essay
Altruistic love (or “love of neighbor”) can be directed to kin, friends, strangers, the neediest, and even for enemies. To better understand the profound human phenomenon of such love, a highly integrative approach is needed, one that links the biological and social sciences with philosophical, ethical, and comparative religious themes. The word altruism derives from…
In my last piece for Metanexus, I asserted that evolutionary algorithms cannot generate specified complexity and motivated this assertion by pointing to the failure of Richard Dawkins’s well-known METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL example to generate specified complexity. My point was that Dawkins’s evolutionary algorithm converged on METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL with…
I have only met Ken Miller, a professor of biology at Brown University, the once. This was when we together appeared on one of William Buckley’s Firing Line television debates, part of the side arguing for evolution against a group of critics, those whom I label the “New Creationists.” I should say that on those…
It is now known all across the country and all over the world: The Board of Education in the State of Kansasdecided, on the basis of a vote of 6 to 4, that the children in that state ought not to be taught the theory of evolution, nor Genesis according to Big Bang. The board…
Seen from our earthly abode, they appear as white harmonic formations, gliding across the enormity of the deep blue sky toward their winter homes. Seeing them fly so freely in such a precise manner, one wonders: Are the geese going south because a little hormone in their bodies has triggered a series of actions which…
When Alfred Nobel instituted his prizes at the beginning of this century, he set up awards in physics and chemistry, medicine, and literature and peace. Since then, in his memory, economics has been added. There are some notable omissions. The story is that Nobel’s wife ran off with a mathematician, so that put paid to…
Meta 140. 1999/09/15. Approximately 2350 words. In this posting, we continue our discussion of sexuality, science, andreligion, following-up on Meta 137 in which Michael Ruse wrote on”Philosophy and Sex: Not a Happy Couple.” Below is column from Jay Johnson, who is a Christian theologian andAnglican priest from Berkeley, CA. Johnson discusses Augustine, Aquinas,and Trinitarian and…
In his recent book The Fifth Miracle, Paul Davies suggests that any laws capable of explaining the origin of life must be radically different from scientific laws known to date. The problem, as he sees it, with currently known scientific laws, like the laws of chemistry and physics, is that they are not up to…
In 1992 when the Western world was trying to celebrate Columbus’s discovery with great fanfare, there were many (legitimate) protests from the victims of that discovery and their sympathizers. The moral transgression (whether originally intended or not) in the adventurous accomplishments of Columbus et al. cannot be overlooked from our current framework, but few can…
A one-volume history of Western civilization would surely have to have a chapter devoted to sex, marriage, and related activities and customs, and no less surely would make the claim that over this whole, most important aspect of human flourishing lies the clammy fog of the Christian religion. Although Judaism, from which Christianity came, has…