Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and

Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality

The rise of modern science has brought with it increasing acceptance among intellectual elites of a worldview that conflicts sharply both with everyday human experience and with beliefs widely shared among the worldâ€™s great cultural traditions. Most contemporary scientists and philosophers believe that reality is at bottom purely physical, and that human beings are nothing more than extremely complicated biological machines. On such views our everyday experiences of conscious decision-making, free will, and the self are illusory by-products of the grinding of our neural machinery. It follows that mind and personality are necessarily extinguished at death, and that there exists no deeper transpersonal or spiritual reality of any sort.

Beyond Physicalism is the product of an unusual fellowship of scientists and humanities scholars who dispute these views. In their previous publication, Irreducible Mind, they argued that physicalism cannot accommodate various well-evidenced empirical phenomena including paranormal or psi phenomena, postmortem survival, and mystical experiences. In this new theory-oriented companion volume they go further by attempting to understand how the world must be constituted in order that these â€œrogueâ€ phenomena can occur. Drawing upon empirical science, metaphysical philosophy, and the mystical traditions, the authors work toward an improved â€œbig pictureâ€ of the general character of reality, one which strongly overlaps territory traditionally occupied by the worldâ€™s institutional religions, and which attempts to reconcile science and spirituality by finding a middle path between the polarized fundamentalisms, religious and scientific, that have dominated recent public discourse.

Contributions by: Harald Atmanspacher, Loriliai Biernacki, Bernard Carr, Wolfgang Fach, Michael Grosso, Michael Murphy, David E. Presti, Gregory Shaw, Henry P. Stapp, Eric M. Weiss, and Ian Whicher
Country USA
Brand Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Manufacturer Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber B00XV69H1S
ReleaseDate 2015-02-19
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781442232389

Country	USA
Brand	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Manufacturer	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	B00XV69H1S
ReleaseDate	2015-02-19
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781442232389

Beyond Physicalism: Toward Reconciliation of Science and Spirituality

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