so on are forms of truth-speaking as objective as any other. But they require a personal response. Religious response is the natural partner to all of this, but it should not be misconstrued. It is presented freshly in the final part of the book.
1 Introduction
Part I: Science and philosophy
2 Light
3 The structure of science, part 1
4 The structure of science, part 2
5 Logic and knowledge: the Babel fallacy
6 Reflection
7 Purpose and casue
8 Darwinian evolution
9 The tree
10 What science can and cannot do
11 What must be embraced, not derived
12 Religious language
13 The Unframeable Picture
14 A farewell to Hume
15 Drawing threads together
16 Extraterrestrial life
17 Does the universe suggest design, purpose, goodness or concern?
Part II: Breathing
18 Silence
19 The human community
20 Encounter
21 The human being
22 Witnessed to