Resolution of the entropy‐evolution problem was a significant issue for Pierre Teilhard de Chardin throughout his scientific career. Although never truly satisfied with his solution, he proposed that all energy must be psychic and contain two components. Tangential energy is related to physical energy. Radial energy in some way accounts for increasing complexity and consciousness in evolution. Analysis of developments in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory show that Gibbs free energy contains both calorimetric and noetic components, thus validating Teilhard's (...) intuition. (shrink)

In this thorough compendium, nineteen accomplished scholars explore, in some manner the values they find inherent in the world, their nature, and revelence through the thought of Frederick Ferré. These essays, informed by the insights of Ferré and coming from manifold perspectives—ethics, philosophy, theology, and environmental studies, advance an ambitious challenge to current intellectual and scholarly fashions.

In this thorough compendium, nineteen accomplished scholars explore, in some manner the values they find inherent in the world, their nature, and revelence through the thought of Frederick FerrZ. These essays, informed by the insights of FerrZ and coming from manifold perspectives—ethics, philosophy, theology, and environmental studies, advance an ambitious challenge to current intellectual and scholarly fashions.

“Much as I dislike the idea of ages, I think a good case can be made that science has now moved from an Age of Reductionism to an Age of Emergence, a time when the search for ultimate causes of things shifts from the behavior of parts to the behavior of the collective” (Laughlin 2005 , p. 208). This quotation by Nobel laureate in physics, Robert B. Laughlin, in his recent book, A Different Universe , raises interesting scientific and philosophical (...) issues. Bench chemists continue successfully to synthesize new compounds and report results through quantitative and structural analyses of constitutive elements. The whole continues to be understood by analysis of the parts. The relatively recent science of emergence comes with a different perspective: how to explain novel, irreducible, and unpredictable appearances in cosmic evolution? New wholes seem to be more that the sum of their parts. How do these wholes come to exist? Do classical concepts of matter satisfy the science of emergence? Descriptions of nature’s phenomena that challenge classical interpretations of the “Age of Reductionism” are presented to stimulate possible new scientific and philosophical concepts for an age of reductionism and emergence. (shrink)

Analysis of the long career of the concept of matter must take into account the shift from static to evolutionary interpretations of nature. Application of Aristotle's description of abstraction permits one to situate the concept of matter in the writings ofTeilhard de Chardin within that shift. His observations as a scientist showed him that matter has the property to self-organize, and that consciousness grows in systems of increasing complexity. Analysis of modern concepts of emergence and top-down causation indicate that Teilhard's (...) insight, founded on a concept of matter as spirit-matter and a law of complexity consciousness, is compatible with modern understanding of the evolutionnary process. /// O presente artigo considera que a análise da longa carreira percorrida pelo conceito de matéria deve tomar em consideração a passagem de uma interpretação estática para as interpretações evolutivas da natureza. No artigo, a aplicação da descrição aris-totélica da abstracção permite situar o conceito de matéria nos escritos de Pierre Teilhard de Chardin dentro desse contexto. As suas observações como cientista mostraram a Teilhard não só a capacidade que a matéria possui de se auto-organizar, mas também que a consciência se desenvolve em sistemas de crescente complexidade. Neste sentido, a análise dos conceitos modernos de emergência e de causalidade vertical são indicadores de que a intuição de Teilhard de Chardin, fundada num conceito de matéria entendido como espírito-matéria e uma lei de complexidade-consciência, é perfeitamente compatível com a compreensão moderna do processo evolutivo. (shrink)