This wide-ranging book offers a valuable exploration of a series of important topics relating to aesthetics and the imagination, which have been under-represented hitherto in the literature of science and theology. It advances our comprehension of the subject-matter of scientist and theologian alike, and can be thoroughly recommended.

Michael Fuller, The Expository Times

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion: A New Book of Nature brings together new essays addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between "new atheists" and religious apologists today is often hostile. This book sets a new tone by locating the debate between theism and naturalism (most "new atheists" are self-described "naturalists") in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven essays will be of interest to anyone who is fascinated by the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature. Representing a variety of points of view, authors include outstanding philosophers of religion and of science, a distinguished art historian, and a visual artist. The book begins with Martin Kemp's essay on the work of the biologist, mathematician and classical scholar D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson in which Kemp develops the idea of "structural intuitions and a critique of reductive thinking about the natural world. This is followed by Geoffrey Gorham's overview and analysis of images of nature and God found in early modern science and philosophy. Anthony O'Hear questions a reductive, naturalist account of the origin of mind and values. Dale Jacquette offers a thoroughgoing naturalistic philosophy of the emergence of intentionality and a unique argument about the emergence of art and the aesthetic appreciation of nature. E.J. Lowe brings to light some challenges facing naturalistic approaches to human imaginative sensibility. Douglas Hedley articulates and defends a cognitive account of imagination, highlighting some of the difficulties confronting naturalism. Daniel N. Robinson offers a sweeping treatment of nature and naturalism, historically engaging Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and others. Conor Cunningham provides an aggressive critique of contemporary naturalism. Gordon Graham investigates the resources of naturalism in accounting for our sense of the sacred. Mark Wynn provides a subtle understanding of imagination and perception, suggesting how these may play into the theism - naturalism debate. The book concludes with Jil Evans' reflections on how images of the Galapagos Islands have been employed philosophically to picture either a naturalist or theistic image of nature.
Les mer
This engaging collection of essays locates the debate between theism and naturalism in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven original essays will be of interest to anyone who is fascinated by the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature.
Les mer
Introduction ; 1. 'Loving Insight': D Arcy Thompson s Aristotle and the Soul in Nature ; 2. Early Scientific Images of God: Descartes, Hobbes, and Newton ; 3. Darwinian Tensions ; 4. Evolutionary Emergence of Intentionality and Imagination ; 5. Naturalism, Imagination, and the Scientific World View ; 6. Homo Imaginans and the Concursus Divinus ; 7. Aesthetics, Phantasia and the Theistic ; 8. Naturalism Lost: Nature Regained ; 9. The Sacred Beauty of Nature ; 10. Imaging Religious Thoughts in the Appearance of Sensory Things ; 11. Re-Imaging the Galapagos
Les mer
Engages with the debate on theism and naturalism in the light of imagination and aesthetics Encourages the use of imagination in thinking through philosophical questions, respecting the value of lived experience Includes essays from a diverse group of philosophers of religion and philosophers of science, with contributions from an art historian and a visual artist
Les mer
Charles Taliaferro, professor of philosophy (St. Olaf College), is the author or co-author or editor of fifteen books, including The Companion to Philosophy of Religion (with Paul Draper and Philip Quinn), The Image in Mind (co-authored with Jil Evans), and Evidence and Faith; Philosophy and Religion since the Seventeenth Century. He served on the editorial board of many journals, including Religious Studies and he serves on the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession [of Philosophy]. Jil Evans is a visual artist whose paintings have been exhibited throughout the U.S. and in Europe and the co-author of The Image in Mind: Theism, Naturalism and the Imagination
Les mer
Engages with the debate on theism and naturalism in the light of imagination and aesthetics Encourages the use of imagination in thinking through philosophical questions, respecting the value of lived experience Includes essays from a diverse group of philosophers of religion and philosophers of science, with contributions from an art historian and a visual artist
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199563340
Publisert
2011
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
620 gr
Høyde
241 mm
Bredde
164 mm
Dybde
19 mm
Aldersnivå
UU, UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
270

Om bidragsyterne

Charles Taliaferro, professor of philosophy (St. Olaf College), is the author or co-author or editor of fifteen books, including The Companion to Philosophy of Religion (with Paul Draper and Philip Quinn), The Image in Mind (co-authored with Jil Evans), and Evidence and Faith; Philosophy and Religion since the Seventeenth Century. He served on the editorial board of many journals, including Religious Studies and he serves on the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession [of Philosophy]. Jil Evans is a visual artist whose paintings have been exhibited throughout the U.S. and in Europe and the co-author of The Image in Mind: Theism, Naturalism and the Imagination