Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion

A New Book of Nature

Edited by Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans

Engages with the debate on theism and naturalism in the light of imagination and aesthetics
Encourages the use of imagination in thinking through philosophical questions, respecting the value of lived experience
Includes essays from a diverse group of philosophers of religion and philosophers of science, with contributions from an art historian and a visual artist

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion

A New Book of Nature

Edited by Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans

Description

The debate between "new atheists" and religious apologists today is often hostile. Turning Images is a book that sets a new tone by locating the debate between theism and naturalism (most "new atheists" are self-described "naturalists") in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven original essays will be of interest to anyone who is fascinated by the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature. Representing a variety of points of view, authors include outstanding philosophers of religion and of science, a distinguished art historian, and a visual artist.

Martin Kemp begins the book by looking at D'Arcy Thompson's vision of the natural world, combining poetry and visual images to set the stage for thinking about nature along teleological or non-purposive lines. Geoffrey Gorham then offers an overview and analysis of the images of nature found in early modern science and philosophy. Anthony O'Hear takes up the problem of accounting for the origin of mind or consciousness, highlighting some of the limitations of Darwinian evolutionary biology in terms of values. Dale Jacquette offers a thoroughgoing, naturalistic account of the emergence of intentionality and a unique argument about the emergence of art and the aesthetic appreciation of nature. E.J. Lowe advances some difficulties facing a naturalist approach to mental life. Douglas Hedley offers a cognitive account of the imagination and also advances reasons why naturalism faces deep challenges. Daniel N. Robinson offers a sweeping account of nature and naturalism, historically engaging Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and others. Conor Cunningham provides a take-no-prisoners critique of contemporary naturalism. Gordon Graham investigates the resources of naturalism in accounting for our sense of the sacred. Mark Wynn provides a subtle account of the imagination and perception, suggesting how these may play into the theism - naturalism debate. The book concludes with Jil Evans' reflections on the Galapagos Islands, that key, almost mythic place that became instrumental in shaping Darwin's development of his theory of evolution.

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion

A New Book of Nature

Edited by Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans

Introduction, Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans
1. 'Loving Insight': D Arcy Thompson s Aristotle and the Soul in Nature, Martin Kemp
2. Early Scientific Images of God: Descartes, Hobbes, and Newton, Geoffrey Gorham
3. Darwinian Tensions, Anthony O Hear
4. Evolutionary Emergence of Intentionality and Imagination, Dale Jacquette
5. Naturalism, Imagination, and the Scientific World View, E. J. Lowe
6. Homo Imaginans and the Concursus Divinus, Douglas Hedley
7. Aesthetics, Phantasia and the Theistic, Daniel N. Robinson
8. Naturalism Lost: Nature Regained, Connor Cunningham
9. The Sacred Beauty of Nature, Gordon Graham
10. Imaging Religious Thoughts in the Appearance of Sensory Things, Mark Wynn
11. Re-Imaging the Galapagos, Jil Evans

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion

A New Book of Nature

Edited by Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans

Author Information

Charles Taliaferro, professor of philosophy (St. Olaf College), is the author or co-author or editor of fifteen books, including The Companion to Philosophy of Religion (with Paul Draper and Philip Quinn), The Image in Mind (co-authored with Jil Evans), and Evidence and Faith; Philosophy and Religion since the Seventeenth Century. He served on the editorial board of many journals, including Religious Studies and he serves on the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession [of Philosophy].

Jil Evans is a visual artist whose paintings have been exhibited throughout the U.S. and in Europe and the co-author of The Image in Mind.

Contributors:

Conor Cunningham is Assistant Director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy, University of Nottingham.

Jil Evans is an American artist based in Minneapolis.

Geoffrey Gorham is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Macalester College and Resident Fellow at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota.

Gordon Graham is Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he is also Director of the Center for the Study of Scottish Philosophy.

Dale Jacquette is Lehrstuhl ordentlicher Professur für Philosophie, Schwerpunkt theoretische Philosophie (Senior Professorial Chair in Theoretical Philosophy), at Universität Bern, Switzerland.

Martin Kemp is Emeritus Professor in the History of Art at Trinity College. Oxford University.

E. J. Lowe is Professor of Philosophy at Durham University.

Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham and Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and Editor of Philosophy.

Daniel N. Robinson is a member of the Philosophy Faculty, Oxford University and Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, Georgetown University.

Charles Taliaferro, is Professor of Philosophy, St. Olaf College.

Mark Wynn is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.