Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy return to religion-online 63 Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy by John B. and David R. Griffin Cobb, Jr. John B. Cobb, Jr. is Professor of Theology at the School of Theology at Claremont, Avery professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate School, and Director of the Center for Process Studies. David Ray Griffin teaches Philosophy of religion at the School of theology at Claremont and Claremont Graduate School and is Executive Director of the Center for Process Studies. Published by University Press of America, 1977. This book was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. (ENTIRE BOOK) A collection of essays by prominent physicists, biologists, geneticists, zoologists, philosophers and other thinkers about the relationship between science and philosophy, particularly the teleological versus the mechanistic explanation of the universe. Special emphasis is given to the writings of Alfred North Whitehead and Process Theology. Contributors include John Cobb, Jr., Theodosius Dobzhansky, Charles Hartshorne, and Arthur Koestler. Preface These papers come from a conference held in Bellagio, Italy in June, 1974. The hope underlying the conference was that, if aspects of Whitehead’s form of process philosophy were effectively communicated to scientists who in turn could help philosophers understand the nature of their current problems, both philosophers and scientists would benefit. Although communication between the two communities is far from easy, this volume suggests that it is possible and that, when it occurs, it is mutually fructifying. Part 1: The Evolution of Mind Chapter 1: The Frontiers of Biology -- Does Process Thought Help? by W. H. Thorpe and Response by Bernhard Rensch. The reduction of chemistry to physics, of biology to chemistry, of animal conscious or subconscious experience to biology, and of consciousness itself and the creativeness of the human mind to animal experience, are all problems that are unlikely if not impossible to succeed. Chapter 2: Can Evolution be Accounted for Solely in Terms of http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=2066 (1 of 5) [2/4/03 4:21:24 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy Mechanical Causation? by L. Charles Birch The metaphysical background of process thought is far more germane to the evolutionary picture provided by biology than is the mechanistic philosophy. The only sort of universe in which evolution of organisms can occur is one in which the entities have subjective aim. Chapter 3: From Potentiality to Realization in Evolutiony by Theodosius Dobzhansky The transcendence of life and human mind were evolutionary from the non-living to living entities, but scientific knowledge is quite insufficient to give satisfactory accounts of these transitions. An explanation is intractable and unsolved thus far. Chapter 4: Emergence in Evolution: (Response to Birch and Dobzhansky) by Ann Plamondon In materialistic philosophy, "higher order" is an aggregate, and it cannot be said to be of greater complexity than its constituents. But the author proposes that in evolutionary development the higher-level order must have been contained in some sense in the lower-level constituent(s). Thus when higher levels of order exhibit properties not belonging to their lower-level constituents, the correct inference is not that something has been added to the lower-level constituents but, rather, that they exhibit different properties when they organize the higher-level order. Chapter 5: The Process Theory of Evolution and Notes on The Evolution Of Mind by C. H. Waddington The author proposes a solution to the dilemma of considering the beginning of the evolutionary process as, on one end, depending on nothing but atoms, forces and physicochemical factors, and the other end, as involving something of a totally different character we call ‘mind.’ Chapter 6: Some Whiteheadian Comments by John Cobb, and Response by W. H. Thorpe The most complex machine will not exhibit any purposiveness, yet the determinist and the teleological arguments are intertwined into the very roots of nature. Self-conscience human purpose is found in the higher orders, thus the author opposes a reductionist interpretation of emergent novelties. Part 2: Mind and Order Chapter 1: The Implicate or Enfolded Order: A New Order for Physics by David Bohm http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=2066 (2 of 5) [2/4/03 4:21:24 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy The author uses an analyses of quantum theory and how it needs a fundamentally new notion of order to show a development that is capable of making full contact with modern science, yet assimilates common experience, to give a single, whole, unfragmented world view. Chapter 2: Three Counter Strategies to Reductionism in Science by Francis Zucker Three research programs that are motivated by opposition to physical reductionism. Chapter 3: Temporal Order and Spatial Order: Their Differences and Relations by Milic Capek Our instinctive tendency is to believe that the relations of succession