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| #5A SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM | #5B VITALISM |
| I believe that knowledge based on something other than observation and reason is invalid, and that it’s not necessary to postulate that the universe, its life / humans had a Creator. Their existence can be explained by forces acting on matter and random chance. So the universe has no purpose or notion of good and evil, other than the meaning and value that we give it. Life involves only physical and chemical processes, not some vital spirit. Some day scientists will create it in the lab. | I believe living things are holistically endowed with something special, which can be variously referred to as spirit, life force, soul, organizing principle, etc. Life is something more than the sum of its parts--not something scientists will create in the lab. (Note: In China the life force is linked with Ch’i (Qi), in India with prana or kundalini. Most religions involve belief in spiritual beings: in living things with souls, disembodied spirits, ghosts, angels, that natural objects are conscious (animism), etc). |
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WV Theme #5A: Scientific Materialism |
WV Theme #5B: Vitalism |
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--Alternate Concise Characterization with Wikipedia Entries |
--Alternate Concise Characterization with Wikipedia Entries |
| believes reality explained by matter/energy / Materialism | comfortable with spiritual energy / life force based medicine |
| values knowledge acquired by scholarly methods/ Scientism | believes spirit explains consciousness |
| values analytical approach / Reductionism | believes in spiritual or ethereal beings such as angels, ghosts, etc. |
| rejects teleology, appreciates evolution / Natural Selection | may use Animism based hypotheses |
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summary Wikipedia article: Metaphysical Naturalism |
summary Wikipedia article: Vitalism |
| Numerical Characterization with TFJD code: 3121 | Numerical Characterization with TFJD code: 1131 |
| Numerical Characterization with Emotional Volatility VI index: 2 | Numerical Characterization with Emotional Volatility VI index: 27 |
Related Words, Beliefs, Background -- 56 entries Songs self-test Discussion from The Worldview Literacy Book
Questions to Test Compatibility Between This Theme or These Themes and Your Worldview
playing card related: these are diamond worldview themes: individual <---> knowledge card #5 concise description
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More to Explore --Worldview Theme #5A: Scientific Materialism |
| Naturalism (from online encyclopedia) |
| Origin of Life (from online encyclopedia) |
| Human Evolution (from online encyclopedia) |
| Epigenetic Inheritance (from online encyclopedia) |
| Atheism (from online encyclopedia) |
| The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe by Roger Penrose (summary of 2004 book from online encyclopedia) |
| Worldview Watch #37: Defining Life is Worldview Dependent...Duh! And It's Useful! |
| Worldview Watch #9: And Man Made Life |
| ENCODE: The Human Encyclopedia (Sep 5 2012 report from Nature on project to catalogue the human genome) |
| The Origins of Scientific Materialism (1940 article from the journal Theosophy) |
| The Blind Watchmaker (about this classic book by evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins) |
| Blind Watchmaker Applet |
| The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins (book review of 2006 book) |
| "Ghosts in the Material World" by John Gray (philosopher uses ghost stories to discuss materialism in May 3 2013 essay published by BBC News) |
| "Pondering a Universe Without Purpose" by Lawrence Kraus (April 1 2012 essay by physicist from The LA Times) |
| "Deepak Chopra's God 2.0" by Michael Shermer (July 28, 2010, blasts quantum flapdoodle rendition of God) |
| Faith, Reason, God, by Cornelia Dean, NY Times (reviews of books by scientists (some believers, some atheists)) |
| Edge (online thought-provoking website exploring questions "at the edge of the world's knowledge") |
| From Complexity to Life: On the Emergence of Life and Meaning ed. Niels Henrik (review of this 2003 book) |
| Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life, by Hubert Yockey (preview of 2005 book at Google Books) |
| Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails), by Matt Young and Paul Strode (read excerpts of 2009 book at Google Books) |
| National Center for Science Education (dedicated to defending the teaching of evolution in public schools) |
| Life on Earth: Instructions in Three Billion (tiny) Letters or Less (2006 UCTV program) |
| Origins of Life: Papers Supporting Idea That Quantum Processes Were Involved (from Quantum Mind) |
| "New Glimpses of Life's Puzzling Origins" by Nicolas Wade (June 15, 2009 article in NY Times Science) |
| Darwin's Gift: to Science and Religion, by Francisco Ayala (2007 book w/ "rational, measured perspective") |
| "The Interface Theory of Perception" by Gregory Hickok (September 2015 review of theory related to how mind evolved by Donald Hoffman, etal) |
| "How Did Biology Begin?" (science brief from The Economist August 8, 2015) |
| "Virtual Biology: Computer Worms" (report on effort to make world's first simulated organism from The Economist May 24, 2014) |
| "Uniter of Sperm and Egg is Found" by Erika Hayden (article about discovery of protein critical to conception, on Scientific American April 18, 2014) |
| Synthetic Biology: DIY Chromosomes (article from The Economist Mar 29 2014) |
| "Animal Mechanics: A Bug With a Gearbox" (report from The Economist Sep 14 2013) |
| "Near Death Experiences are Electrical Surge in Dying Brain" by Rebecca Morelle (report from The BBC News Aug 12 2013) |
| "Resurrected Protein's Clue to the Origins of Life" by Simon Redfern (article from The BBC News Aug 8 2013) |
| "Astrobiologists Find Ancient Fossils in Fireball Fragments" (Mar 2013 report from MIT Technology Review) |
| NASA's Origins website (explores questions like "Where Did We Com From?, Are We Alone?") |
