Humanity in a Creative Universe

Description

Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA, 2016. – 312 p. – ISBN: 0199390452In the hard sciences, which can often feel out of grasp for many lay readers, there are "great thinkers" who go far beyond the equations, formulas, and research. Minds such as Stephen Hawking philosophize about the functions and nature of the universe, the implications of our existence, and other impossibly fascinating, yet difficult questions. Stuart A. Kauffman is one of those great thinkers. He has dedicated his lifetime to researching "complex systems" at prestigious institutions and now writes his treatise on the most complex system of all: our universe. A recent Scientific American article claims that "philosophy begins where physics ends, and physics begins where philosophy ends," and perhaps no better quote sums up what Kauffman's latest book offers. Grounded in his rigorous training and research background, Kauffman is inter-disciplinary in every sense of the word, sorting through the major questions and theories in biology, physics, and philosophy. Best known for his philosophy of evolutionary biology, Kauffman coined the term "prestatability" to call into question whether science can ever accurately and precisely predict the future development of biological features in organisms. As evidenced by the title's mention of creativity, the book refreshingly argues that our preoccupation to explain all things with scientific law has deadened our creative natures. In this fascinating read, Kauffman concludes that the development of life on earth is not entirely predictable, because no theory could ever fully account for the limitless variations of evolution. Sure to cause a stir, this book will be discussed for years to come and may even set the tone for the next "great thinker."ContentsHinge of HistoryThe Foundations: The Emergence of Reductive Materialism and the Loss of Our HumanityBeyond the Entailing Laws of Physics and Reductive MaterialismThe Nonergodic Universe Above the Level of Atoms: An “Antientropic Process” in the UniverseA Creative Universe: No Entailing Laws, but Enablement in the Evolution of the BiosphereA Creative Universe: The Social WorldToward the Subjective PoleAre We Zombies with, at Best, Witnessing Minds?A New Proposed Dualism: Res Potentia and Res Extensa, Linked by Quantum MeasurementBeyond the Stalemate: Answering Descartes with the Poised RealmToward a Quantum, Poised Realm, Classical Theory of Mind-BodyToward an Ontological Basis for a Responsible Free WillThe Strong Free Will Theorem: Toward the Subjective PoleThe Subjective Pole and the Quantum EnigmaThe Creative and Unentailed Quantum Evolution of the UniverseBeyond Pythagoras: Must We Have Foundations?Who Are We Knowing, Doing, Living Humans in a Creative Universe in Late Modernity?Self-Organization in the Origin of Life, Agency, and OntogenyKnowing and Being in the World, Aspects of Our HumanityBeyond Modernity? Can We Partially Co-Create a Woven Global Civilization That Serves Our Humanity?