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Science and Nonbelief
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by Taner Edis
Sales Rank: 107724
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List Price: $18.95
$12.89
At Amazon
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Paperback: 283 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books; Updated Paperback Ed edition November 30, 2007
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1591025613
ISBN-13: 978-1591025610
Product Dimensions:
8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
Book Description
With a New Preface by the Author Scientists have raised questions about religious belief since the earliest development of scientific thought. Over the centuries, as science has become ever more sophisticated and answered many of the questions previously in the domain of religion, more and more people have developed a skeptical point of view regarding religion. Today, many scientists are nonbelievers with a secular, science-based perspective.
In this wide-ranging overview, physicist and acclaimed science writer Taner Edis examines the relationship between today's sciences and religious nonbelief. Beginning with a brief history of science and philosophical doubt, Edis goes on to describe those theories in contemporary science that challenge spiritual views by favoring a naturalistic conception of the world. He provides a very readable, nontechnical introduction to the leading scientific ideas that impinge upon religious belief in the areas of modern physics and cosmology, evolutionary biology, and cognitive and brain science. He also shows how science supplies naturalistic explanations for allegedly miraculous and paranormal phenomena and explains widespread belief in the supernatural. Finally, he addresses the political context of debates over science and nonbelief as well as questions about morality.
Complete with an historical chronology, an extensive annotated bibliography, and selections from primary sources, Science and Nonbelief is an indispensable and accessible reference work on the subject.
About The Author
Taner Edis (Kirksville, MO) is an associate professor of physics at Truman State University and the author of The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science and An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam, among other publications.
Customer Reviews & Comments
Taner Edis has written a marvelously critical overview of where naturalism and supernaturalism collide. Books in this vein tend to be overly biased in favor of one side or the other, but Edis somehow maintains an edge of skepticism toward even his own viewpoints. Strength rests in this book where it points out the incomplete and weak areas of a fully naturalistic account of existence. The tactic utilized seemed to be very effective in that, generally speaking, he shows why naturalistic accounts are the best explanations, why their supernaturalistic rivals are woefully inadequate or just plain wrong, and then he points out the potential weak spots for those who hold to naturalism. I found this approach especially refreshing seeing that this method invites critical reflection on the issues at hand - something that the epistemological methodology of supernatural belief often lacks. Chapter 1: Science, Philosophy, and Religious Doubt This chapter is a very good overview for framing the thesis of the book. It contains the historical background of science, philosophy, and doubt and traces their beginnings in ancient Greece, their revitalization during the Enlightenment and how this trend is (and isn't) being carried into today. This chapter also gives a good introduction to the meta-representational differences between naturalism and supernaturalism. Chapter 2: An Accidental World Providing a primer on our current and mature physical picture of the universe, Edis explains why "commonsense" notions of believing in a Designer-god such as the "anthropic principle" are inadequate when one has a good understanding of physics. I especially enjoyed the exposition of "symmetry breaking" and how this very simple principle accounts for much of the "design" often pointed to. Chapter 3: Darwinian Creativity Makes the case for evolution and its centrality to understanding biology. Edis tackles a wide range of topics ranging from entropy to the ways in which evolution has been reconciled with religious beliefs, from pseudo-scientific Intelligent Design to the propagandist-driven American and Islamic creationism. Chapter 4: Minds without Souls Utilizing neuroscience, this chapter explains why the dualistic notion of a soul or non-material essence is superfluous to a complete understanding of the human mind. Chapter 5: The Fringes of Science Following in the grand tradition of debunking nonsense, UFO's, psychics, parapsychology, and miracles are judiciously dealt with. Chapter 6: Explaining Religion Drawing from the burgeoning and related fields of cognitive science and evolutionary psychology, Edis successfully shows why a naturalistic account of religious psychological phenomena is effective, even if incomplete. It is also correctly pointed out that a cognitive-scientific account of non-belief is needed to complement our understanding. Chapter 7: Morality and Politics Edis takes the exceptionally large issues covered in the book and expounds on their political environment and outlines some of the most common methods and tacts utilized. Covered here as well is explaining both the strengths and weaknesses of morality without a Heavenly Watcher, contrasted with the strengths and weaknesses of traditional transcendental schemes. The author concludes on a stark note, one that I won't spoil for the potential reader. These annotations on the chapters do not and cannot do the volume justice. Edis weaves the thematic content of each chapter into a very coherent whole of a very readable and intellectually rich book.
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Science and Nonbelief
List Price: $18.95
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Price: $12.89
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