The disunity of American culture : science, religion, technology, and the secular state / John C. Caiazza.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Caiazza, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Political aspects.

Science.

Civilization.

United States--Civilization--21st century.

United States.

Politics and culture--United States.

Politics and culture.

Religion and politics--United States.

Religion and politics.

Technology and state--United States.

Technology and state.

Science--Political aspects--United States.

Secularism--United States.

Secularism.

Physical Description:

ix, 286 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick : Transaction Publishers, [2013]

Summary:

The universe is not a machine that operates with the same set of rules, but rather a living, growing organism that can be viewed in two ways: one can admire the intricacy of the cosmological process on the physical, chemical, and astronomical levels, or one can look at this process as a result of design or providence. These two options should not preclude each other, John C. Caiazza asserts; we should instead look closely at what science reveals about design. This volume offers an opportunity to reconcile the thinking of those who hold to traditional religious views on the origins of the universe and those who look to scientific explanations. Religion and science are both ways of giving moral and intellectual order to the universe, enabling mankind to cope with a chaotic universe and live well. Both sharp contemporary sensitivity to individual opinions and protection of the individual from social control. Both science and religion share a sense that postmodern culture lacks structure. John C. Caiazza shows how renewed attention to religious and scientific insights can resolve longstanding conflicts, providing postmodern society with a vision of tolerable order. Book jacket.

Contents:

Dissonant themes in American culture

America, inventor of religions

How Tufts University lost its religion

Three representative responses to decline

The actual origins of modern science

Athens and Jerusalem in the twenty-first century

The counterrevolution in the philosophy of science

Atoms in the cultural void: Steven Weinberg's material dreams

Edward O. Wilson's grand unified theory: God and man in the biological universe

Stanley Milgram's famous experiments and the awful authority of social science

The social decline of physical theory

Three religious fragments

Decline of the American philosophy: a tragedy in three acts

The arrival of techno-secularism

Sex and the secular state

Inevitable monotheism: why God hasn't altogether left the public square

Cultural disunity, toleration, and the secular state.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781412851688

1412851688

OCLC:

813690844