God and the Mathematics of Infinity

God and the Mathematics of Infinity
Author: H. Chris Ransford
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2017-03-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3838270193

Drawing on the science and mathematics of infinity, H. Chris Ransford analyzes the traditional concept of godhood and reaches surprising conclusions. He addresses humankind's abiding core debate on the meaning of spirituality and God. Using mathematics, he explores key questions within this debate: for instance, why does evil exist if there is a God? The book fastidiously does not take sides nor proffers opinions, it only follows allowable mathematics wherever it leads. By doing so, it makes a major contribution to an understanding of the nature of reality.

God, Time, Infinity

God, Time, Infinity
Author: Mirosław Szatkowski
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2018-05-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110594161

The issues of the nature and existence of God, time and infinity, respectively, and how they relate to each other, are some of the most complicated problems of metaphysics.This volume presents contributions of thirteen internationally renowned scholars who deal with various aspects of these complex issues. The contributions were presented and discussed during the international conference: God, Time, Infinity held in Warsaw, September 22—24, 2015.

Nature and Nature's God: A Philosophical and Scientific Defense of Aquinas' Unmoved Mover Argument

Nature and Nature's God: A Philosophical and Scientific Defense of Aquinas' Unmoved Mover Argument
Author: Daniel Shields
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2023-05-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0813236673

Aquinas's first proof for God's existence is usually interpreted as a metaphysical argument immune to any objections coming from empirical science. Connections to Aquinas's own historical understanding of physics and cosmology are ignored or downplayed. Nature and Nature's God proposes a natural philosophical interpretation of Aquinas's argument more sensitive to the broader context of Aquinas's work and yielding a more historically accurate account of the argument. Paradoxically, the book also shows that, on such an interpretation, Aquinas's argument is not only consistent with modern science, but actually confirmed by the history of science, from classical mechanics through 19th century thermodynamics to contemporary cosmology. The first part of the book considers Aquinas's argument in its historical context, exploring the key principles that everything in motion is moved by something else and that an infinite regress of causes is impossible. The structure of the First Way is analyzed and the argument is connected both with Aquinas's Third Way?a new interpretation of which is also proposed?and Aquinas's second proof from motion in the Summa contra Gentiles. To complete the account of what natural philosophy?prior to metaphysics?can demonstrate about God, a chapter on Aquinas's teleological argument (the Fifth Way) is also included. The second part of the book tracks the history of modern science from Copernicus to today, showing how Aquinas's argument fared at each major turn. The first chapter shows how Newton's understanding of inertia and conservation of momentum supports the idea that motion cannot continue forever without God's causality, and integrates a modern understanding of inertia and gravity with the principles of Thomistic natural philosophy. The second chapter considers the first and second laws of thermodynamics, showing how they too support Aquinas's contention that motion cannot continue forever without God's causality. This chapter also discusses statistical mechanics and contemporary cosmology, demonstrating that science continues to support Aquinas's unmoved mover argument. The final chapter turns to modern biology as well as cosmological fine-tuning to show that modern science also continues to support Aquinas's teleological argument. The result is not only a satisfying defense of Aquinas's natural philosophical proofs for God's existence, but a primer on the broader project of integrating Thomistic natural philosophy with modern science.

Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic

Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic
Author: Matthew Stewart
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 502
Release: 2014-07-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0393244318

Longlisted for the National Book Award. Where did the ideas come from that became the cornerstone of American democracy? America’s founders intended to liberate us not just from one king but from the ghostly tyranny of supernatural religion. Drawing deeply on the study of European philosophy, Matthew Stewart brilliantly tracks the ancient, pagan, and continental ideas from which America’s revolutionaries drew their inspiration. In the writings of Spinoza, Lucretius, and other great philosophers, Stewart recovers the true meanings of “Nature’s God,” “the pursuit of happiness,” and the radical political theory with which the American experiment in self-government began.

The Parmenidean Ascent

The Parmenidean Ascent
Author: Michael Della Rocca
Publisher:
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2020
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0197510949

The Parmenidean Ascent is a full-throated and wide-ranging defense of an extreme form of monism or the denial of all distinctions, a form of monism rarely seen since the time of the pre-Socratic philosopher, Parmenides. At once historically sensitive and deeply engaged with trends in recent and contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of action, epistemology, and philosophy of language, The Parmenidean Ascent aims, on rationalist grounds and in a skeptical spirit, to challenge the content of-and to overturn the methods of much of contemporary philosophy.

Time and Eternity

Time and Eternity
Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2001-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433517566

This remarkable work offers an analytical exploration of the nature of divine eternity and God's relationship to time.

Spinoza, the Epicurean

Spinoza, the Epicurean
Author: Dimitris Vardoulakis
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2020-05-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1474476074

By radically re-reading the 'Theological Political Treatise', Dimitris Vardoulakis argues that Spinoza's Epicurean influence has profound implications for his conception of politics and ontology. This reconsideration of Spinoza's political project, set within a historical context, lays the ground for an alternative genealogy of materialism.

Infinity, Divinity, and the Holy Trinity

Infinity, Divinity, and the Holy Trinity
Author: William Hearne
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2014-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1499019122

This book are strictly the insights of the author based on his knowledge of scripture, common sense, and science. It covers a broad variety of topics that are not normally discussed together in an attempt to draw consistent conclusions about what we know about the nature of God, and ourselves. the first chapter, Infinity, describes how we know God exists. the second, Divinity, describes certain aspects of God and our relationship with Him. the third chapter, the Holy Trinity, describes God as the Holy Trinity which is based on the unique observations of the author. the author understands that there will be challenges to the numerous conclusions he makes. But, he hopes that the readers will read the book in its entirety to understand that each assertion is consistent with all other assertions made in the book. the author will be glad to follow up on those challenges.