Customer Reviews

Religion and Scientific Naturalism: Overcoming the Conflicts (Suny Series in Constructive Postmodern Thought) (Suny Series, Constructive Postmodern Thought)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The ongoing attempt to reconcile religion with science is understandably challenging as we try to encompass the infinite within our finite human rationality. This book does a good job of framing the discussion.

This book's approach is to classify "religion" and "science" into two categories each.
1. Supernaturalism (religion-sup) holds that God is outside and independent of creation and can affect it from the outside.
2. Non-supernatural religion (religion-ns) holds that God is a part of creation and is not outside of its laws and rules, and must work within them.

3. Scientific-atheistic-materialistic science (naturalism-sam) says that the material universe is all there is, and we can only know what can be perceived via our five senses. This version of naturalism is necessarily atheistic and deterministic (our "minds" are an illusion of our physical brains, and there is no freedom of action, all actions are prescribed by the action/reaction of the matter that composes us.)

4. Non-supernatural science (naturalism-ns) does not insist on only a materialist perspective. Since our consciousness is a self-evident aspect of our existence, we can also know things via non-sensate experience (introspection, etc.)

The author's thesis is that a combination of religion-ns and naturalism-ns can bring fruitful reconciliation of impasses between religion and science. If we accept that God is a part of nature (Griffin's analogy is that God is the "mind" of creation as a human mind is part of the body), and that science includes non-material matters, we can overcome difficulties associated with the religion-sup (why does a good, all-powerful God allow evil?) and naturalism-sam (if the material is all there is, how do we explain our consciousness in a satisfying way?).

This metaphysical viewpoint also provides fresh perspectives to consider such areas as parapsychology (which materialism-sam rules out a priori), and reconciling the creation/evolution debate. Griffin presents an interesting discussion of both subjects. Particularly helpful is his is identification of 14 different iterations of "Darwinian evolution" that have been discussed, showing that when people speak of "evolution" it is important to identify/clarify which of the 14 iterations they have in mind. Griffin thoroughly explores all the nuances of these iterations of Darwinism, invaluably framing this topic for future debates.

Also interesting is his proposal that the materialist perspective of science, and the "ex nihilio" religious view that God was apart/outside of creation, were not settled on from the beginning but are fairly recent developments in past centuries.

While I do not completely concur with Griffin's premises and conclusions (I have no problem with the concept of an all-powerful "supernatural" God who could take six days to create a world that appears physically to have been in existence for billions of years, or who self-defines what is good and evil and who is not subject to our human formulations of logic, rationality, etc.), I found this book very interesting and helpful to clarify the issues, and thus I give it five stars.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I especially like Griffin's coverage of the historical events and philisophical issues surrounding the science-religion debate. I think that he effectively discusses the history of science and the enlightnment within the context of 18th, 19th, and 20th century religiousity (i.e., deism, atheism, etc.). I also like his description of how science influenced religion and vice versa during the previous centuries. These well-constructed discussions are presented in the first few chapters.
Although I don't agree with his synthesis of science and religion (specifically, I don't favor rejecting God's supernaturalism), he does a good job of educating the reader on how important issues such as supernaturalism, determinism, and free will, etc. play a role in the issue of reconciling science and religious beliefs. I sometimes found myself saying, "that is a great insight."

If I have to pick something I did not like it would have to be his lengthy coverage of Darwinism. He presents a Process Theologian interpretation of Darwinism to support his viewpoint. I found this long discussion tedious, but others may find it interesting.

IMO, this book is a good read.

Dave

This book is a venture in constructive philosophy concerning the relation of science and religion. The central question he addresses is whether there is anything essential to science that is in conflict with any beliefs essential to religion, especially theistic religion. According to Griffin, to claim that there is no essential conflict requires that religion is not equated with supernaturalism and that science is not equated with a maximal naturalism. Harmony between the two can occur if and only if theism were to give up all remnants of supernaturalism in favor of theistic naturalism, and if science were to give up reductionistic naturalism in favor if a minimal naturalism restricted to the rejection of supernatural worldviews.

