This weekend I am really enjoying being part of the Conference on Science and Christianity (COSAC) organised by ISCAST (Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technology).
Tomorrow I am giving a talk, "Emergence undermines scientism and affirms our humanity and the value of theology."
The slides are here and the abstract is below.
The concept of emergence is central to the biggest challenges in science and society today [1]. The whole is more than the parts. A system of many interacting parts can have properties that are qualitatively different from the properties of the parts. Reality is stratified and at each level phenomena, concepts, and theories appear that are qualitatively different from those at lower levels. Psychology is not “just” biology. Biology is not “just” chemistry. Chemistry is not “just” physics. Physics is not “just” quantum field theory. Scientism is the worldview that science has the answers to everything and has led to a reductionist, largely biological view of what it means to be human. With irony, I will give a scientific argument, using the concept of emergence, that the natural sciences are largely irrelevant for understanding our humanity. Instead of science, we need to look to the humanities, including theology for insights [2]. Truth, justice, and beauty are irreducible and transcendent. Values, meaning, and purpose can come from human relationships where love, mercy, hope, forgiveness, and grief are central. In turn, these are ultimately grounded in the triune God.
[1] R.H. McKenzie, “Emergence: from physics to biology, sociology, and computer science.”
[2] R.H. McKenzie, “Emergence, reductionism and the stratification of reality in science and theology,” Scottish Journal of Theology 64, 211 (2011).
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