In Search of Divine Reality: Science as a Source of Inspiration

Contents

CONTENTS Preface  Introduction  Part 1 In Search of the Transcendental Elements of Human Knowledge The Non-Rational and Non-Empirical Elements in Rational/Empirical Knowledge Chapter 1 The Composite Nature of Knowledge  The Conceptual Foundations of Science  Establishing Facts  The Theorem of the Threefold Basis of Knowledge  The Transformation of Hume’s Problem by the Involvement of the Self-Conscious Mind  Transcendental Knowledge  Part 2 In Search of Transcendental Physical Reality The Non-Material, Non-Real, Non-Local, and Mind-like Components of Physical Reality Chapter 2 The Wave-Particle Duality  Waves and Particles  The Conceptual Consequences  Transcendental Reality  1SCHÄFER_PAGES:SCHÄFER PAGES 4/29/10 11:14 AM Page ix Part 3 In Search of Transcendental Human Nature The Non-Mechanical Aspects of Living Machines Chapter 3 The Human Mystery  The Argument from Evolution  The Argument from Popper’s Three-Worlds Hypothesis  The Argument from the Creation of a Self  The Argument from the Mystery of Conscious Perception  Chapter 4 Chance and Necessity  Tradition of Objectivity Versus Tradition of Purpose  The Laws of Physics and Chemistry  Against Eccles’ Argument from Evolution  Against Eccles’ Argument from the Creation of Self  Rejecting the Animist Covenant  Part 4 Divine Reality Chapter 5 The Importance of the Self-Conscious Mind  The Interaction of Mind and Matter: Information as a Causal Agent  The Importance of the Self-Conscious Mind as a Basis for Knowledge  The Opening of the Universe  1SCHÄFER_PAGES:SCHÄFER PAGES 4/29/10 11:14 AM Page x Chapter 6 Healing the Wound  Objective Knowledge in a Life with Values  The Significance of the Epistemological Paradox  The Self-Conscious Mind as the Basis of Ethics  On the Foundations of Ethics in the Mind-like Order of the Universe  The Transformation of Hume’s Fundamental Problem of Ethics  The Restoration of the Covenant  Epilogue On the Foundations of Metaphysics in the Mind-like Background of Physical Reality  Appendices . The Illegitimate Components of Knowledge  . The Failure of Intuition  . Some Aspects of Causality  . Science and the Humanities  . Popper’s Logic of Science  . Some Properties of Waves and Particles  . Schrödinger’s Wave Mechanics  . The Meaning of Ψ  . Empty Atoms as Platonic Forms  . Some Aspects of the Nature of Quantum States  . Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle  . The Surrealism of Superpositions of States: The Case of Schrödinger’s Cat  . The Pauli Principle  . The EPR Paradox  . The Non-Locality of the Universe  . Some Technical Details Concerning Bell’s Theorem  1SCHÄFER_PAGES:SCHÄFER PAGES 4/29/10 11:14 AM Page xi . The Emergence of Historical Philosophical Views in Quantum Ontology  . Defining a Realistic View of the World  References  Index  1SCHÄFER_PAGES:SCHÄFER PAGES 4/29/10 11:14 AM Page xii ...