Darwin, Humanism and Science–A.C.Grayling
January 27, 2012
Darwin, Humanism and Science–A.C.Grayling
I have posted a number of Prof. A.C. Grayling’s articles on the blog in the past. He is my favorite Philosopher of our generation. In keeping with that, I thought it would be a good idea if we listen to his lecture on Darwin, Humanism and Science. Below is some background that may be useful for us to understand his speech:
http://ottawa.humanists.net/lifewithoutgod/humanism.php
A.C. Grayling explores the idea of Humanism informed by Science
Humanism is a positive view of life that roots itself in the natural world and celebrates freedom, cooperation, understanding, creativity and compassion. It is a philosophy that allows people to affirm that they are responsible, ethical members of society, and justify it in a way that is compatible with modern science.
Most Humanists reject supernatural explanations for everything, including the most puzzling and seemingly unexplainable phenomena. We don’t, however, dismiss that some things that have traditionally been in the realm of theology deserve an explanation. Some of these important things include: The origins of the universe, ethics and morality, consciousness, emotion, and purpose. The project that is Humanism is to assemble natural explanations for all of these things into a view of the world that is logical, defensible, and most importantly: awe inspiring.
Doubt, Critical Thinking and the Scientific Method
“Take no one’s word for it”
One of the most core values of modern day Humanism is that it advocates the use of critical thinking and the scientific method in every aspect of a person’s life. Doubt is a feeling that is cherished by a Humanist because it has proven to be the great engine of innovation and progress.
Many say that one of the most important discoveries ever made by humanity was the scientific method. Since it has been adopted, the human species has been lifted out of millenia of dark ages and stagnation, and into a brand new world of understanding and discovery.
The scientific method is a self correcting process used for uncovering the nature of our world. Humanists believe that we are far from understanding the anything in it’s entirety, and only by subjecting all of our ideas to deep scrutiny and experiment will we ever get any closer. To a Humanist, nothing is beyond scrutiny and inquiry, not even the principles of Humanism! The fact that we are always open to being wrong, or not quite right is what allows us to move forward and grow.
Freedom, Cooperation, and Responsibility
“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”
Take a moment, and try to imagine your life as a hermit with absolutely no interaction with other human beings on a day to day basis. Think of everything that you would be responsible for, and think of how barren a life in isolation would be emotionally. It is a dark thought, but on the bright side, it would be next to impossible to realize in our modern day world.
There are billions of humans on this planet, and millenia ago we had the collective realization that it would be much better for everyone if we organized ourselves and cooperated in societies. Today we have no choice but to play a contributory role in this massive human adventure. Humanists not only accept this fact but realize that respecting our roles as members of society is crucial in maintaining and bettering it.
Unfortunately we have not yet been able to level the playing field for everyone born into this world, and to do so is a mammoth yet extremely admirable goal to which we strive. Humanists value systems of organization and government that encourage peace, freedom, prosperity, diversity, and sustainability.
And how about Richard Dawkins? He lectures on Charles Dawin and Evolution at The Humanist Society of the United Kingdom:
keep an open mind and be ready to accept new facts. if you feel you know everything and nobody can tell you anything new than you are as old and senile as immortal Dr. me(a)d Mahathir.
we malaysians need a government that encourages peace, freedom, prosperity, diversity, and sustainability, urgently! malaysia has all the ingredients needed, only we have to break the shackles and start anew.
reeperbahn - January 28, 2012 at 2:50 am
Get rid of the God Complex. Our problems are difficult and complicated and do not lend themselves to canned or pet or time tested solutions. They require new paradigms and fresh perspectives. If you listen to both Grayling and Dawkins, you will note that they celebrate Darwin and talk about life and sciences in the service of humanity.
Yes, Reeperbahn, we need a Malaysia that is inclusive, passionate about knowledge (science and the humanities) and free of dogma. We need to build a society where we are open and free to think and act responsibly and within bounds of morality. Education is the key to liberating the human mind, not education as a political tool to keep us bottled up in conformity. –Din Merican
dinobeano - January 28, 2012 at 5:51 am
Education but not the BTN type of education where the kids are taught to hate others not from the same race or religion. They are also taught intolerance and nonacceptance of differences.
semper fi - January 28, 2012 at 7:02 am
Dato Din Merican,
To me, its an awe-inspiring topic by the Author on Humanism, although it covers a very wide spectrum – very greatly appreciated.
