Lecture Videos »
Religion after Darwin?,
Q&A after the lecture
by Dr. Philip Kitcher
Many people believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection poses a threat to religion (specifically to Christianity). I shall suggest that, taken on its own, Darwin’s work can be assimilated by many world religions and many versions of Christianity. There is, however, a deeper problem.
The scientific approach that underlies Darwin’s achievements is inimical to all but the most liberal forms of religion. Once this point is appreciated, it is tempting to believe, as the militant Darwinian atheists of our time triumphantly proclaim, that religious practices should simply be eradicated.
I shall argue that this is incorrect, and that a genuinely humane secularism – a real Secular Humanism – should absorb some characteristically religious attitudes. We need to discard the myths offered by supernaturalist doctrines, but we also need what Dewey called "A Common Faith".
Origin of the Laws of Physics
by Dr. Paul Davies
Orthodox science treats the laws of physics as timeless, immutable and universal mathematical relationships that were imprinted on the universe from birth. The origin and form of the laws is considered to be beyond the scope of science.
Recently, however, some physicists and cosmologists have puzzled that the laws of physics seem to be weirdly well-suited for life, in the sense that even small changes would not permit the existence of living organisms and hence observers. One attempt to explain this “fine tuning” of the laws is to invoke a multiverse of universes, each with its own laws.
In my lecture I shall critically examine the multiverse theory, and other responses to the enigma of our 'Goldilocks universe.'
Two Ships at Night,
Q&A after the lecture
by Dr. Lawrence Krauss
At best , science and religion have very little to do with one another. At worst, they are completely incompatible. And what little connection between the two even in the best of cases involves a one-way street. Science may enrich faith, but not vice versa.
Dr. Krauss will discuss modern misunderstandings of this limited connection, coming both from science as well as religion, as well as modern abuses that demean both science and faith. The origin and evolution of the universe will serve as a good (or bad) example.
The Dance of the Fertile Universe
by George V. Coyne
Did we come about by chance or by necessity in the evolving universe? Did
God make us? Can we conclude that there is Intelligent Design to the
universe? To what extent can the natural sciences address these
questions? As to chance or necessity the first thing to be said is that
the problem is not formulated correctly. It is not just a question of
chance or necessity because, first of all, it is both.
Furthermore,
there is a third element here that is very important. It is what we
might call the 'fertility' of the universe. So the dance of the fertile
universe is a ballet with three ballerinas: chance, necessity and
fertility. What this means is that the universe is so fertile in
offering the opportunity for the success of both chance and necessary
processes that such a character of the universe must be included in the
search for our origins in the universe.
In this light I am going to try
to present in broad strokes what I think is some of the best of our
modern scientific understanding of the universe and then return to the
questions above.
Islam and the Transformation of Greek Science
by George Saliba
This illustrated talk examines the often repeated characterization of
the role of Islamic science as preserving the Greek scientific legacy.
It will demonstrate with concrete examples the extent to which Greek
science had to be transformed in order to respond to ritual and cultural
requirements of Islam, thus critiquing that science and eventually
replacing it with a science that was more scientifically consistent. It
was this transformed Islamic science that inspired later on the
Renaissance scientists.
Doubt - Where You'd Least Expect It
by Jennifer Michael Hecht
The recent "God wars" hide how long these issues have
been around. On both the religious and the atheist side,
no one seems to know the history of religious and
philosophical doubt. Indeed, they think it doesn't
exist. But in fact, there has been doubt throughout
history.
There are instances of complete
and lasting rejection of the idea of God or an afterlife
in the Hebrew Bible, in the medieval Moslem world, among
Western scholars during the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. The idea of a past wherein people could not
imagine a world without God is essentially wrong, a 20th
century misunderstanding of the contribution of the
Enlightenment.
Doubt is older than most
faiths and full of paragons of bravery, intellect, and
character. Also, in history, doubters have a much better
sense of humor than do today's famous atheists. Hecht
will get us thinking, talking, and especially, laughing.
Creationism and Evolution: A Historical Perspective
by Eugenie Scott
Since the early part of the last century, American
society has been witness to a very public dispute
between those who deny the evidence for biological
evolution and the scientific community that has been
responsible for working to unearth and interpret that
evidence.
The public image presented by
those who reject evolution has taken many forms over the
years, from a reliance on the Bible as an inerrant text,
to the more recent formulation of "intelligent design,"
which attempts to present the creationist argument as
one of scientifically equal weight to that of
evolutionary biology.
Dr. Scott will
discuss the history of these controversies and offer her
thoughts on the future tactics of the creationists.
Nature, Belief and the Supernatural
by Lawrence Principe
In the
popular press and daily conversation we often hear
events casually described as miracles. This abusive use
of the term, however, leads us to forget that the word
has a precise and highly-restricted theological meaning
that was developed over centuries of scholarly
investigation, particularly in the Latin Middle Ages.
This lecture illustrates how precise
discussions of miracles opened up crucial questions
about the way the world works and the way in which human
beings are able to study and understand it using the
method we now call science. Indeed, several current
science/religion issues are illuminated or resolved by a
careful consideration of the miracles.
Evolution and Religion
by David Sloan Wilson
Evolution and Religion are perennially in the news,
but not for the right reasons. On the one hand we
have debates about creationism and intelligent
design. On the other hand, we have attacks on
religion by evolutionists such as Daniel Dennett in
Breaking the Spell and Richard Dawkins in The God
Delusion.
Both of these are sideshows
compared to the main event: The serious study of
religion as a natural phenomenon from an
evolutionary perspective. I will review the nascent
field of evolutionary religious studies and what it
means for the more general study of cultural
evolution, evolutionary psychology, and the quality
of everyday life.
