Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe

Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe
Author: Erik J. Wielenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2005-02-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139444697

Suppose there is no God. This might imply that human life is meaningless, that there are no moral obligations and hence people can do whatever they want, and that the notions of virtue and vice and good and evil have no place. Erik J. Wielenberg believes this view to be mistaken and in this book he explains why. He argues that even if God does not exist, human life can have meaning, we do have moral obligations, and virtue is possible. Naturally, the author sees virtue in a Godless universe as different from virtue in a Christian universe, and he develops naturalistic accounts of humility, charity, and hope. The moral landscape in a Godless universe is different from the moral landscape in a Christian universe, but it does indeed exist. Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe is a tour of some of the central landmarks of this under-explored territory.

Beyond the Dynamical Universe

Beyond the Dynamical Universe
Author: Michael Silberstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2018-02-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0192533835

Theoretical physics and foundations of physics have not made much progress in the last few decades. Whether we are talking about unifying general relativity and quantum field theory (quantum gravity), explaining so-called dark energy and dark matter (cosmology), or the interpretation and implications of quantum mechanics and relativity, there is no consensus in sight. In addition, both enterprises are deeply puzzled about various facets of time including above all, time as experienced. The authors argue that, across the board, this impasse is the result of the "dynamical universe paradigm," the idea that reality is fundamentally made up of physical entities that evolve in time from some initial state according to dynamical laws. Thus, in the dynamical universe, the initial conditions plus the dynamical laws explain everything else going exclusively forward in time. In cosmology, for example, the initial conditions reside in the Big Bang and the dynamical law is supplied by general relativity. Accordingly, the present state of the universe is explained exclusively by its past. This book offers a completely new paradigm (called Relational Blockworld), whereby the past, present and future co-determine each other via "adynamical global constraints," such as the least action principle. Accordingly, the future is just as important for explaining the present as is the past. Most of the book is devoted to showing how Relational Blockworld resolves many of the current conundrums of both theoretical physics and foundations of physics, including the mystery of time as experienced and how that experience relates to the block universe.

Programming the Universe

Programming the Universe
Author: Seth Lloyd
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2007-03-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1400033861

Is the universe actually a giant quantum computer? According to Seth Lloyd, the answer is yes. All interactions between particles in the universe, Lloyd explains, convey not only energy but also information–in other words, particles not only collide, they compute. What is the entire universe computing, ultimately? “Its own dynamical evolution,” he says. “As the computation proceeds, reality unfolds.” Programming the Universe, a wonderfully accessible book, presents an original and compelling vision of reality, revealing our world in an entirely new light.

Knots, Molecules, and the Universe

Knots, Molecules, and the Universe
Author: Erica Flapan
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2015-12-22
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1470425351

This book is an elementary introduction to geometric topology and its applications to chemistry, molecular biology, and cosmology. It does not assume any mathematical or scientific background, sophistication, or even motivation to study mathematics. It is meant to be fun and engaging while drawing students in to learn about fundamental topological and geometric ideas. Though the book can be read and enjoyed by nonmathematicians, college students, or even eager high school students, it is intended to be used as an undergraduate textbook. The book is divided into three parts corresponding to the three areas referred to in the title. Part 1 develops techniques that enable two- and three-dimensional creatures to visualize possible shapes for their universe and to use topological and geometric properties to distinguish one such space from another. Part 2 is an introduction to knot theory with an emphasis on invariants. Part 3 presents applications of topology and geometry to molecular symmetries, DNA, and proteins. Each chapter ends with exercises that allow for better understanding of the material. The style of the book is informal and lively. Though all of the definitions and theorems are explicitly stated, they are given in an intuitive rather than a rigorous form, with several hundreds of figures illustrating the exposition. This allows students to develop intuition about topology and geometry without getting bogged down in technical details.

The Universe in a Single Atom

The Universe in a Single Atom
Author: Dalai Lama
Publisher: Harmony
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2006-09-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0767920813

Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Niels Bohr, Einstein. Their insights shook our perception of who we are and where we stand in the world, and in their wake have left an uneasy coexistence: science vs. religion, faith vs. empirical inquiry. Which is the keeper of truth? Which is the true path to understanding reality? After forty years of study with some of the greatest scientific minds, as well as a lifetime of meditative, spiritual, and philosophic study, the Dalai Lama presents a brilliant analysis of why all avenues of inquiry—scientific as well as spiritual—must be pursued in order to arrive at a complete picture of the truth. Through an examination of Darwinism and karma, quantum mechanics and philosophical insight into the nature of reality, neurobiology and the study of consciousness, the Dalai Lama draws significant parallels between contemplative and scientific examinations of reality. This breathtakingly personal examination is a tribute to the Dalai Lama’s teachers—both of science and spirituality. The legacy of this book is a vision of the world in which our different approaches to understanding ourselves, our universe, and one another can be brought together in the service of humanity.