From the genus Philosophy, it branches off, on one hand, into philosophical humanism as a specie, and on the other, scientific rationalism, as another specie. What i truly appreciate is that both species are compatible, humanism with modern science – not incompatible or contradictory – with each other : they are necessary affecting human life.
He goes on to say : Most Humanists reject supernatural explanations for everything, including the most puzzling and seemingly unexplained phenomena. We dont, however, dismiss that some things that have traditionally been in the realm of thelogy deserve an explanation. Some of these important things include : the origins of universe, ethics and morality, consciousness, emotion and purpose…
Exactly why i had quoted Albert Einsteen’s essay : the World as I see it ( the thread on ‘ the Success of the Jewish Community ‘ – Jan 23rd ) :
“….To know that what is impenetrable to us really exist, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms – this knowledge , this feeling is at the centre of true religiousness….
” I maintain that cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific research….”
Hence, the compatibility alluded to by AC Grayling, of which i am too in awe…
( Btw, Darwin’s Evolution is a seperate but kindred matter, and in its own way, interesting too – period )
Abnizar - January 28, 2012 at 11:23 am
mother earth with her physical laws and the many moods, set the stage for life on earth. life-forms dynamic adaptation to changing conditions on mother earth was the main focus of Darmins Evolution.
everything that happens on this earth happens according to some physical laws – that we know but where these laws come from, we don’t know. this unknown is our God. thats roughly what E. Darwin said.
coming back to our backward thinking politicians: Dato’ we have known that education is being exploited for political mileage but we have kept quiet. if we let it go on a little longer we will pass the point of no return and morph into a country like Syria. God save us!
reeperbahn - January 28, 2012 at 4:52 pm
I think before talking “Humanism”, we have to re-visit the concept of Self Awareness: The “I” and “Me”. Without which, all this philosophical debate is thoroughly unconvincing.
I think Neuroscience and Molecular Biology has reached a stage where the idea of the “Selfish Gene”, Evolutionary Psychology and other Subjective Pseudoscience can be confined to bad Theory.
What it means to be Human? The ‘scientific method’ requires reproduction and coherence of results, which is obviously not possible in subjective anthropological studies. Even Quantum Mechanics and Cosmological Physics are in a sense crystallizing into the Big “I Don’t Know” after the “Big Bang”.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge said this in 1833 and it holds true to all wannabe flurs who worship pseudoscience today and in the foreseeable future:
“The use of a Theory in the Real Sciences is to help the investigator to a complete view of all the hitherto discovered parts relating to it; it is called the ‘Collected View’ (Theoria), of all he knows in One. Of course whilst any facts remain unknown, no theory can be exactly true, because any new part must necessarily displace the relation of all the others. A Theory therefore only helps investigation: it cannot Invent or Discover.” Any arguments?
I think all the Humanists in the world would so well to re-visit the “Problem of Evil”, and understand that they don’t have a clue on who they are themselves, or the nature of reality. None of us do. We are just Approximations!
Marcus du Sautoy, the atheist Oxford professor of Mathematics and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science (succeeding Richard Dawkins), found out here:
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Biv_8xjj8E
C.L. Familiaris - January 28, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Good Question, CLF – What it means to be Human ?
You talk of Self-awareness, which i think that we should also add : that which leads to Higher Consciousness, dont you think ?
I will agree with you about what is unfolding presently : ” Even Quantum Mechanics and Cosmological Physics are in a sense crystalizing into the Big ” I don’t Know ” since the ” Big Bang” , even as Einstein says No one Knows the Impenetrable, but which really Exists….
Thus Humanist/Spiritualist echoes Einstein by the Subtle quip :
” The more we come to Know, the more we Know how little we Know ” in respect of Human Knowledge – What a paradox !
Abnizar7 - January 29, 2012 at 7:41 am
CLF, good link to Prof Marcus’ ” The Secret You ” one of the greatest mysteries of the Scientific quests.
Why not try & recall what you had earlier quoted Meister Erchart, if i remember you said he was a contemporary of AlRumi/Al Arabi , CLF ? Am trying to recall which thread you quoted him.
Together with that, i am also trying to recollect some my own refrences which i had misplaced : The most Exquisite by RON MARSON ” Why Am I Here ? “. The other THOMAS MERTON writing about Islamic Mysticsm. The Dallai Llama is also Exquisite when he said : The meaning of Life is the Embodiment of The Transendence…..they are extraordinary in our attempt to reomove ALL the Illusions, Contradictions and Paradoxes of Life.