can be adequately symbolized by geometrical relations. The persistence of this belief has had disastrous influence through the centuries on philosophical and theological thought, and upon physical theories as well. Chapter 4: Free Will in a Hierarchic Context by Arthur Koestler, Responses by Charles Hartshorne and Bernhard Rensch The degrees of freedom in the hierarchy increase with ascending order, and each upward shift of attention to higher levels, each handing over of decision to higher echelons, is accompanied by the experience of free choice. But is it merely a subjective experience? The author thinks not, since freedom cannot be defined in absolute, only in relative, terms, as freedom from some specific constraint. Chapter 5: Some Whiteheadian Comments by John B. Cobb, Jr. Reductive determinism mistakenly holds the view that when prediction of behavior and thought is not possible, this is because of the complexity of the determining factors rather than because of indeterminacy or freedom. Part 3: The Primacy of Mind Chapter 1: Arguments for Panpsychistic Identism by Bernhard Rensch and Response by Charles Hartshorne All psychic phenomena (sensations, mental images, feelings, thoughts and processes of volition) are merged in our stream of consciousness. All psychic experience is therefore part of a process. Many considerations speak in favor of this "panpsychistic identism." Chapter 2. Panpsychism and Science by Sewall Wright In addition to the necessarily deterministic and probabilistic interpretations of the material world http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=2066 (3 of 5) [2/4/03 4:21:24 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy of science, there is the primary but private knowledge which each of us has of his own stream of consciousness, more or less continually directed toward the finding of an acceptable course through the difficulties of the external world by means of voluntary actions. Chapter 3: Physics and Psychics: The Place of Mind in Nature by Charles Hartshorne Since physics and chemistry have demonstrated how limited in penetration our mere sense perceptions are, how radically they fail to disclose what is really there in nature, it follows that the entire traditional foundation for both materialism and dualism has been destroyed by the advance of knowledge. All concrete or physical things (a) are minds of some high or low kind, or (b) are composed of minds. However, only active singulars are individually sentient. Chapter 4: Some Whiteheadian Comments by David Ray Griffin The author discusses the similarities and differences between the insights of Bernhard Rensch, Sewall Wright, and Charles Hartshorne, from a Whiteheadian point of view. Part 4: Mind and Organism Chapter 1: Some Main Philosophical Issues in Contemporary Scientific Thought by Ivor Leclerc Previously, biology was conceived as reductive to chemistry and chemistry as reductive to physics. But today these sciences have distinct features. Biology, as an example, by virtue of its structure, makes possible the requisite degree of conceptual origination, having the characteristic of "life," which is not true of chemistry or physics. Chapter 2: Whitehead and the Philosophy of Science by Ann Plamondon and Response by Bernard Rensch Metaphysics has an essential role in the philosophy of science -- that of the understanding and the grounding of scientific concepts and methodology. That is, the fundamental concepts of a metaphysical system should give an analysis of the foundational concepts of the sciences in such a way that these concepts themselves provide a grounding -- a general logic -- of the methodology of the sciences. Chapter 3: Whitehead’s Philosophy and Some General Notions of Physics and Biology by David R. Griffin A discussion of Whitehead’s understanding of: 1) metaphysics and it’s relation to science; 2) the fundamental categories to all of reality; 3) the implications in his understanding of fundamental categories in the objects of physics; and 4) non-reductionistic biology which avoids dualism, http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=2066 (4 of 5) [2/4/03 4:21:24 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy including vitalism. Chapter 4: Can Whitehead Help Us Learn What We’re Talking About? by Richard H. Overman The proper interpretation of Lamarckian notions in genetics depends fully on knowing ‘what' we are talking about. All new patterns of efficient causation in animal bodies can be traced to some occasions’ subjective aims. Chapter 5: Whitehead and Modern Science by C. H. Waddington If we approach science from the Whiteheadian point of view, the fortress which the anti-scientists will have to attack is not what they think it is, and may be capable of mounting a rather devastating counter-attack. Chapter 6: Concluding Editorial Comments by John B. Cobb, Jr. From the sixteenth through the eighteenth century, philosophy and science developed in close connection. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries they have become quite separate. The disciplines of cosmology and philosophy of nature have fallen between the stools. Alfred North Whitehead is the major twentieth-century exception to this breakdown of an ancient and fruitful relation. C.H. Waddington believes that scientific thought is "just about now beginning to catch up with the first phase of Whitehead’s thought," and that science will proceed in the general direction Whitehead moved in his later work. The editors believe that the advance of science can be facilitated by an ongoing discussion with Whitehead’s philosophy of nature, and hope that more philosophers and scientists will join in the discussion. Viewed 728 times. http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showbook?item_id=2066 (5 of 5) [2/4/03 4:21:24 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy return to religion-online Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy by John B. and David R. Griffin Cobb, Jr. John B. Cobb, Jr. is Professor of Theology at the School of Theology at Claremont, Avery professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate School, and Director of the Center for Process Studies. David Ray Griffin teaches Philosophy of religion at the School of theology at Claremont and Claremont Graduate School and is Executive Director of the Center for Process Studies. Published by University Press of America, 1977. This book was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. Preface Students of living things have long been in a quandary. On the one hand, progress in understanding follows when they treat their objects like complicated machines, composed purely of matter. On the other hand, it is clear to many of them that living organisms, and especially self-conscious human living organisms, are something quite different from what their explanatory categories allow. Explaining in this conventional way is too much like explaining away. Many working biologists are content to add to the corpus of biological knowledge without troubling themselves about these issues. Some strongly insist that reductionistic explanations are fully adequate. But others continue to seek ways of thinking that explain without explaining away. The conferences and volumes for which C. H. Waddington has been responsible have pressed toward new conceptualization; and Arthur Koestler and 1. R. Smythies have edited essays developed from a conference on "Beyond Reductionism." Neo-Darwinism has played a prominent role in expanding the power of reductionistic modes of thought in evolutionary theory. It has been an effective force in weakening older forms of vitalism and teleological thinking. Yet some of its chief architects do not themselves draw http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=1839 (1 of 4) [2/4/03 4:21:46 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy reductionistic or materialistic implications from their theories. Sewall Wright sees biological science as treating the externals of living things with deterministic and statistical laws, but he believes the creatures themselves have internality and freedom. Theodosius Dobzhansky stresses the miracle of the emergence of humanity in its radical discontinuity with the rest of the world. C. H. Waddington sees an interaction between the purposive behavior of animals and their environment that was inadequately recognized in more reductionistic interpretations of neo-Darwinism. Topics of this sort have not been in the center of philosophical attention in the past generation. Neither existentialists nor language analysts undertook to explain life. But there has been a tradition of philosophical naturalism in this century, stressing organic and processive categories, which seems to have the potential for fruitful interaction with the work of reflective biologists. Bergson and Teilhard de Chardin in France have obvious relevance, as do James, Peirce, and Dewey in the United States, and Tennant and Alexander in England. A small but growing number of philosophers have been particularly impressed by the potential fruitfulness of the conceptuality of Alfred North Whitehead. Whitehead called his position the ‘philosophy of organism.’ He held that, while biology studies the larger organisms, physics studies the smaller ones. Much scope for ‘reduction’ of biological phenomena to physical ones remains, but when that to which reduction occurs is not matter in motion but organisms in environments, the meaning of ‘reduction’ is changed. Furthermore, organisms of organisms can be understood as transcending their organic parts in ways that the most complex machines do not. In June, 1974, a meeting was held at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center at the Villa Serbelloni in Bellaglo, Italy, to consider whether and how process philosophy in general, and Whitehead’s conceptuality in particular, might help those who are seeking new, nonmaterialistic or nonreductionistic ways of understanding biology. Whitehead’s fully developed system in Process and Reality is of such complexity as to have been largely inaccessible to scientists, and the developments in science are so rapid and technical as to bewilder philosophers. The hope underlying the conference was that, if aspects of Whitehead’s form of process philosophy