The Universe As We Find It

The Universe As We Find It
Author: John Heil
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2012-07-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199596204

In this book the author what it means to be physical, mental, or abstract entity, and how they relate to the concept of reality. His answers are framed in terms of a comprehensive ontology of substances, and properties inspired by Descartes, Locke, their successors, and their latter day exemplars.

Meeting the Universe Halfway

Meeting the Universe Halfway
Author: Karen Barad
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 548
Release: 2007-07-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780822339175

A theoretical physicist and feminist theorist, Karen Barad elaborates her theory of agential realism, a schema that is at once a new epistemology, ontology, and ethics.

Consciousness and the Universe: Quantum Physics, Evolution, Brain & Mind

Consciousness and the Universe: Quantum Physics, Evolution, Brain & Mind
Author: Sir Roger Penrose
Publisher: Science Publishers
Total Pages: 824
Release: 2017-11-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781938024306

List Price: $48.007" x 10" (17.78 x 25.4 cm) Black & White on White paper828 pagesScience PublishersISBN-13: 978-1938024511 ISBN-10: 1938024516 BISAC: Science / Physics / Quantum TheoryIs consciousness an epiphenomenal happenstance of this particular universe? Or does the very concept of a universe depend upon its presence? Does consciousness merely perceive reality, or does reality depend upon it? Did consciousness simply emerge as an effect of evolution? Or was it, in some sense, always "out there" in the world? These questions and more, are addressed in this special edition.

Biophysics Of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach

Biophysics Of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach
Author: Roman R Poznanski
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 665
Release: 2016-08-25
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9814644277

The problem of how the brain produces consciousness, subjectivity and 'something it is like to be' remains one of the greatest challenges to a complete science of the natural world. While various scientists and philosophers approach the problem from their own unique perspectives and in the terms of their own respective fields, Biophysics of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach attempts a consilience across disparate disciplines to explain how it is possible that an objective brain produces subjective experience.This volume unites the crème de la crème of physicists, neuroscientists, and psychiatrists in the attempt to understand consciousness through a foundational approach encompassing ontological, evolutionary, neurobiological, and Freudian interpretations with the focus on conscious phenomena occurring in the brain. By integrating the perspectives of these diverse disciplines with the latest research and theories on the biophysics of the brain, the book tries to explain how consciousness can be an adaptive and causal element in the natural world.

Formal Axiology and Its Critics

Formal Axiology and Its Critics
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2021-08-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004495967

Formal Axiology and Its Critics consists of two parts, both of which present criticisms of the formal theory of values developed by Robert S. Hartman, replies to these criticisms, plus a short introduction to formal axiology. Part I consists of articles published or made public during the lifetime of Hartman to which he personally replied. It contains previously published replies to Hector Neri Castañeda, William Eckhardt, and Robert S. Brumbaugh, and previously unpublished replies to Charles Hartshorne, Rem B. Edwards, Robert E. Carter, G.R. Grice, Nicholas Rescher, Robert W. Mueller, Gordon Welty, Pete Gunter, and George K. Plochmann in an unfinished but now completed article on which Hartman was working at the time of his death in 1973. Part II consists of articles presented at recent annual meetings of the R.S. Hartman Institute for Formal and Applied Axiology that continue to criticize and further develop Hartman's formal axiology. An article by Rem B. Edwards raises serious unanswered questions about formal axiology and ethics. Another by Frank G. Forrest shows how the formal value calculus based on set theory might answer these questions, and an article by Mark A. Moore points out weaknesses in the Hartman/Forrest value calculus and develops an alternative calculus based upon the mathematics of quantum mechanics. While recognizing that unsolved problems remain, the book intends to make the theoretical foundations and future promise of formal axiology much more secure. Open Access funding for this volume has been provided by the Robert S. Hartman Institute.