Oracles of science : celebrity scientists versus God and religion / Karl Giberson and Mariano Artigas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Giberson, Karl.

Contributor:

Artigas, Mariano.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion and science.

Physical Description:

viii, 273 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Biologists Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson, and physicists Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Steven Weinberg have become public intellectuals, articulating a much larger vision for science and what role it should play in the modern worldview. The scientific prestige and literary eloquence of each of these great thinkers combine to transform them into what can only be called oracles of science. Curiously, the leading "oracles of science" are predominantly secular in ways that don't reflect the distribution of religious beliefs within the scientific community. Many of them are even hostile to religion, creating a false impression that science as a whole is incompatible with religion. Karl Giberson and Mariano Artigas offer an informed analysis of the views of these six scientists, carefully distinguishing science from philosophy and religion in the writings of the oracles.

Contents:

Introduction : The oracles of science

A good devil's chaplain : Richard Dawkins

Rocks of ages and the ages of the rocks : Stephen Jay Gould

Reading the mind of God : Stephen Hawking

A light in the darkness : Carl Sagan

Understanding a pointless universe : Steven Weinberg

A Pulitzer for the ants : Edward O. Wilson

Conclusion : Science and beyond.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [259]-267) and index.

ISBN:

0195310721

OCLC:

67374987

Publisher Number:

9780195310726