Beyond Science: The Wider Human Context

by John C. Polkinghorne

Science is very successful in discovering the structure and history of the physical world, but its success is purchased by the modesty of its ambition. There is more to be told of the encounter with reality, including the nature of scientific inquiry itself, than can be gained from impersonal experience and experimental test. This book goes beyond science to consider the human context in which it operates and to pursue that wider understanding which we all seek. It looks to issues of meaning and value, intrinsic to scientific practice but excluded from science's consideration by its own self-denying ordinance. It raises the question of the significance of the deep mathematical intelligibility of the physical world and its anthropically fruitful history. It considers how we may find responsible ways to use the power that science places in human hands. Science is portrayed as an activity of human persons pursued within a convivial and truth-seeking community. This book neither over-values science (as if it were the only worthwhile source of knowledge) nor devalues it (as if it were to be treated with suspicion or not taken seriously). Beyond Science provides a considered and balanced account which firmly asserts science's place in human culture, maintained in mutually illuminating relationships with other aspects of that culture.

Genres: Science, Philosophy

143 pages, Hardcover

First published August 13, 1996

About the author

John Charlton Polkinghorne is an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer and Anglican priest. A prominent and leading voice explaining the relationship between science and religion, he was professor of Mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest in 1982. He served as the president of Queens' College, Cambridge from 1988 until 1996.

Reviews

[Tim Stafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Polkinghorne is the best guide I know (except maybe Michael Polanyi) for thinking about science and humanity. It's a short book, covering a variety of topics, and not a light read. I especially like his deep appreciation and knowledge of science as a practitioner, combined with his recognition that we need more than science to account for all that we know.

[الطاهرة عمارى · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب الذى قرأته فعلا هو كتاب " ما وراء العلم "
لمؤلفيه : م. عبد الوهاب السيد – م . سند راشد خليل . صدرت الطبعة الثانية منه فى الكويت عام 2007 .. بحثت عنه على الموقع ولم أجده فسجلت هذا الكتاب بنفس الاسم بدلا منه لتوثيق قراءاتى له وتسجيل تقييمى للكتاب .
تقييم الكتاب :
أنصح بقراءته وأمنحه 4 نجوم على الأقل . ويتبقى النجمة الأخيرة لمستوى الكتابة والمصداقية .
أنتهيت منه فى 3 أو 4 جلسات قصيرة تقريبا .. وبالرغم من حجمه الصغير فقد احتجت هذا الوقت لاننى كنت احتاج احيانا الى اعادة قراءة بعض السطور لتصور الأحداث واستغرقت وقتا فى متابعة وتأمل الصور المضمنة .. كما استخدمت العشرات من المصطلحات الواردة فى الكتاب فى بحث أكثر تفصيلا على الشبكة العنكبوتية .
كلمة " شيق " أو " ممتع " قد تبدو بسيطة جدا لوصف مايحمله الكتاب . حتى وان لم تكن مهتما بعلوم ما وراء الطبيعة والظواهر الخارقة .. حتى وان لم يثر فضولك الاحداث والمواقف الغريبة التى لاتفسير لها .. حتى ولو اعتبرت كل ما ورد فى الكتاب على سبيل الخيال – وهو امر غير صحيح طبعا – سيظل الكتاب ممتعاً وخفيفا ًوسيدغدغ بداخلك الميل البشرى الفطرى للبحث عن المجهول .. والمحاولات الأزلية المحمومة لأيجاد تفسيرات منطقية واضحة .. مريحة وآمنة لكل حوادث الكون حتى التى يعجز العقل البشرى القاصر على ادراكها .. فهذا يزيل الرعب الذى يجتاج البشر حين يتعرضوا الى ما يعجزوا عن فهمه .
حقيقة لم يكتب بأسلوب أدبى بالغ القوة .. لكن فكرة الكتاب والموضوعات التى تناولها تعوض اى نقص فى مستواه كنص وتمنحه درجة عالية فى التقييم النهائى .
لكن الملحوظة الوحيدة التى أخذها على الكتاب .. بالرغم من ان معظم الموضوعات تم ربطها بأحداث تاريخية موثقة . الا اننى ومن خلال بعض قراءاتى السابقة – وقد تصادف ان قرأت عن بعض موضوعات الكتاب ولكن من مصادر آخرى – فقد وجدت بعض التعارض ما بين القراءتين ولا اجزم بصحة هذا او ذاك .. لكن وجود التعارض فى حد ذاته دليلا على احتمالية الشك وعدم الدقة . وعلى هذا فعلينا ألا نأخذ المعلومات على انها أمر مسلم به إلا على الاقل بعد اجراء بحث مناسب عنها والاطلاع عليها من خلال اكثر من مصدر آخر ( خاصة وان الكتاب مختصر جدا فى عرضه )
وفى ملحوظة بسيطة .. اثناء قراءتى لمقدمة كتاب " هادم الأساطير " أحد مؤلفيه هو م. سند راشد واحد من مؤلفى الموسوعة .. جاء ذك وحش بحيرة ( لوخ نس ) كنموذخ لخرافات البشر واعتبره أكذوبة وهو نفسه الوحش الذى جاء ذكره فى الموسوعة بأعتباره أحد ظواهر ما وراء الطبيعة التى لم يستقر على تفسيرها . وعلى ذات المنوال عدد آخر من نفس الموضوعات التى ذكرت فى الموسوعة على انها ظواهر خارقة . اعيد ذكرها فى الكتاب الاخر على انها اساطير واكذوبات .
الكتاب يعد موسوعة صغيرة جدا .. عدد صفحات لا يعدو ال 250 صفحة من الحجم الصغير وبفونت متوسط وقد خصصت صور لمعظم الموضوعات التى يعد كل واحداً منها موضوعاً ثرياً يصلح لكتابة عشرات الكتب – وهو حقيقة فعلا – فالعديد من الموضوعات التى تناولها الكتاب فى اشارات مختصرة الى حد ما كانت موضوع بحث ودراسة وكتابة لعشرات السنين وكتب فيها عشرات ومئات الابحاث والدراسات ووضع لها مئات التفسيرات .. ستجد نفسك تقرأ معلومات عن أشياء وأحداث لم تعرفها طوال حياتك ولم تتخيل حتى وجودها .. وبدون الخوض فى تفاصيل الموضوعات – حتى لا أفقد القارئ التشويق والفضول للقراءة –
هناك العديد من الموضوعات التى تستحق ان تكون على علم بها حتى ولو بشكل بسيط . واذا افترضنا انك لن يخطر على بالك او لن تجد الوقت المناسب للبحث عن كل موضوع على حدة .. فهذا الكتاب سيكون مرجع مختصر ومناسب للمعرفة الشاملة .
معلومات عن الكتاب :
• تعريف بالكتاب هو ( كما سجل على الغلاف ) أول موسوعة عربية متخصصة فى علوم ما وراء الطبيعة .. صنفته ضمن ادب التشويق وكنوع من الدراسات .
• يشير المؤلفان – وهذا يتبين حقيقة من قراءة الكتاب – الى انهم قد ظلوا طوال عامين يدرسون ويراجعون ويبحثون عن الكتب والمراجع والمقالات التى استخدموها كأساس للموسوعة .
• وقد جمعت موضوعات الموسوعة ( بشكل مختصر جدا للاسف ) على اساس الترتيب الابجدى للحروف العربية للموضوعات المتناولة .
• الكتاب عدد صفحاته 243 صفحة مصورة متوافر على الانترنت يمكن تحميله والاستمتاع بقراءته .
• يحتوى الكتاب على عدد كبير من الصور والرسوم التوضيحية لموضوعاته .

