Cutting God in Half - And Putting the Pieces Together Again: A New Approach to Philosophy. Pentire Press, March 2010. This book will enthral anyone concerned about ultimate questions – the nature of the universe, the meaning of life, the fate of humanity. It is written in a lively, accessible style, and has original things to say about a number of fundamental issues. It argues that we need to sever the God-of-Power from the God-of-Value. The first is Einstein’s God, the underlying unity in the physical universe that determines how events occur. The second is what is of most value associated with human life – and sentient life more generally. Having cut God in half in this way, the problem then becomes to see how the two halves can be put together again. This is our basic problem: to see how our human world, imbued with meaning and value, can exist and best flourish embedded in the physical universe. This book tackles outstanding aspects of this problem, and in doing so throws out original ideas about science, education, religion, evolutionary theory, free will, quantum theory, and how we should go about tackling impending global crises such as population growth and global warming.
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What's Wrong With Science? Towards a People's Rational Science of Delight
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From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution in the Aims and Methods of
Science, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1984, pp. viii + 299, paperback
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From Knowledge to Wisdom, in Ideas on the Nature of Science, ed.David Cayley, ed., Goose Lane Editions, New Brunswick, 2009, pp. 360-378 (text of broadcast on 18 June 2008).
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From Knowledge to Wisdom, The Ethical Record, Vol. 88, No. 1,
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From Knowledge to Wisdom: Guiding Choices in Scientific Research.
Delivered as a lecture by invitation to the Annual Meeting of the AAAS,
New York, May, 1984, and published in Bulletin of Science, Technology
and Society 4, 1984, pp. 316-34.
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Public Affairs, Spring 1997, pp. 50-56.Are There Objective Values?,
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Wisdom and curiosity? I remember them well, The Times Higher
Education Supplement, No. 1,488, 25 May, 2001, p. 14.
Can Humanity Learn to Create a Better World? The Crisis of Science
without Wisdom, in The Moral Universe, edited by Tom Bentley
and Daniel Stedman Jones, Demos Collection 16, 2001, pp. 149-156.
Induction and Scientific Realism: Einstein versus van Fraassen. Part
One: How to Solve the Problem of Induction, The British Journal
for the Philosophy of Science 44, 1993, pp. 61-79. Induction and Scientific Realism: Einstein versus van Fraassen. Part
Two: Aim-Oriented Empiricism and Scientific Essentialism, The British
Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44, 1993, pp. 81-101. Induction and Scientific Realism: Einstein versus van Fraassen. Part
Three: Einstein, Aim-Oriented Empiricism and the Discovery of Special
and General Relativity, The British Journal for the Philosophy
of Science 44, 1993, pp. 275-305. Is the Universe Comprehensible?, The Ethical Record, vol. 192,
No. 3, March 1998, pp. 3-6. Has Science Established that the Universe is Comprehensible?, Cogito
13, 1999, pp. 139-145. A new conception of science, Physics World 13, No. 8, 2000,
pp. 17-18. Weinert's Review of 'The Comprehensibility of the Universe', Philosophy
76, 2001, pp. 297-303. Observation, meaning and theory, Times Higher Education Supplement,
no. 1,427, 17 March, 2000, p. 30. The Need for a Revolution in the Philosophy of Science, Journal
for General Philosophy of Science 33, 2002, pp. 259-299. Popper,
Kuhn, Lakatos and Aim-Oriented Empiricism, Philosophia 32,
nos. 1-4, May 2005, pp. 181-239. Do We Need a Scientific Revolution?, Journal for Biological Physics and Chemistry, vol. 8, no. 3, September 2008, pp. 95-105. Muller’s Critique of the Argument for Aim-Oriented Empiricism, Journal for General Philosophy of Science, vol. 40, 2009, pp. 103-114. The Metaphysics of Science: An Account of Modern Science in Terms of Principles, Laws and Theories (review of book by Craig Dilworth), International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 23, no. 2, July 2009, pp. 228-232.
The Evolution of Consciousness, The Ethical Record, Vol. 100,
No. 4, April 1995, pp. 16-19. The Mind-Body Problem and Explanatory Dualism, Philosophy 75,
2000, pp. 49-71. Cutting God in Half, Philosophy Now 35, March/April 2002,
pp. 22-25. Science and meaning: why physics can coexist with consciousness,
The Philosophers' Magazine 18, Spring 2002, pp. 15-16. Three Philosophical Problems about Consciousness, Ethical Record
107, No. 4, May 2002, pp. 3-11. Science versus Realization of Value, Not Determinism versus Choice,
Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2005, pp. 53-58. Three Philosophical Problems about Consciousness and their Possible Resolution, Open Journal of Philosophy, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pages 1-10.
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Journal of Physics 40, 1972, pp. 1431-5. Alpha Particle Emission and the Orthodox Interpretation of Quantum
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Foundations of Physics 6, 1976, pp. 661-76. Instead of Particles and Fields: A Micro Realistic Quantum "Smearon"
Theory, Foundations of Physics 12, 1982, pp. 607-31. Are Probabilism and Special Relativity Incompatible?, Philosophy
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Dilemma, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 39,
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of Science 55, 1988, pp. 640-5. Does Orthodox Quantum Theory Undermine, or Support, Scientific Realism?,
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to Occur, Physics Letters A 187, 1994, pp. 351-355. Does Probabilism
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Propensities in Physics, edited by Mauricio Suárez, Synthese Library, Springer,
Dordrecht, 2011, pp. 221-243..
Miscellaneous
Mental blocks and the force of habit: review of Paradigms and Barriers
by H. Margolis, Times Higher Education Supplement, No. 1104, 31
December, 1993, p. 24. Observation, meaning and theory, review of For and against Method
by I. Lakatos and P. Feyerabend, Times Higher Education Supplement,
no. 1,427, 17 March, 2000, p. 30.
1. The Best Short Summary of From Knowledge to Wisdom:. Can Humanity Learn to Become Civilized? The Crisis of Science without
Civilization, published in Journal of Applied Philosophy, vol.
17, 2000, pp 29-44. This can be found as "Target Article 28"
of the Karl Jaspers Forum, edited by Herbert F. J. Muller at McGill University. In addition to the article, there are criticisms of it, by Lewis
Wolpert, David Miller and others, and my replies.
2000
1. 31 Jan 'Start the Week', chaired by Jeremy Paxman, BBC Radio 4, discussion
of "Can Humanity Learn to Become Civilized?", Journal of Applied
Philosophy 17, 2000, pp. 29-44.
2. 11 Oct.: 'The Commission', chaired by Nick Ross on BBC 4; a contribution
to "Anti-Science Culture".
2006
1. 21 Feb: 'Wisdom: We Need a Revolution'. Talk with Jason Merchey and Cop Macdonald, Values and Ethics: From Living Room to Boardroom, World Talk Radio.
2. 18 June: How to Think About Science, Episode 24. An interview with David Cayley about my work on the Ideas Programme, broadcast by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Awaiting Publication Does Science make Metaphysical Assumptions?
The Problem of Unity in Theoretical Physics
Comprehensibility rather than Beauty
Can Academic Inquiry Help Humanity Create a Civilized World? The Need for an Academic Revolution
Simplicity
The Enlightenment Programme and Karl Popper
Atomistic versus Cosmic Physicalism
A Mug's Game?
Solving the Problem of Induction with Metaphysical Presuppositions
Three Philosophical Problems about Consciousness and their Possible Solution