Gratefull if you can try….CLF
Abnizar - January 29, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Dear Abnizar, it is not my intention to discuss about the question of Self-Awareness and Consciousness. My ideas of which, are highly individualized and in all probability is not compatible to yours or anyone else. We can only build on those who have gone before us. Both spirituality and science require rigorous self examination. Meister Eckhart, Rumi, Ibn Khaldun, Thomas Merton and Anthony de Mello are but inspiration for monotheists like us. The rest have to look elsewhere.
True science is inextricably bound in the Uncertainty Principle. That is why there are so many scientists who are able to accept the grand idea of God. Heard of Pascal’s Wager? Yet, what we have today as in the past, are all sort’s of “experts” running riot with their ideas of this and that, including Economics, Humanism, Evolution, Creationism, Radiation (including Lyans) and other “sciences” that fail to address the Core of Human-ness.
Pseudo-Science has morphed into Certainty and most people who think they know, do not have Newton’s humility. He famously said: “I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to be only like a little boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than the ordinary, whilst the great Ocean of Truth lay all before me.”
The world would be a better, more inclusive place if everybody admits to Uncertainty, just like in Quantum Mechanics. Humanism cannot be turned into a Frankenstein creation of those who are already privileged, comfortable and intelligent. The Christians who are unblinkered use a similar concept called Agape, which is loosely translated into Charity. It is actually Altruism or Self-Sacrificial Love, for which there is no merit. Can the secular Humanists claim credit for this? Ethics and morality are but projections from people who do not crave merit nor recognition.
C - January 29, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Certainly Exquisite too CLF, very illuminating i must say.
Yup Newton’s humility i was aware, but this you describe of him ” I seem to be only like a little boy playing on the seashore, ….and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than the ordinary, whilst the great Ocean of Truth lay all before me…” a disposition of Sweet Child-like innocence that ultimately made his thoughts to be the greatest Gift for all Mankind. As you say, which i agree, it is their Altruism which was their selfless motivation not to crave for merit nor recognition that became the foundation for ethics & morality as the hallmark of true humanity.
When you talk of the Uncertainty Principle with respect to scientific thoughts, i begin to be curious that, perhaps,what prompted Albert Einstein to say that ‘ cosmic religious feeling is the stronget and noblest incitement to scientific research.’ was his Awe of Creation, and inspires his Emotions to Know & find ” God “….that would be a fair approximation of your thoughts as well, if i may say CLF ?
Abnizar - January 29, 2012 at 11:10 pm
I’m a rogue existentialist and anarchic Christian, my friend. A wise ulama once told me that although we monotheists share the same faith, we see differing aspects of the Cosmic mind and that Christian’s like me have a weird way of internalizing God. I certainly couldn’t argue that.
The uncertainty principle is an allusion to the nature of the Universe. We as humans seek harmony and symmetry. But if the Big Bang was perfectly symmetrical, this universe will not exist as quantum mechanics and the standard model says that the chaos will create equal amounts of matter and anti-matter (baryons, leptons and bosons and their equivalent ‘negative’ partners). They will annihilate as soon as they are formed. So too gravity and anti-gravity. The Tao.
There was breaking of the symmetry or even super-symmetry, and therein lie the postulated Higg’s field and boson. This is the ‘place’ of mysticism and the spirit, that cannot be perceived by our simple minds. To me, i feel as if i’m a hologram projected into space-time by the accumulated energy and information stored at the edge of the Universe. And that paradox is within me to experience, and i call ‘it’: God (Richard Dawkin’s will say it’s a meme). And in a sense, the whole meaning of humanity that is in Jesus. That experience of this Spirit is what gives rise to my Trinitrian faith, which no one can explain, much less me.
The human experience is encoded in our genes. It is not random, but it is surely as uncertain as our emotions. We have methods and techniques that pander to our reason, but the experience is something else ain’t it?
Humans must welcome uncertainty instead of insisting on certitude and control. Only then can we understand the magnitude of our delusion called ‘Nirvana’, the symmetry of non-existence and nihilism. Non-action is the same as not breathing and refusal to answer human evil in all it’s manifestations is akin to dying. Hence, i ask a pertinent question: What is Evil on a cosmological scale and on a human scale? I do not know, but that’s my journey.
C.L. Familiaris - January 30, 2012 at 12:26 am
Wow…dear friend CLFamiliaris, this takes us to ‘another’ level, which is in the realm of the Abstruse, the so-called Ineffable Reality, and A Einstein term it as the ‘ impenetrable’ but that it Exists. Admittedly, there is a degree of ‘prohibition’ delving into this realm – but i could try to meet half-way, my friend, not that i pretend to know… i am in two-minds really…
It is no ‘paradox’ to me when you deal with the differing aspects of the ‘ Cosmic ‘ mind, yours by the Trinitarian approach, from mine in the unitive perspective to the cosmic consciousness. We leave aside the uncertainty principle of Science, which we have discussed, precisely because it deals with “matter” or the material Universe.