[Daniel Hageman · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I disagree with a substantial number of the conclusions drawn in this book, the compact yet all-encompassing approach to many of the fundamental questions revolving around truth, science, and the role of subjective experience in developing a sound epistemology is thoroughly addressed. While coverage of each topic is brief, it is well-sourced so that one can continue further research into individual topics of interest. Definitely recommend for those on either side of the debate regarding the role of religious belief on the big questions in life.

[David Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is good. I didn't agree with many of the concepts or the way they came about. Any book about science that's more philosophy than hard science will leave a lot to be desired in definitive answers. Add in the authors need to rationalize this with his religiosity and you get opinions that can't be tested stated as if they are facts.

[Brett Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent science writer with intriguing ideas

Polkinghorne is a splendid writer of science and a formidable mind with wonderful ideas. He has a control of language rivaling any science writer I have read. His "Quantum World" is a beautiful work. In "Beyond Science" he continues along similar lines with a particularly charming chapter discussing the personalities of great physicists with whom he has associated. He does a superb job describing what science is and how it works. Unfortunately he descends into scholarly ambiguity in his chapter on the human mind, with bloated sentences that run on and can easily confuse even the careful reader.

The ultimate purpose of the book is to present allowance for belief in a divine creator. Mostly this revolves around the Anthropic Principle (AP) - the idea that the existence of life is so sensitive to variation in physical constants of the universe that they must have been set by a creator for such life to exist. AP embraces evolution as the machinery for God's work. Polkinghorne is in a minority among physicists but the idea should cause some pause for reflection. He limits credit to the idea that since we are products of those constants it should not be surprising that they are what they are. As one who appreciates the power of science he understandably holds dear any notion based on reason that allows for God. But he appears to hold the idea too dearly, as adherents of AP often do. Attempting to make apparent improbabilities of constants set by chance understandable he notes Leslie's philosophical story of a fly hit by a bullet on a vast wall. He allows it two possible reasons for occurring, 1) because very many bullets were fired or 2) because a marksman took careful aim. Thus with intent, as a creator would have for tuning the constants with the aim of creating humans. Surely he knows but ignores two other possibilities, that the fly and bullet just happened to be at the same place in time or that the fly and bullet have some as yet undiscovered attraction for one another requiring they meet. This last is analogous to the constants having the values they do for as yet undiscovered requirements within the fabric of the Big Bang or Inflation or some other mechanism. Probabilities against events can sometimes carry too much weight. The probability that any four hands of thirteen cards are drawn in specific order from a deck of fifty-two is 1 in 4 billion trillion. Yet each time you draw four hands of thirteen cards, it happens. The cards dealt are completely determined by their position in the deck. We don't know what that is but it is fixed. Polkinghorne makes a few similar, but generally lesser transgressions to preserve his belief. I was repeatedly surprised and relieved to see him admit this on occasion and discuss opposing views.

[Zeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

To quote myself, speaking to my husband as to what this book is like: "It's great, I love it. It's so great I don't even get it but I need to keep reading ..." Well, half kidding. Some of the things spoken about I did not get, but overall you don't need a degree in Physics to keep going. John Polkinhorne's language and phrasing is just delicious, many places I would have liked to just quote him here instead of bungling a review together ( but the book is back at the library) The author manages to strike a delicate and truthful balance between his dedication and love for science and a well formed thought beyond where science (as we know it) can go ... but he feels where science is very clearly pointing. He is a rare specimen of human who had two interesting careers: one as a physicist and then, as he felt he was getting too old for this, a minister for the Anglican Church.I feel he refrains from getting too preachery ... he adds a very valuable discourse to any such discussions as to what is the true nature of our world.