Griffin argues that science and religion do not need radically to redefine themselves for the sake of reconciliation. Alfred North Whitehead provides for Griffin the grand philosophical system, with its "wider and more open form of naturalism," that makes room for both. Harmony is to be effected by integrating science and religion into the philosophical worldview of Whitehead. Foundational to this claim is that religion needs to be understood in terms of naturalistic theism or panentheism, rather than supernaturalism. According to Griffin, it is not correct to assume that theistic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, require supernaturalism.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on science, religion, and naturalism. Griffin traces the development of maximal naturalism (the materialistic version of scientific naturalism) and shows how it leads to conflict with many forms of religion. He also looks at various methods of harmonizing science and religion that challenge his approach and theses- that religion can thrive without supernaturalism and that science rightly presupposes naturalism in the minimal sense. Griffin then begins the exposition of his position of harmonizing science and religion in terms of "minimal naturalism."

Part two shows how Whitehead's naturalism provides the basis for harmonizing religious and scientific beliefs in relation to some issues on which there has been considerable conflict during the last modern period. Issues raised include the mind-body relation, materialism and dualism, the Cartesian view of matter, and the relations between religious beliefs and parapsychology. Griffin then explains the issue at the heart of the conflict- the idea from a theistic view that the world is created out of nothing by a supernatural creator rather than coming about by a naturalistic evolutionary process. He suggests that Whitehead's theistic naturalism provides a resource for developing a position combining the strengths of both views while avoiding their pitfalls.

Though pastors and educated lay readers will find it accessible, the text is intended for an academic, rather than an ecclesiastical, audience. Griffin provides a valuable service in presenting a thoughtful challenge and critique of "scientism," a strong version of naturalism that is equated with sensationism, atheism, materialism, determinism, and reductionism.

However, Griffin's harmonization of science and religion is an accommodation of theism to science and naturalism. While arguing against a strong version of scientific naturalism, Griffin agrees with the contemporary affirmation that theists have the epistemic right to believe what they wish; however, so long as they understand their sacred texts in a general straightforward manner, they ought not to claim or pretend that they hold justified, rational, or true beliefs since they conflict with well-established scientific claims or panentheism. Such a restriction derives from the notion of science and philosophy as the paradigm of plausibility, a hallmark of secularism.

Given the assumptions of Whitehead's philosophy or process theology, Griffin's argument is a consistent and clear harmonization of science and religion. Even for those who do not go agree with "process philosophy" or panentheism, Griffin's work is helpful for thinking about science and religion and struggling with the issue of incommensurablity. Griffin rightly insists that the overriding issue in this discussion is that of worldview. He claims that the worldview of reductionistic naturalism falters, but can panentheism withstand worldview critiques? This is a question for another book.

There is another way to view the relation of theism and science apart from a panentheistic harmonization. The theist can be confident in a discussion on the nature and use of science precisely because the theistic worldview provides the necessary preconditions for the intelligibility of the scientific enterprise. In other words, without the philosophical, theological, and epistemological aspects of the theistic worldview, the scientific discipline is at best arbitrary and at worse undermined. The naturalist account of science, understood in either a maximal or minimal sense, falters under the weight of numerous internal contradictions. Scientific naturalism is able to avoid nihilism and skepticism only by being inconsistent with its own worldview and by relying on "borrowed capital" from the theistic worldview.

David Ray Griffin, in this work, shows how "Whiteheadian process metaphysics" can reconcile what apparently has been hitherto irreconcilable - namely, the religious and scientific worldviews. In the first half of the book, he discusses how this conflict developed by tracing the philosophical history of dualism and materialism. Griffin avers that atheistic or scientific materialism actually has its basis in the dualistic worldview of supernatural theism. In the second half of the book, Griffin tackles the mind/body problem, parapsychology, and the theory of evolution.

The panexperientialist ontology of process metaphyics provides a rather simple solution to the mind/body problem - there's an ongoing oscillation of the "actual occasions of experience" (the technical term for the Whiteheadian fundamental unit of reality) between subjectivity and objectivity. Griffin's trenchant analysis of the evidence for psi phenomena (e.g. telepathy and psychokinesis) was superb. And it was here that I learned that the primary reason why parapsychology has not been widely accepted in the scientific community is because of dogma - i.e. materialism precludes the possibility of psi phenomena. However, this should not be a valid reason to a priori discount the evidence. If your theory does not account for the evidence, then you should modify or revamp your theory. That being said, Griffin shows that process metaphysics not only accounts for the evidence but actually predicts it. What I was not prepared for was Griffin's assault on neo-Darwinism (the present version of evolutionary theory held to be orthodox in the scientific community). To be sure, Griffin does not reject the reality of evolution as a historical fact. But he does reject the notion that the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution adequately accounts for the evidence presented by the fossil record. More precisely, he rejects the idea that macroevolution can be explained in terms based on the principles of microevolution (i.e. natural selection and random variations). Griffin then argues for a saltational (sudden leaps or jumps) theory of evolution based on process thought.

