In this work the distinguished physical chemist and philosopher, Michael Polanyi, demonstrates that the scientist's personal participation in his knowledge, in ...

This excellent collection contains 13 essays from Gadamer'sKleine Schriften,dealing with hermeneutical reflection, phenomenology, existential philosophy, and ...

During the past decade scientists, public policy analysts, politicians, and laypeople, have become increasingly aware of the importance of ethical conduct in scientific research. In this timely book, David B. Resnik introduces the reader to the ethical dilemmas and questions that arise in scientific research. Some of the issues addressed in the book include ethical decision-making, the goals and methods of science, and misconduct in science. The Ethics of Science also discusses significant case studies such as human and animal cloning, (...) the Challenger accident and Tobacco research. This is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the importance of ethics in science. (shrink)

If humans are purely physical, and if it is the brain that does the work formerly assigned to the mind or soul, then how can it fail to be the case that all of our thoughts and actions are determined by the laws of neurobiology? If this is the case, then free will, moral responsibility, and, indeed, reason itself would appear to be in jeopardy. Murphy and Brown present an original defence of a non-reductive version of physicalism whereby humans are (...) the authors of their own thoughts and actions. (shrink)

This fully revised and updated edition of God, Humanity and the Cosmos is an essential companion to the field, with exercises for the student, a comprehensive bibliography, and suggestions for further reading.

An expanded & revised version of Religion in an Age of Science. Three new chapters on physics & metaphysics in the 18th century and biology & theology in the 19th century. Other new sections included.

The digital revolution has drawn us into the “information age,” and information has become central in our discourses of communication, economics, socio-cultural studies, etc. A look into the historical evolution of the concept of information reveals its assimilation into the technical and positivistic orientation, largely shaped by the technically- and mathematically-oriented information theory and the analytic philosophy of information. A hermeneutical view of information is to bring information into the phenomenon of understanding from the perspective of philosophical hermeneutics developed by (...) Hans-Georg Gadamer. Philosophical hermeneutics is not concerned with the art of interpretation, as what the traditional hermeneutics characteristically was, but with understanding as the fundamental mode of being of the human person. To view information within the realm of understanding, or to unfold its hermeneutic dimension, it is necessary to challenge its objectified and reified conception. To achieve this, an elucidation of the essential features of hermeneutic understanding, like its interpretive nature and linguisticality, shall take the aspect of engaging the phenomenon of information in the context of information technology. A relevant conclusion shall reveal the possibility of reintegrating information into the fundamental orientation of human praxis as coming to an understanding. (shrink)