THE CONVERGENCE OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION: THE PROPHETIC VISION OF TEILHARD DE CHARDIN (INTERDISCIPLINARY, HUMANITIES, PHILOSOPHY, MODERN PHYSICS).

摘要

This interdisciplinary study addresses the relationships between science and religion. It examines three modals of science: (1) the present paradigm of conventional science which is materialistic, mechanistic, reductionist, positivistic, and behaviorist; (2) the 'hyperphysics' of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S. J. (1881-1955); and (3) the New Science, especially relativity theory and quantum theory.;Developments emerging at the frontiers of contemporary scientific thought are discussed. These are linked to the six premises forming the basis for Teilhard's thought: that we live a thinking, unifying, dynamic, ordering, convergent, personalizing universe. This study presents Teilhard's basic assumptions within an updated scientific context in order to better appreciate the nature and direction of his thought as a scientist and his place in modern intellectual history.;Chapter 1, "Introduction and Background," introduces the theme of convergence and establishes the basis for a comparison.;Chapter 2, "Teilhard de Chardin, Scientist-Priest," provides a bibliographic summary of his life.;Teilhard's basic assumptions about the nature of reality, especially on the role of consciousness in the physical world, anticipated directions of thought and theory building which are emerging at the frontier of conventional science. As more of these parallels and correspondences with Teilhard's thought emerge from a variety of the natural sciences, it is increasingly evident that Teilhard's remarkable prescience is being affirmed by a growing number of eminent modern scientists, including several Nobel laureates.;Chapter 3, "Conventional Science," summarizes the historical and philosophical origins of conventional science, including the conventional scientific view of consciousness.;Chapter 4, "Teilhard's Hyperphysics," characterizes his proposal that a new physics include the phenomenon of man, that is, the role of consciousness in the physical world.;Chapter 5, "The New Science," discusses the place of consciousness in the physical world, including the little known "mentalist" revolution occurring in the mid 1970's in behavioral and medical sciences dealing with the human brain.;Chapter 6, "The Convergence of Science and Religion," compares convergent themes common to both hyperphysics and the New Science as revealed by the thought of individual scientists. A summary and conclusions section follows.