Ultimate Explanations of the Universe (26 page)

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Authors: Michael Heller

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10. S. Roush, “Copernicus, Kant, and the Anthropic Cosmological Principles ,”
Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
34, 2003 , pp. 5 –35 .
 
CHAPTER 12
1. See, for example, T.F. Bigaj,
Non-Locality and Possible Worlds
, Frankfurt, Paris &tc.: Ontos Verlag, 2006 ,p. 69.
 
2. Ibid., p. 72.
 
3. See my book,
Theoretical Foundations of Cosmology
, Singapore & London: World Scientific, 1992 , Chap. 5 .
 
4. G. Ellis, “Multiverses: Description, Uniqueness and Testing,”
Universe or Multiverse
, ed. B. Carr, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 387 – 409.
 
5. R. Nozick,
Philosophical Explanations
, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981 .
 
6. We don’t even know whether such a multiverse is a set in the technical sense of the term. There is a danger of it being liable to the same sort of antinomies as “the set of all sub-sets”i n Russell’s paradox.
 
7. M. Tegmark, “The Multiverse Hierarchy,”
Universe or Multiverse
, ed. B. Carr, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 99 –125 ; quote from p. 121.
 
8. G. Ellis, op. cit., pp. 389 –393.
 
CHAPTER 13
1. M. Heller,
Filozofia i Wszechświat
[Philosophy and the Universe (in Polish)], Krakóow: Universitas, 2006 , especially in Part 2 .
 
CHAPTER 14
1.
Genesis
was the book’s title in the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint, which was known already to the Jewish philosopher Aristobulus in the second century B.C.
 
2. Evidence for t his comes in the distinctlymne monic form of the first chapter of
Genesis.
 
3. There is, of course, a vast body of literature on the exegetics of Chap . 1 of Genesis. In this chapter I shall be more intereste dingeneral reflection on the issue of creation rather than technical commentary. In this respect it is worthwhile reading Ernan McMullin’s article, “Natural Science and Belief in a Creator: Historical Notes, ”
Physics, Philosophy and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding
, eds . R .J . Russel, W.R. Stoeger, G.V. Coyne, Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory, 1988,pp.48–79 . M y “unrepresentative sample”from the deluge of literature on the subject also includes H . Renckens,
Urgeschichteund Heilsgeschichte. Israels Schau in die Vergangenheit
, Mainz : Matthias Gruünewald Verlag , 1961;C.Westermann,
Genesis ( Biblischer Kommentar. Altes Testament 1,1)
, Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag , 1974,pp. 197–318; J . Ratzinger, “
In the Beginning...”: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall
, Eerdmans, 1986, 1995; B .L . Bandstra, “ Priestly Creation Story , ”
Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
, Wadsworth Publishing, 1999.
 
4. Cf. J. Moltmann,
God in Creation
, London: SCM Press, 1985 .
 
5. Biblical references in this translation come mainly from the RSV, supplemented by references to the R.C. Knox version. In this passage the R.C. Knox translation, based on the Vulgate, is closer to M. Heller’s wording (except for Pol.
duch
corresponding to spirit/breath in the respective English translations but historically polysemic like the Greek
pneuma
and encompassing both meanings of the two English words), and reads: “Earth was still an empty waste, and darkness hung over the deep; but already, over its waters, stirred the breath of God.”– translator’s note.
 
6. E. McMullin,
Evolution and Creation
, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985 ,p.3 .
 
7. Ibid., p. 4.
 
8. For more on the subject, see my book,
Filozofia przyrody–zarys historyczny
[Natural Philosophy: A Historical Outline (in Polish)], Krakś ow: Znak, 2004, Chap. 2 .
 
9. The first problem addressed by Timaios in his story are the questions, “what is it that has always existed and never known birth?”and “what is it that is always being born and never exists?”The problem concerns the Platonic distinction between the unchanging Ideas and the material world, which is only a shadow of the world of the Ideas. Even if the primeval chaos had always been in existence, it was but a shadow of the world of the Ideas. The same applies to the existence of the ordered world. However the ordered world carries more of an image of the world of the Ideas, since it was fashioned to resemble the latter, therefore it “exists more”than does chaos.
 
10. McMullin, op. cit., p. 6 .
 
11. Interestingly, English versions follow the gender of the Greek noun
Logos
and use “he/ him”with reference to “the Word,”whereas in Polish translations the gender of
Slowo
(“the Word”) is neuter – translator’s note.
 
12. The Shepherd of Hermas (J.B. Lightfoot’s translation), Mandate 1 (1 [26 ] 1),
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/shepherd-lightfoot.html
.
 
13. More on the subject in J. Szczerba,
Koncepcja wiecznego powrotuwmyśli wczesnochrześcijańskiej
[The Concept of Eternal Return in Early Christian Thought (in Polish)], Wroclaw: Fundacja na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej, 2001 , pp. 192– 246. See Joseph W. Trigg, Origen.
The Bible and Philosophy in the Third Century Church
, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1983; Origen of Alexandria: His World and His Legacy, eds. C. Kannengiesser, W.L. Petersen, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988 .
 