| DNA--The Double Helix (educational exploration from nobelprize.org) |
| Outer Space Nurseries, by Robert Cowan (Aug 2006 report that "chemistry that gave rise to life on Earth may have begun in space") |
| Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter by Terrence Deacon (more on this 2011 book from Amazon.com) |
| The Artificial Life Project (mission is "to promote and assist in the engineering of artificial life") |
| The International Society of Artificial Life (ISAL) (conferences and conference proceedings on this topic) |
| "And Man Made Life" (article in The Economist May 22 2010) |
| "Seeing God...How the Brain Creates Out of Body Experiences and Religious Epiphanies" by Oliver Sacks (Dec 2012 article on The Atlantic website) |
| Out of Body Experience Recreated (report on scientists' inducing OOBE using virtual reality goggles) |
| "Are Spiritual Encounters All in Your Head? by Barbara Hagerty (part of five part series on NPR, May 2009) |
| "Scientist Creates Life--Almost," by Alice Park (article in Time February 4 2008) |
| BBC News Report on Craig Venter's Progress Toward Goal of Creating Life in the Lab (June 2007 story) |
| Scientism: Philosophy and the Infatuation With Science, by Tom Sorell (read portions of this at Google Books) |
| The Scientific and Medical Network: An International Interdisciplinary Forum for People Exploring Worldviews Beyond Materialism |
| The Shamans of Scientism by Michael Shermer |
| "Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?" (from the John Templeton Foundation website) |
| International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (rejects evolution, supports intelligent design) |
| "Why Everyone Should Learn the Theory of Evolution" (from January 2009 Scientific American on Evolution) |
| Should Science Speak to Faith? (July 2007 Scientific American article provides two perspectives) |
| Worldwide Corruption of Scientific Materialism (Islamic perspective) |
| positive Atheism |
| Science, Religion, Politics, Law and Education (evolution and creationism by Tim Berra) |
| The Godless Fundamentalist, by Lakshmi Chaudhry (review of The Root of All Evil: Richard Dawkins' documentary) |
| The Religion of the Blind Watchmaker (a critical look by Phillip Johnson) |
| The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism, by Phillip Johnson |
| "What is Consciousness?" (science brief report from The Economist September 12 2015 |
| "Sizing Up Consciousness By Its Bits" by Carl Zimmer (article from Science section of NY Times Sept 20 2010) |
| Materialism and the Mind Body Problem, by David Rosenthal (read portions of this book at Google Books) |
| Life 2.0 by Lee Silver (a June 2007 article about rewriting life's genetic code from scratch) |
| Anti-Scientism: Which Side Are You On? (May 2007 post by Robert McHenry with commentary by others) |
| Questioning the Scientific Worldview |
| Charles Tart article (has good discussion of "Science and Scientism in the Modern World") |
| How Does Consciousness Happen? (October 2007 Scientific American article) |
| quotes about atheism |
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More to Explore --Worldview Theme #5B: Vitalism |
| Odic Force (from online encyclopedia) |
| Spirituality (from online encyclopedia) |
| Panentheism (from online encyclopedia) |
| Consciousness (from online encyclopedia) |
| Qi (or Ch'i) (from online encyclopedia) |
| Emergentism (from online encyclopedia) |
| The Vital Force: An Arcane Idea?, by C. Wansbrough |
| What Does It Mean to Be Alive? (chapter one from book) |
| The Philosophy of Biology (from online encyclopedia -- why vitalism has been rejected by mainstream biologists) |
| Nature / Animism (includes links) |
| A Wisdom Archive on Material Force (Eastern / New Age perspective) |
| What is Qi? (or old spelling Ch'i; a vital life force, used in Chinese Medicine) |
| Wellness & Alternative Medicine (from online encyclopedia) |
| Romanticism, Vitalism, and the Life Sciences |
| Spiritual Evolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith, by George Vaillant (more on this 2008 book) |
| Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas (more on this 2006 book that sketches "an emerging worldview that returns soul to the cosmos") |
| Thinking With Your Soul, by Richard Wolman (about spiritual intelligence, preview this 2001 book at Google Books) |
| Healing Through Applying Universal Life Force Energy (Reiki), by David Herron |
| Vitalism / Reductionism Debate in the Life Sciences, and the concept of Emergence |
| "The Emerging New Worldview," by Paul Helfrich (paper re: conscious creation and "consciousness is cool") |
| Consciousness in the Cosmos (essays on the Stoa del Sol website by Beatrix Murrell) |
| "Information is the Difference Between Life and Matter," by Gert Korthof (explains ideas of Hubert Yockey) |
| "Seeking Proof in Near Death Claims" (Oct 25 2010 Wall Street Journal story) |
| Do Miracles Happen Today? by James Arlandson (2007 article) |
| Is There a God? by Marilyn Adamson (presents six reasons to believe in God) |
| The Holy Spirit, by Michael Welker (1989 article by the editor of the 2004 book The Work of the Spirit) |
| Angels (from the Catholic Encyclopedia) |
| Religion and Healing in America, ed. L. Barnes & S. Sered (read excerpts of this 2005 book at Google Books) |
| Therapeutic Touch -- History and Philosophy |
| Therapeutic Touch |
| United Communities of Spirit (a Global Interfaith Effort) |
| Life Force Centre for Natural Well Being (British organization established in 1990) |
| Spirituality and Health Magazine |
| GhostVillage.com ("the web's most paranormal destination") |
| Ghost Research Society (clearing house for reports of ghosts, hauntings, etc) |
| Neither Brain Nor Ghost by W. Teed Rockwell (review by philosopher Liz Swan of this 2005 book) |
| Life, Vitalism, Misusing the Name of the Lord, etc. by Christopher Kelty (article and commentary) |
| What is Nutritional Medicine? by B. Armstrong (article links nutrition with vitalistic life force) |
| Principles and the Practice of Homeopathy, by David Owen (comprehensive textbook) |
| quotes related to spirituality |
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