| Description |
1 online resource (xiii, 297 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Introduction / Alan H. Batten -- The "purpose" of chance in light of the physical basis of evolution / Robert H. Haynes -- The gene seemed as inaccessible as the materials of the galaxies / Barry W. Glickman -- From selfish DNA to Gaia: one molecular biologist's view of the evolutionary process / W. Ford Doolittle -- The large-scale structure of the universe / P.J.E. Peebles -- Of stars, planets, and life / Michael W. Ovenden -- Is the physical universe natural / W.G. Unruh -- Coincidences: mundane and cosmological / Ian Hacking -- Diretionalite, intentionnalite, et analogie dans l'approche de l'univers / Jean-Paul Audet -- The ecopoiesis of Daisy World / James E. Lovelock -- The earth and its life: geologic record of interactions and controls / Jan Veizer -- An anthropocentric view of the universe: evidence from geology / Digby J. McLaren -- Origin of consciousness / Richard Swinburne -- The origin of human communication / Doreen Kimura -- More gaps for God? / Hugo Meynell -- In the beginning is the dance of love / Ravi Ravindra -- Science, design, and ambiguity: concluding reflections / Terence Penelhum |
| Summary |
Does the universe have the character it has because of design? In this collection of essays first presented at a symposium sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Royal Society of Canada, seventeen scientists and philosophers re-examine the "Argument by Design" in light of current scientific theories. Scientists in such diverse fields as cosmology, physics, geology, biology, and psychology provide syntheses of the state of their respective disciplines with regard to questions such as the origin or evolution of the universe and of life, the interaction of life and terrestrial environment, and verbal communication in prehumans. Contributions by philosophers cover such areas as arguments for as designer and the question of whether nature's laws and initial conditions could be viewed as "fine tuned" for the production of life. Many of the chapters demonstrate the awe-inspiring success of modern science in explaining the universe in terms of fairly straightforward natural laws, countering those versions of the design argument which try to find evidence of God's activities in the supposed failures of scientific laws to cover various phenomena. This book not only raises important questions about our understanding of the world and its origins abut also provides a fascinating view of the different perspectives on this topic |
| Notes |
At head of title: The Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references |
| Notes |
English |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Cosmology.
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Cosmogony.
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Life -- Origin.
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Teleology.
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Cosmogony -- Congresses
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Cosmology -- Congresses
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Life -- Origin -- Congresses
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Teleology -- Congresses
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cosmology.
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SCIENCE -- Astronomy.
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SCIENCE -- Cosmology.
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Cosmogony
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Cosmology
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Life -- Origin
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Teleology
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Kosmologie
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Kongress
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Kosmogonie
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Leben
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Entstehung
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Teleologie
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Kosmologie.
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| Genre/Form |
Conference papers and proceedings
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Robson, John M., editor
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Royal Society of Canada.
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Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
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| LC no. |
88182430 |
| ISBN |
9780773561441 |
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0773561447 |
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