Has Physics Made Philosophy and Religion Obsolete? - Ross Andersen

"I think at some point you need to provoke people. Science is meant to make people uncomfortable." It is hard to know how our future descendants will regard the little sliver of history that we live in. In January, Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist and Director of the Origins Institute at Arizona State University, published A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing, a book that, as its title suggests, purports to explain how something---and not just any something, but the entire universe---could have emerged from nothing, the kind of nothing implicated by quantum field theory. By early spring, media coverage of "A Universe From Nothing" seemed to have run its course, but then on March 23rd the New York Times ran a blistering review of the book, written by David Albert, a philosopher of physics from Columbia University. I know that you're just coming from Christopher Hitchens' memorial service. Krauss: That's a good question. Krauss: It is.

What Can You Really Know? by Freeman Dyson Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story by Jim Holt Liveright, 307 pp., $27.95 Jim Holt’s Why Does the World Exist? The philosophers are more interesting than the philosophy. According to Holt, the two most influential philosophers of the twentieth century were Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Heidegger supreme in continental Europe, Wittgenstein in the English-speaking world. Wittgenstein, unlike Heidegger, did not establish an ism. I found the book enlightening and liberating. Wittgenstein’s intellectual asceticism had a great influence on the philosophers of the English-speaking world. Finally, toward the end of my time in Cambridge, I ventured to speak to him. Wittgenstein’s response to me was humiliating, and his response to female students who tried to attend his lectures was even worse. The philosophers that Holt interviewed wander over a wide landscape. Holt is a splitter and I am a lumper.

Philosophy v science: which can answer the big questions of life? | Science | The Observer Julian Baggini No one who has understood even a fraction of what science has told us about the universe can fail to be in awe of both the cosmos and of science. When physics is compared with the humanities and social sciences, it is easy for the scientists to feel smug and the rest of us to feel somewhat envious. Philosophers in particular can suffer from lab-coat envy. If only our achievements were so clear and indisputable! How wonderful it would be to be free from the duty of constantly justifying the value of your discipline. However – and I'm sure you could see a "but" coming – I do wonder whether science hasn't suffered from a little mission creep of late. I don't feel proprietorial about the problems of philosophy. Some of the things you have said and written suggest that you share some of science's imperialist ambitions. Lawrence Krauss Thanks for the kind words about science and your generous attitude. JB I've got more sympathy with your position than you might expect.

Bodhi Path Natural Bridge, VA <div class="rgsgcontent"><div class="myGallery-NoScript" id="myGallery-NoScript597"><div class="rgsg-btn" style="display:none">00</div><img src="uploads/nb_test/04.jpg" class="full" /></div></div> Bodhi Path Natural Bridge opened its doors in 1997 to teach Buddhist philosophy and meditation to all who are interested. Located in Rockbridge County between Natural Bridge and Lexington, the center is less than one hour north of Roanoke. It occupies 45 acres of hilly forested land, nestled in the valley between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains. The Center is located in the Shenandoah Valley because of the tranquil nature and beauty of the area as well as its accessibility to transportation, cultural institutions, and population centers. The center now offers a program of Buddhist education ranging from information for the curious to instruction and support for the advanced meditator. Dharma teacher Tsony serves as the Center's resident teacher.

A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing (9781451624458): Lawrence M. Krauss, Richard Dawkins