6th
International Philosophy, Science & Theology Festival
the
meeting place for enquiring minds
Grafton,
Northern Rivers, NSW, Australia, 27 June to 1 July 2009
LDI President
Jan Visser was an invited speaker at the above Festival, alongside
Matthew Colless, Pamela Wells, Ian and Ruth Gawler, Michael Northcott,
Howie Firth, Norman Habel, and others.
Below is the
abstract of Jan's intervention and a biographical note regarding
the author. Abstracts and bios for the other speakers, as well
as information about the program, can be found at the official
.
Abstract:
The Festival proclaims that “For years these three disciplines
[Philosophy, Science and Theology] have belonged solely to the
academic world and yet they can help us all to understand some
of the most fundamental aspects of our lives.” This presentation
will elaborate on and critically analyze the aforementioned assertion,
specifically from the perspective of one of the fields mentioned,
namely Science. While doing so, the line of thought will be underscored
by references to the philosophical underpinnings of the scientific
enterprise and the history of its evolution.
The power and
robustness of the knowledge framework humanity has developed
through science will be highlighted. Its limitations will equally
be explored. It will be argued that constructive human interaction
with the surrounding universe does not solely depend on insights
acquired through science as we know it and that approaches to
learning and being that transcend—but do not throw out—the
traditional disciplines are called for.
The connection
in this regard with the history of religious experience and expression
is rather arbitrary and likely less relevant when pursued from
the perspective of traditional theology. In fact, some of the
so-called dialogue at the interface of science and religion is
seen to generate more heat than useful energy. More is needed
than theology, science and philosophy if indeed humanity is to
survive and take the next step in its evolution.
Bio: Jan Visser is a theoretical
physicist whose pursuits, starting as a student at the , to understand the nature of nature led him to
become equally interested in understanding what it means to understand.
He thus combined the study of physics with philosophy. Dr. Visser
has a deep interest in and passion for the visual and plastic
arts; literary expression, particularly poetry; theatrical performance;
and music. As a musician he constructed replicas of some of the
historical instruments he plays. He engaged in documentary filmmaking
to clarify for himself and others the complexities of the enduring
conflict in the Middle East ever since the creation of the State
of Israel, where he was a research fellow in 1966/1967 and the
simultaneous migration into exile of the majority of the inhabitants
of Palestine. He worked for several decades on the African continent,
a setting and work environment that inspired his ever more profound
interest in how people learn. It led him to pursue a second academic
career, via ,
in the sciences of learning and the art of facilitating it. He
developed a sense of the limited extent of the planet on which
he lives by walking twice, since 1993, in two times seven years,
the distance equivalent to the Earth’s perimeter at the
equator. He was brought up in a religious family but does not
believe in a personal god. Nonetheless, he undertook the systematic
study of the great world religions as well as atheist writings
as a matter of personal interest. He sees religion—when
seen as a state of consciousness—as distinct from adherence
to a particular belief. More detail at http://www.learndev.org/People/JanVisser/Index.html.
You can also listen to a podcast
of the above talk. Click here
to listen to the podcast of Jan Visser's talk on Not by philosophy, science
and theology alone: Making sense of ourselves and our world from
diverse vantage points. (As this is a 68 MB file, it will take
long before you hear anything. A faster procedure normally is
to right-click on the link and then choose "save target
as" (or its equivalent for browsers other than Internet
Explorer) and download the mp3 file to a location of your choice
on your computer. You can then open the file by double-clicking
on it or transfer it to an mp3 player.)
Some books worth exploring (from
diverse perspectives), not already referenced in the above slideshow,
are:
Shermer, M. (1997). Why people
believe weird things: Pseudoscience, superstition, and other
confusions of our time. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.
Stenger, V. J. (2008). God,
the failed hypothesis: How science shows that God does not exist.
Amherst, NY: Prometheud Books.
Druyan, A. (Ed.) (2006). Carl
Sagan: The varieties of scientific experience. - A personal view
of the search for God. New York: The Penguin Press.
Kaufmann, S. A. (2008). Reinventing
the sacred: A new view of science, reason and religion. New
York: Basic Books.
Noble, D. (2006). The music
of life: Biology beyond the genome. Oxford, UK: Oxford University
Press.
Vilar, E. R. (2008). Is science
nearing its limits?Conference convened by George Steiner.
Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press Limited, co-published with
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
Below is a photographic
impression of the Festival and its aftermath.
(These, and a couple more, photos
can also be found--and downloaded from--the relevant album on
the Picasa platform: .)
Abstract: The Festival proclaims that “For years these three disciplines [Philosophy, Science and Theology] have belonged solely to the academic world and yet they can help us all to understand some of the most fundamental aspects of our lives.” This presentation will elaborate on and critically analyze the aforementioned assertion, specifically from the perspective of one of the fields mentioned, namely Science. While doing so, the line of thought will be underscored by references to the philosophical underpinnings of the scientific enterprise and the history of its evolution.
Bio: Jan Visser is a theoretical physicist whose pursuits, starting as a student at the , to understand the nature of nature led him to become equally interested in understanding what it means to understand. He thus combined the study of physics with philosophy. Dr. Visser has a deep interest in and passion for the visual and plastic arts; literary expression, particularly poetry; theatrical performance; and music. As a musician he constructed replicas of some of the historical instruments he plays. He engaged in documentary filmmaking to clarify for himself and others the complexities of the enduring conflict in the Middle East ever since the creation of the State of Israel, where he was a research fellow in 1966/1967 and the simultaneous migration into exile of the majority of the inhabitants of Palestine. He worked for several decades on the African continent, a setting and work environment that inspired his ever more profound interest in how people learn. It led him to pursue a second academic career, via , in the sciences of learning and the art of facilitating it. He developed a sense of the limited extent of the planet on which he lives by walking twice, since 1993, in two times seven years, the distance equivalent to the Earth’s perimeter at the equator. He was brought up in a religious family but does not believe in a personal god. Nonetheless, he undertook the systematic study of the great world religions as well as atheist writings as a matter of personal interest. He sees religion—when seen as a state of consciousness—as distinct from adherence to a particular belief. More detail at http://www.learndev.org/People/JanVisser/Index.html.
You can also listen to a podcast of the above talk. Click here to listen to the podcast of Jan Visser's talk on Not by philosophy, science and theology alone: Making sense of ourselves and our world from diverse vantage points. (As this is a 68 MB file, it will take long before you hear anything. A faster procedure normally is to right-click on the link and then choose "save target as" (or its equivalent for browsers other than Internet Explorer) and download the mp3 file to a location of your choice on your computer. You can then open the file by double-clicking on it or transfer it to an mp3 player.)