were effectively communicated to scientists who in turn could help philosophers understand the nature of their current problems, both philosophers and http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=1839 (2 of 4) [2/4/03 4:21:46 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy scientists would benefit. Although communication between the two communities is far from easy, this volume suggests that it is possible and that, when it occurs, it is mutually fructifying. The use of the term ‘mind’ in the title of the book may be misleading; for the noun suggests that a substantial entity is in view. Process thought, on the contrary, understands mind as mental activity or functioning, especially purposive action. ‘Nature’ is similarly understood by most participants as occurrence or event. The papers in Part One, "The Evolution of Mind," describes the mystery of the rise of self conscious, human, purposive action out of a flux in which it has been customary to find no grounds for such an emergence. Thorpe formulates the problem as a challenge to process philosophy and, after papers by Birch, Dobzhansky, and Waddington, and comments by Cobb on the potential contribution of Whitehead, Thorpe shares his concluding reflections. The issues are: What kind of continuity and what kind of discontinuity are to be found in the evolutionary process? And can process philosophy help biologists to understand their data? Part Two, "Mind and Order," treats the broader question of what is meant by ‘order’ and how order is related to the human experience of purposive freedom. Several strategies for overcoming reductionism are distinguished and defended. The discussion is chiefly between physicists and philosophers, although the relation to biology is always especially in view. Part Three, "The Primacy of Mind," opens up the specifically ontological question of how the ultimate entities of the universe are to be conceived. Two biologists and one philosopher argue that the psychical, or mental, or subjective elements in reality are more fundamental than the physical, material, or objective elements. Part Four, "Mind and Organism," consists of papers that deal specifically with Whitehead. They include expositions of his philosophy of nature and his philosophy of science as well as more topical and critical treatments. The final essay (apart from the concluding editorial comments) is an account by Waddington of how his own work as a biologist has been influenced by Whitehead’s philosophy. A collection of essays of this sort does not reach a unified conclusion. http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=1839 (3 of 4) [2/4/03 4:21:46 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy Yet the editors find themselves confirmed in the beliefs (1) that the philosophy of nature is an important and fruitful area for continuing exploration, especially if scientists and philosophers can learn to work together, and (2) that for the time being Whitehead’s rigorously articulated vision provides the most promising basis for further reflection in this area. This book is published under the auspices of the Center for Process Studies. The conference out of which this book arose was sponsored by the Center with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. Public thanks are herewith given to the Rockefeller Foundation, with special thanks to the directors of the study and conference program. 0 http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=1839 (4 of 4) [2/4/03 4:21:46 PM] Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy return to religion-online Mind in Nature: the Interface of Science and Philosophy by John B. and David R. Griffin Cobb, Jr. Part 1: The Evolution of Mind John B. Cobb, Jr. is Professor of Theology at the School of Theology at Claremont, Avery professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate School, and Director of the Center for Process Studies. David Ray Griffin teaches Philosophy of religion at the School of theology at Claremont and Claremont Graduate School and is Executive Director of the Center for Process Studies. Published by University Press of America, 1977. This book was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. Chapter 1: The Frontiers of Biology -- Does Process Thought Help? by W. H. Thorpe and Response by Bernhard Rensch. W. H. Thorpe is Director of the Sub-Department of Animal Behavior, Department of Zoology, at the University of Cambridge. At the very start of my work in biological research I was much inspired and stimulated by the writings of Whitehead. I expressed this in the first chapter of my book (Thorpe 1951, 1963). He seemed to me one of the very few philosophers who showed a real understanding of biology; its nature and its problems. I still regard him as one of the most profound minds of his time and still find refreshment and stimulation in his writings on an extraordinary variety of topics. But over the years I have found him less of a support in biological research than I had at one time hoped and expected. So I will try to http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=1840 (1 of 23) [2/4/03 4:22:04 PM]