The ” other” ( or the impenetrable), described by Deepak Chopra or other renowned Scientists,they term it the Virtual domain , which is the ‘province’ of the spirit – unquantifiable – but correlative to the human self in the Quantum domain of the ” Mind “. But this is where we see the marvels of Creation, by a Supremely Intelligent Force, both Domains have been PRE-DETERMINED by the creation of ” Energy” AND ” Information ” embeded ” therein, which we then perceive as ” Intelligence”, in varying degrees, the highest being man, and other living forms in proportion as in the ” Ladder of Evolution” of the species – so its not random but Designed by Supreme Intelligence – How then can Scientist/man design & create Energy ?
As you yousrself have said earlier, that Virtual domain through the quantum mind, is actually in the realm of the ‘Experiential’ because no human language nor science can describe or express it.
Coming to your ultimate question : what is Evil on the cosmological scale and on human scale. i have to stop at this point, by merely saying this : In the Infinite Wisdom of
Creation, the two opposites of Energy, the negative & the positive which will determine ” good” or ” evil” is given to Man as his Choice, for he will be responsible for his own destiny…Hence, free-will is the absolute prerogative of man himself…
Abnizar - January 30, 2012 at 11:39 am
Ps
Could i just end-up by saying this : the Arabic language in the sacred texts deal prcisely with the ‘ spiritual’ substantially ( called the Rohaniat), and its is very, very ‘ loaded ‘ ie : Arabic language dealing with sacred is a ” very Dense & an Eliptical language “, far different from the worldly or the exotoric language of the Sciences : one deals with ;matter’, the other the ‘spirit’…
Abnizar - January 30, 2012 at 12:02 pm
You are describing dyadic thought, Abnizar. Good vs Evil, Right vs Left, Positive vs Negative, etc. The cause-effect conundrum. I am describing a triadic thought process, that transcends polar opposites and drops out of space-time.
Many see the Universe as a space-time continuum, but the ‘Virtuality’ of the Universe allows the problem of “existence” and all it’s manifestations and emotions to be experienced on a different plane of existence. Many ‘Humanists’ whether secular, religious-deistic, see suffering from their own prejudices. They see evil, ignorance, destruction, injustice and so on from perspectives of materialism or lack thereof. They never question, the fundamental question: “What is Human?”
A San bushman or a Senoi/Penan hunter gatherer is happy in his own environment, until these ‘heroes’ decide to impress upon them that they are lacking in some way or other and should be unhappy. A true Humanist, would not want to interfere with their traditions and life-style, no matter how ‘primitive’ – for it is their God-given Right! A true Humanist would give them a choice of modernity and its accouterments or a short life of uncertainty, but being thoroughly human. The idea is that we are all mortal, and how we die, is more important than all the material goods we accumulate in this life.
For instance, would you consider our past PM who was give the appellation “Father of Development”, a Humanist, or a Genocidal Maniac, manifested as Greed in Extremis? Or is Bruno Manser the epitome of a Humanist? Neti, neti.
C.L. Familiaris - January 30, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Ha…haa…CLF, in that event, my conclusion of what you have just said, is that you would have overcome – prevailed over – illusions, contradictions or paradoxes… serious !
In the cosmological conscoiusness, both negative & positive Energy has no conotations of ” Evil” , it is only “functional” having been created for a purpose/s, and therefore no equation to ‘ sin ‘ there, in that Virtual state, in which you have rightly said of time-space continuum ( not seperate b’coz of velocity of Energy at much much higher speed than light.)
Whereas down to our humanly existence being bound by law of physics or ‘matter’ , time=space has become ‘ seperate’ ( remember Scientist call it the discrete-energy quanta – d,e,q ) – hence, positive. negative aspects of Energy as the deliberate design of creation, for humans to choose, that if the Negative is chosen, that’s ” Evil” equated with ‘ sin ‘.
With that there’s Responsibilty we call it to the Creator.
Because of ” choice” man is endowed with the potential & power to be on the ‘right’ or the ‘left’, but accountable… ( meaning Man can ‘remove’ paradoxes,,,,)
As i said earlier, i was in two-minds…so please forgive me….
Abnizar - January 30, 2012 at 4:24 pm