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1526The Problem of Trans-Humanism in the Light of Philosophy and TheologyIn J. B. Stump A. G. Padgett (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity, Blackwell. pp. 393-405. 2012.Transhumanism is a means of advocating a re-engineering of conditions that surround human existence at both ends. The problem set before us in this chapter is to inquire into what determined its appearance, in particular in the humanism it seeks to overcome. We look at the spirit of overcoming itself, and the impatience with the Self, in order to try to understand why it seeks a saving power in technology. We then consider how the evolutionary account of the production of organisms does not set …Read more
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836Physics in Catholicism in Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Vol 3. Anne Runehov and Lluis Oviedo (Eds.) (pp. 1718-1729)In Anne Runehov & Lluis Oviedo (eds.), Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Vol 3, Springer. pp. 1718-1729. 2013.Outline: The reality of Catholicism; The question of the development of science; Historical outlook at some transitional moments; When dogma meets science; Contemporary physics and the worldview of Catholicism; Awaiting a 'Grand Narrative' and the final vision of harmony.
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475Contenu, enjeux et diversité des acceptions de l’Intelligent Design en contexte étatsunienConnaître. Cahiers de l'Association Foi Et Culture Scientifique 26 9-43. 2007.This paper aims at introducing a French audience to the Intelligent Design debate. It starts by reviewing recent attacks on any possibility of a rational account of theism in light of the contemporary theory of evolution. A section is devoted to outlining the genesis of the "wedge" strategy, to distinguish it from young earth creationism, and to highlight the questioning of evolution as our meta-narrative bearing on overall conceptions of the scientific endeavor. The arguments propounded by Behe…Read more
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454“What we have learnt from systems theory about the things that Nature’s understanding achieves”In Dirk Evers, Antje Jackelen & Taede Smedes (eds.), How do we Know? Understanding in Science and Theology, Forum Scientiarum. 2010.The problem of knowledge has been centred around the study of the content of our consciousness, seeing the world through internal representation, without any satisfactory account of the operations of nature that would be a pre-condition for our own performances in terms of concept efficiency in organizing action externally. If we want to better understand where and how meaning fits in nature, we have to find the proper way to decipher its organization, and account for the fact that we have found…Read more
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845Nietzsche between the Eternal Return to Humanity and the Voice of the ManyAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (2): 383-411. 2010.Thus Spoke Zarathustra expresses a revolt against the quest for “afterworlds.” Nietzsche is seen transferring rationality to the body, welcoming the many in akingdom of the un-unified multiple, with a burst of enthusiasm at the figure of recurrence. At first, he values an acceptation of suffering through reconciliation with time, and puts the onus on the divine to refute the dismembering of the oneness of meaning and unity of the soul’s quest for joy in eternity. Then confrontingChristianity, he…Read more
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386Remarques sur la théologie naturelle anglo-saxonne aujourd’huiConnaître. Cahiers de l'Association Foi Et Culture Scientifique 22 83-108. 2005.This paper first outlines the main ideas of British natural theology, and shows the perennial value some of them have kept. It then outlines ways of searching for connections between God and nature, seeking traces of intelligence, first in the context of the setting of the modern ontology of the laws of nature, and then in the context of the design argument. It contrasts the positions of Hume and Paley. A presentation of recent "intelligent design" proposals is then offered, from the perspective…Read more
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1589An Improbable God Between Simplicity and Complexity: Thinking about Dawkins’s ChallengeInternational Philosophical Quarterly 53 (4): 409-433. 2013.Richard Dawkins has popularized an argument that he thinks sound for showing that there is almost certainly no God. It rests on the assumptions (1) that complex and statistically improbable things are more difficult to explain than those that are not and (2) that an explanatory mechanism must show how this complexity can be built up from simpler means. But what justifies claims about the designer’s own complexity? One comes to a different understanding of order and of simplicity when one conside…Read more
Philippe Gagnon
Université Catholique de Lille
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Université Catholique de LilleChaire Sciences, Technosciences Et Foi À L'heure de L'écologie Intégrale
Lille, Hauts-de-France, France
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Biology |
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |