Conversations on Human Nature
Routledge 2015
Recent empirical and philosophical research into the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens, the origins of the mind/brain, and the development of human culture has sparked heated debates about what it means to be human and how knowledge about humans from the sciences and humanities should be understood. Conversations on Human Nature, featuring 20 interviews with leading scholars in biology, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and theology, brings these debates to life for teachers, students, and general readers. The book: - outlines the basic scientific, philosophical and theological issues involved in understanding human nature; -organizes material from the various disciplines under four broad headings: (1) evolution, brains and human nature; (2) biocultural human nature; (3) persons, minds and human nature, (4) religion, theology and human nature; -concludes with Fuentes and Visala's discussion of what researchers into human nature agree on, what they disagree on, and what we need to learn to resolve those differences.
Verbs, Bones and Brains: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Nature
University of Notre Dame Press 2017
The last few decades have seen an unprecedented surge of empirical and philosophical research into the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens, the origins of the mind/brain, and human culture. This research and its popular interpretations have sparked heated debates about the nature of human beings and how knowledge about humans from the sciences and humanities should be properly understood. The goal of Verbs, Bones, and Brains: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Nature is to engage these themes and present current debates, discussions, and discourse for a range of readers. The contributors bring the discussion to life with key experts outlining major concepts paired with cross-disciplinary commentaries in order to create a novel approach to thinking about, and with, human natures. Their common concern is to set aside the rigid distinctions between biology and culture that have made such discussions problematic. First, informing their approach is an acknowledgment of the widespread disagreement about such basic metaphysical and epistemological questions as the existence of God, the nature of scientific knowledge, and the existence of essences, among other topics. Second, they try to identify and explicate the assumptions that enter into their conceptualizations of human nature. Throughout, they emphasize the importance of seeking a convergence in our views on human nature, despite metaphysical disagreements. They caution that if convergence eludes us and a common ground cannot be found, this is itself a relevant result: it would reveal to us how deeply our questions about ourselves are connected to our basic metaphysical assumptions. Instead, their focus is on how the interdisciplinary and possibly transdisciplinary conversation can be enhanced in order to identify and develop a common ground on what constitutes human nature.
Johdatus uskonnonfilosofiaan
Kirjapaja 2011
Voiko kaikkivaltias Jumala luoda kiven, jota hän ei jaksa nostaa? Voiko tiede selittää kaiken, Jumalankin? Ovatko järki ja usko ikuisessa ristiriidassa keskenään? Jumalauskon suhteesta filosofiaan ja tieteeseen on keskusteltu läpi historian. Nykyaikaisen uskonnonfilosofian piirissä väitellään yhä vilkkaasti näistä kerta toisensa jälkeen esiin nousevista kysymyksistä. Johdatus uskonnonfilosofiaan tarjoaa helposti lähestyttävän, yleistajuisen katsauksen näihin haastaviin teemoihin. Teos käsittelee filosofisia keskusteluja kristinuskosta ja antaa avaimia uskon, järjen ja tieteen välisten kysymysten analyysiin. Se esittelee sekä historiallista että viimeisintä kansainvälistä keskustelua tiiviissä ja selkeässä muodossa. Teos soveltuu johdannoksi ja käsikirjaksi kenelle tahansa uskonnosta ja filosofiasta kiinnostuneelle.
Theism, Naturalism and the Cognitive Study of Religion: Religion Explained?
Routledge 2011
This book provides a critical philosophical analysis of the claim that contemporary cognitive approaches to religion undermine theistic beliefs. Recent scientific work into the evolution and cognition of religion has been driven by and interpreted in terms of a certain kind of philosophical and methodological naturalism. The book argues that such naturalism is not necessary for the cognitive study of religion and develops an alternative philosophical and methodological framework. This alternative framework opens the cognitive study of religion to theological and philosophical considerations and clarifies its relationship to other approaches to religious phenomena. This unique contribution to discussions regarding the philosophical and theological implications of the cognitive study of religion summarizes the so far fragmentary discussion, exposes its underlying assumptions, and develops a novel framework for further discussion.