Cosmic Connections

This book follows a 10-lecture course given at U3AC, Cambridge UK. It examines the physical facts of physics, psychology, biology and community (ecology and sociology) along with the metaphysical fact of information. But, is this, information, really immaterial and separate in character from material phenomena? Is it, like such non-conscious phenomena, a basic element of nature? If so, then a fresh perspective, cosmic in extent, emerges. This perspective is, called holism; and holism is here systematically, aligned with materialism by means of a simple philosophical structure called Natural Dialectic. By such comparison, which one of these two world-views will it turn out, as you logically prefer?

Are you agnostic? Religious? Or, by default, of atheistic/ materialistic faith? Whichever mind-set you inhabit, this book is for you. Science and the Soul interprets the world in terms of a framework called Natural Dialectic. Within this 'philosophical machine' it coordinates the major scientific disciplines of physics, psychology, biology and information technology - but not necessarily with conventional results. For example, according to materialism's modernistic view everything is physical - correct, of course, unless a metaphysical constituent exists. Could any immaterial factor (say, conscious perception, informant reason or mathematics) be discounted by an intellectual whim or, on the other hand, exert a universal influence? Natural Dialectic's simple, binary oscillation treats child-like questions that have excited and still excite the whole of philosophy and science.How did cosmos start? Who in heaven's name am I? Where on earth did you spring from? What, if any, is the object of brief travel through the nothingness of time and space? Can the theory of evolution and, therefore, materialism withstand incisive analysis? If you're intrigued then come with Science and the Soul upon a voyage of discovery. Welcome aboard (in neutral, alphabetical order) all Buddhists, Christians, Darwinists, Hindus, humanists, Jews, materialists, Muslims, scientific atheists, Taoists and other sorts of faith or lack of it! Armed with this tour de force (and its companion elaborations called Adam and Evolution, A Mutant Ape? and A Potted Grammar of Natural Dialectic) read on. ** The print version contains a detailed Index. This you are invited to regard as a web, a kind of sub-text whose indented entries make connections all across the volume's natural world. At the same time each of several volumes of the Cosmic Connections series (www.cosmicconnections.co.uk) sheds, as if a prism's angle has been shifted, new light on the case outlined by Science and the Soul.

This work is updated version of the original groundbreaking Adam and Evolution. It not only heavily criticises neo-Darwinian orthodoxy in all its various fields but also provides a logical, alternative perspective to the question of life's origin. Its premise is that matter (and therefore any biological vehicle) is a form of non-conscious energy but code is an expression of thought. Matter itself, having no reason, cannot produce codified information. Does a biological body, perhaps even the body of the universe itself, involve an immaterial part - codified instruction that makes it larger than the sum of its physical parts? Or, is chance king? Although the universe appears to work by rules and to have been established in a very particular way, a materialist believes that this appearance of order is in fact unplanned. Its invisible framework of regulation must have occurred by chance and, since inception, individual objects and events occur by chance as well. Thus neo-Darwinism is a gospel accepted in the faith that, given enough time, chance could generate the miracle of life. Is this a rational belief? Let us take a look at these two radical differences of opinion, ones that affect us personally and deeply. This works is a harbinger of the philosophical framework called Natural Dialectic and links with books Science and the Soul, A Mutant Ape? The Origin of Man's Descent and A Potted Grammar of Natural Dialectic.

This volume is the umbilical offshoot of its 'mother book', Science and the Soul. Both are truly original works. We begin by linking with the latter. Then, using facts from palaeoanthropology, biology (classical and molecular), information theory, design theory and philosophy, A Mutant Ape, assesses the two main interpretations of your human origin. The simple difference between these interpretations is, identified. So also are the differences between man and ape. Thence the book follows the course of palaeoanthropological history until the second world war and deals with each main character in the order of its scientific discovery. After the war things, become with more workers in the field, more complex. Finds worldwide are covered and various theories seeking to locate human emergence are, described and criticized. These include an account of the recent impact of genetics before, at last, we both turn to Australia and return to Europe for the summing up. Read thoroughly and by the end what will you think? The books Adam and Evolution and A Potted Grammar of Natural Dialectic may further help to clarify the issue.

'Potted Grammar'? 'Natural Dialectic?' This book is a companion to 'Science and the Soul' whose subtitle reads 'facts and philosophy translated into Natural Dialectic'. It extracts, for clarity, the framework of that book; it thereby simplifies a model of creation that is ancient and, in scientific terms, bang up-to-date. After an explanation of the way that Natural Dialectic works, the narrative turns to explain how an orderly act of creation is expressed and physical, psychological and biological phenomena can be systematically related. It proceeds to abbreviate the explanation of these scientific subjects given in Science and the Soul. Is this explanation rigorous and accurate enough? The last Chapter is entitled Truth, Appearance and Reality. The book, one of a series grouped as Cosmic Connections (website www.cosmicconnections.co.uk), is very thought-provoking. It is a riveting explanation of the way things are bolted together! And it makes a fine philosophical machine! Could its routine accurately reflect the origin and operation of our home, the cosmos? Just allow that information is an immaterial entity. Allow that consciousness is not a physical phenomenon and journey, intellectual seat-belt fastened, far and fast from there…