MIRACLES AND THE PERFECTION OF BEING: THE THEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15802/ampr2016/72235Keywords:
reality, miracles, divine plan, perfection, theology, beauty of a scientific theoryAbstract
Purpose of the article is to study the Western worldview as a framework of beliefs in probable supernatural encroachment into the objective reality. Methodology is underpinned with the idea that every cultural-historical community envisions the reality principles according to the beliefs inherent to it which accounts for the formation of the unique “universes of meanings”. The space of history acquires the Non-Euclidean properties that determine the specific cultural attitudes as well as part and parcel mythology of the corresponding communities. Originality consists in the approach to the miracle as a psychological need in a religious authority, expressed through the religious and non-religious (scientific) worldviews, which are interconnected by invariant thinking patterns deeply inside. It has been proven that the full-fledged existence of the religion is impossible without a miraculous constituent. It has been illustrated that the development of society causes a transformation of beliefs in gods and in miracles they do. The theological origins of the scientific beliefs stating the importance and regularity of the natural processes have been outlined. Conclusions. Religion suggests emotional involvement and reasoning which is realized by means of a miracle. The modern science reproduces the theological concept of the permanence of God and His will at own level. Through the history of humankind not only the nature of miracle (whereof the common tendency belongs to the daily reality expansion) underwent changes but also its suggested subject (wherein abstraction is in trend).
References
Augustine. The Confessions of St. Augustine. New York, Liveright Publ., 1943. 414 p.
Bataille G. Theory of religion. New York, Zone Books Publ., 1989. 126 p.
Borges J.L. Doctor Brodie’s report. New York, E. P. Dutton & Co Publ., 1972. 128 p.
Dubay T. The evidential power of beauty: science and theology meet. San Francisco, Ignatius Press Publ., 1999. 365 p.
Foster M.B. Political philosophies of Plato and Hegel. 2 ed. New York, Russell & Russell Publ., 1965. 232 p.
Glynn I. Elegance in science: the beauty of simplicity. New York, Oxford University Press Publ., 2010. 304 p.
Halapsis A. On the nature of the gods, or “Epistemological polytheism” as history comprehension method. Evropský filozofický a historický diskurz, 2015, vol. 1, issue 1, pp. 53-59.
Inglis M., Aberdein A. "Beauty Is Not Simplicity: An Analysis of Mathematicians' Proof Appraisals". Philosophia Mathematica, 2015, vol. 23, issue 1, pp. 87-109. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/philmat/nku014.
Kuipers T.A.F. Beauty, a road to the truth. Synthese, 2002, vol. 131, no. 3, pp. 291-328. doi: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016188509393.
Leo the Deacon. The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Publ., 2005. 264 p.
Marcus A. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. London, Walter Scott Publ., 1887. 212 p.
McAllister J.W. Beauty and revolution in science. Ithaca; London, Cornell University Press Publ., 1999. 231 p.
Nietzsche F. Beyond good and evil. New York, Cambridge University Press Publ., 2002. 193 p.
Walhout P.K. The beautiful and the sublime in natural science. Zygon, 2009, vol. 44, issue 4, pp. 757-776. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01032.x.
Weinberg S. Dreams of a Final theory. New York, Vintage Books Publ., 1994. 340 p.
Woodward J. "Simplicity in the Best Systems Account of Laws of Nature". British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2014, vol. 65, issue 1, pp. 91-123. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axt026.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Anthropological Measurements of Philosophical Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).