The Found and the Made

This book critically examines how mathematical modelling shapes and limits a scientific approach to the natural world and affects how society views nature. It questions concepts such as determinism, reversibility, equilibrium, and the isolated system, and challenges the view of physical reality as passive and inert. Dan Bruiger argues that if nature is real, it must transcend human representations. In particular, it can be expected to self-organize in ways that elude a mechanist treatment.

This interdisciplinary study addresses several key areas: the "crisis" in modern physics and cosmology; the limits and historical, psychological, and religious roots of mechanistic thought; and the mutual effects of the scientific worldview upon society's relationship to nature. Bruiger demonstrates that there is still little place outside biology for systems that actively self-organize or self-define. Instead of appealing to "multiverses" to resolve the mysteries of fine-tuning, he suggests that cosmologists look toward self-organizing processes. He also states that physics is hampered by its external focus and should become more self-reflective. If scientific understanding can go beyond a stance of prediction and control, it could lead to a relationship with nature more amenable to survival.

The Found and the Made fills a void between popular science writing and philosophy. It will appeal to naturalists, environmentalists, science buffs, professionals, and students of cultural history, evolutionary psychology, gender studies, and philosophy of mind.

Inhalt

AcknowledgementsPreamble: The Barcode of NaturePart One: The World as Found1 What Is Found?2 What Is Nature?3 What Is Science?4 Law, Chance, and Necessity5 Mathematical and Physical RealityPart Two: The World Remade6 Consciousness and Its Consequences7 What It Is Like to Be an Intentional System8 The Rebellion against Nature9 The Ideal of Perfect Knowledge10 The Scientific WorldPart Three: Maker's Knowledge11 The Book of Nature12 The Religious Origins of Science13 Deductionism, or the Proof Shall Make You Free14 Ideality15 Is Nature Real?Part Four: Beyond the Mechanist Faith16 Is Reality Exhaustible in Thought?17 Mechanism and Organism18 Theories of Something19 The Next Revolution in Physics?20 The Stance of UnknowingIndex