Cosmic Teleology and the Crisis of the Sciences Essay example -- Philo

Cosmic Teleology and the Crisis of the Sciences ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes recent work from within the physical sciences which argue for the emergence of a new paradigm capable of unifying the sciences and demonstrating the ultimate meaningfulness of the universe. I argue that while there is powerful evidence for cosmic teleology, the works in question do not represent a new paradigm and neither unify science nor adequately accommodate the evidence in question, but rather attempt to "put new wine in old skins." As Aristotle demonstrated, only teleological argumentation offers a complete scientific explanation, and authentic teleology is effectively ruled out by the hegemonic scientific paradigm which gives first place to mathematical formalism-something which makes possible rigorous description but not authentic explanation. This does not mean returning to Aristotelian science, but rather exploring the "road not taken" when Aristotelian science entered a crisis at the end of the medieval period: generalizing the concept of tele ology so that it can accommodate both the physical (especially astronomical) evidence which created problems for Aristotelian science long before Galileo and Kepler, and account teleologically for such phenomena as chaos and disintegration. The work of scientists like Gal-Or, Bohm, and Prigogine provides important resources for moving in this direction, but a more explicit option for teleology is necessary if the evidence is to be accommodated and the internal contradictions of the existing paradigm to be resolved. There has been considerable discussion in recent years regarding the emergence of a new scientific paradigm centered on holism and self-organization. This discussion has been motivated... ...ohn and Sylla, Edith. 1978 "The Science of Motion," in David Lindberg, editor, Science in the Middle Ages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pedersen, Olaf. 1978. "Astronomy," in David Lindberg, editor, Science in the Middle Ages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pines, David (ed.). 1987. Emerging Syntheses in Science, New York: Addison Wesley. Prigogine, Ilya. 1977. Self-Organization in Non-Equilibrium Systems, with Nicolis, G. New York: Wiley. ________. 1979. From Being to Becoming: Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences. New York: Freeman. ________. 1984. Order Out of Chaos, with Stengers, I. New York: Basic. ________. 1988. "An Alternative to Quantum Theory," with Tomio Petrosky, in Physica 147A: 461-486. Spinoza, Baruch. 1677/1955. Ethics. New York: Dover Tipler, Frank. 1994. The Physics of Immortality, New York: Doubleday