I highly recommend this book for those who are searching how to reconcile the religious and scientific perspectives into one overarching worldview.

Through his book, Mr. Griffin has helped me answer one of the big questions that has bothered me since my undergraduate years in Electrical Engineering - how to resolve my sense of mystery in the world around me with my understanding and appreciation of the scientific method of inquiry. In a nutshell, the answer is that both Science and Religion have to give up some long held beliefs and dogmatic statements of "fact." Put succinctly;

"Belief in the supernatural causes problems for religion it can not solve, and supernaturalism makes religion incompatible with science. For both reasons, religion needs to give it up." 

"Belief in materialism causes problems for science it can not solve, and materialism makes science incompatible with religion. For both reasons, science needs to give it up."

In addition to the views on resolution of this de facto conflict between religion and science, Mr. Griffin's book has shed a considerable amount of light on my meager understanding of Alfred North Whitehead's writings around what I refer to as Process Theology. It has encouraged me to study further my own philosophy and theology and to explore how it fits with my understanding of the material world. As a technologist, it seems imperative for me to clearly understand this issue if for no other reason than to have a sound basis for ethical conduct in our increasingly technology dependent society. So to that end, this book is must reading for all of us, since we will all have to make ethical decisions about advancement in technology from creation of "spiritual machines," to genetic manipulation.

This is a difficult read, for it is geared to persons with some prior knowledge of what both science and theology are all about. It is, however, a read well worth the time.

I have a review of it on my web site at www.burgy.50megs.com/griffin.htm

I have rated it as a 5-star not because I totally agree with it -- but because it made me THINK. "The central question of the book is simply whether there is anything essential to science that is in conflict with any beliefs essential to vital religion, especially theistic religion. The author's answer is No.

The full significance of this book will begin to be realized as cultural evolution unfolds in the next few decades. Professor Griffin has dealt a deathblow to materialism. Atheistic scientism has been demolished on its own terms. But in addition to clearing away the debris of atheistic orthodoxy, Griffin also presents a spiritually-fragrant alternative ontology and epistemology upon which the next great phase of human civilization can be built. This book firmly establishes Griffin as Whitehead's rightful heir, and the leading philosopher of the 21st century -- so far.

Although I would not share as such the perspective of this book, it is a very useful and provocative exploration of many issues current evolutionary theory, as it collides with religion, cannot deal with, because its assumptions of naturalism simply eliminate the problem rather than solving it. Darwinists are often charged thus with naturalistic preconceptions, then judged by a very narrow standard on this score, and we end with miraculous explanations for punctuated equilibrium, and other nonsense. This work by taking a far broader tack stands in the line of a greater tradition of naturalism, that reminds one of the 'evolutionary naturalism' of W. Sellars, and indeed the work summons the philosopher Whitehead to this debate, from which he has been exiled. The author, for example (and this is only a part of the argument) quite audaciously brings in the issue of parapsychology, although this is and will remain problematical. Every culture of man, with the possible exception of various subcultures of the Indian yogic traditions, has been totally confused on this point, and the final confusion is the positivist attempt to declare there is no such subject. It is not surprising that science should take this approach, but the result instantly vitiates the very basis of theory, for the subject has been amputated. However, it is never promising to pursue this area lightly, and it would seem dubious to make it a basis for a new spiritual evolutionism, if the antiquated yet sound traditions of the Buddhist variety always had better sense in their emphasis, not on the marginal parapsychology, but self-consciousness itself. The book generates a kind of constructive dialectical sparring and evokes a side of modernism we forget, from the lost hermetic traditions, to the pantheism, panentheism, and such of many from Leibnitz to Hegel, whose explorations have succumbed to idealist cliches, blinding us to the degenerated condition of the current spectrum of thought. Such issues have traditionally shown little promise however and would not easily resolve the religion-science dilemmas if we consider the great theosophical deviations they would generate. The turtling down of current positivistic evolutionism is a measure of self-defense.

The author's delineation of the types of naturalism with a subscripted terminology, e.g. naturalism-sam and naturalism-ns, and darwinism-1 to darwinism-8, etc,... is clarifying and useful. The retreat to a form of naturalism-ns (no supernatural)is very acute, and would probably relieve the current concealed metaphysics in the Darwinist enterprise, whose flaws the author analyzes at great length. Very provocative book, whatever one's views of its affirmations.