14. Ibid., p. 220 . [Translation by T.B.-U.]
 
15. Origen,
De principiis
, I, 1 , 4–5 .
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04122.html
 
16. Origen,
De principiis
, II, 4.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04122.htm
 
17. Augustine,
Confessions
XI, 12 (translated by A.C. Outler)
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/confessions.xiv.html
 
18. Ibid., IX, 14 .
 
19. E. McMullin, op. cit, p. 2 .
 
20. More on the subject in McMullin, op. cit, pp. 11 –16.
 
CHAPTER 15
1. Interesting information on this subject may be found in Z. Liana,
Koncepcja Logosuinatury w Szkole w Chartres. Historyczne funkcje chrześcijańskiej koncepcji Logosu w kształtowaniu sięnowożytnego pojęcia natury
[The Concept of Logos and Nature in the Chartres School: Historical Functions of the Christian Idea of Logos in the Development of the Modern Concept of Nature (in Polish)], Kraków: OBI, 1996 .
 
2. For more on the “medieval crisis”see M. Heller, Z. Liana, J. Maączka, W. Skoczny,
Nauki przyrodnicze a teologia: Konflikti współistnienie
[Theology and the Natural Sciences: Conflict and Coexistence (in Polish)], Krakóow and Tarnóow: OBI and Biblos, 2001 , Chaps. 4–6 .
 
3.
In Libros Aristotelis De Caelo et Mundo
, lib. I, 1, 7,n.6
 
4. E.g. in the
Summa Contra Gentiles
, Chaps. 15 –33 .
 
5. To denote the concept of contradiction St. Thomas uses the Latin expression
repugnantia intellectui:
“things which are repugnant to the intellect.”The evidence that this phrase is synonymous for Thomas with self-contraction comes in the sentence...
propter repugnantiam intellectuum aliquid non posse fieri, sicut quod non potest fieri ut affirmatio et negatio sint simul vera
... (“that something cannot hold due to ‘repugnance of intellects’ [self-contradiction], just as affirmation and negation cannot hold true at the same time”–
De Aeternitate Mundi
,n.2 )
 
6. Productio rei secundum totam eius substantiam.
 
7. Non enim ponitur, si creatura semper fuit, ut in aliquo temporenihil sit, sed ponamus quod naturaeiustalis essetsisi bireliqueretur – De Aeternitate Mundi ,n.7
 
8. Ibid., n. 8 .
 
CHAPTER 16
1. A. Funkenstein,
Theology and the Scientific Imagination from the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century
, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986 ,p. 125 . This book presents an excellent study of the links between theology and the emergence of the experimental sciences. This chapter is based largely on Funkenstein’s Chap. 3 .
 
2.
De Usu Partium
, after Funkenstein, op. cit., p. 125, footnote 8.
 
3. The term “contingent”was first used by Alexander of Hales.
 
4. Cf. A. Funkenstein, op. cit., pp. 179 –192 .
 
5. An expression of this was the famous “Tree of Porphyry,”universally accepted throughout the Middle Ages.
 
6. E. Cassirer,
Substance and Function. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
, New York: Dover Publications, 1953 .
 
7. R. Hooykaas,
Religion and the Rise of Modern Science
, Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1972 .
 
8. G.W. Leibniz,
Théodicée
. English translation by E.M. Huggard.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=206453&pageno=146
 
9. More on this subject in my book
Uchwycić przemijanie
[To Grasp Transience (in Polish)], Kraków: Znak, 1977, pp. 125– 132.
 
CHAPTER 17
1. I. Newton,
Principia
, Vol. II,
The System of the World
, trans. A. Mott, ed. F. Cajori, Berkeley etc.: University of California Press, 1962 ,p. 546.
 
2. Cf. A. Funkenstein,
Theology and the Scientific Imagination from the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century
, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986, Chap. 3 .
 
3.
Principia
, Vol. II, p. 545
 
4. Ibid.
 
5. Quoted after
Newton’s Philosophy of Nature – Selections from His Writings
, ed. H.S. Thayer, New York & London: Hafner Publishing Company, 1974, pp. 38– 39. In Newton’s reasoning here it is easy to spot basically the same strategy applied today in the anthropic arguments.
 
6. More on this subject in D. Kubin, “Newton and the Cyclical Cosmos: Providence and the Mechanical Philosophy,”
Science and Religious Belief
, ed. C.A. Russell, London: University of London Press, The Open University Press, 1973 , pp. 147 –169 .
 
7. Cf. Domenico Bertoloni Melli, “Newton and the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence.”
The Cambridge Companion to Newton
, eds. I. Bernard Cohen, George E. Smith, Cambridge: University Press, 2002 . Cambridge Collections Online. Cambridge University Press. 19 March 2009 DOI: 10.1017 /CCOL 0521651778 .XML. 017
 
8. In fact contemporary cosmology is facing the same problem, as we saw in Part I of this book.
 
CHAPTER 18
1. Published in
Die philosophischen Schriften von G. W. Leibniz
, ed. C. I. Gerhar dt, Vol . V II , Halle, 1846–18 63 ,pp. 190–193.
 
2. In the original the sentence reads
Cum Deuscalculatet cogitationem exercet, fitmundus
.
 
3. G.W. Leibniz,
Theodicée
, English translation by E.M. Huggard
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_ files=206453&pageno=43
 
4.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files= 206453&pageno=52
 
5.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files= 206453&pageno=65
 
6.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=206453&pageno=43
 
7.
Monadologie
29, trans. Jonathan Bennett
http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/leibmon.pdf
 
8.
Monadologie
31 , trans. Jonathan Bennett
http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/leibmon.pdf
 
9.
Monadologie
32 , trans. Jonathan Bennett
http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/leibmon.pdf
 
10.
De Contingentia , in G.W. Leibniz, Textes inédits
, ed. G. Grua, Paris: Presses Univs. de France, 1948, Vol. I, pp. 303–306 .
 
11. Monadologie 46
http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/leibmon.pdf
 
12.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files= 206453&pageno=78
 
13.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=206453&pageno=78

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