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Ursula Goodenough [24]Ursula W. Goodenough [4]
  1.  36
    The sacred depths of nature.Ursula Goodenough - 1998 - New York: Oxford University Press.
    For many of us, the great scientific discoveries of the modern age--the Big Bang, evolution, quantum physics, relativity--point to an existence that is bleak, devoid of meaning, pointless. But in The Sacred Depths of Nature, eminent biologist Ursula Goodenough shows us that the scientific world view need not be a source of despair. Indeed, it can be a wellspring of solace and hope. This eloquent volume reconciles the modern scientific understanding of reality with our timeless spiritual yearnings for reverence and (...)
  2. (1 other version)From Biology to Consciousness to Morality.Ursula Goodenough & Terrence W. Deacon - 2003 - Zygon 38 (4):801-819.
    Social animals are provisioned with pro-social orientations that transcend self-interest. Morality, as used here, describes human versions of such orientations. We explore the evolutionary antecedents of morality in the context of emergentism, giving considerable attention to the biological traits that undergird emergent human forms of mind. We suggest that our moral frames of mind emerge from our primate pro-social capacities, transfigured and valenced by our symbolic languages, cultures, and religions.
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  3. The Sacred Depths of Nature: Excerpts.Ursula Goodenough - 2000 - Zygon 35 (3):567-586.
    For many of us, the great scientific discoveries of the modern age--the Big Bang, evolution, quantum physics, relativity-- point to an existence that is bleak, devoid of meaning, pointless. But in The Sacred Depths of Nature, eminent biologist Ursula Goodenough shows us that the scientific world view need not be a source of despair. Indeed, it can be a wellspring of solace and hope. This eloquent volume reconciles the modern scientific understanding of reality with our timeless spiritual yearnings for reverence (...)
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  4.  77
    Mindful Virtue, Mindful Reverence.Ursula Goodenough & Paul Woodruff - 2001 - Zygon 36 (4):585-595.
    How does one talk about moral thought and moral action as a religious naturalist? We explore this question by considering two human capacities: the capacity for mindfulness, and the capacity for virtue. We suggest that mindfulness is deeply enhanced by an understanding of the scientific worldview and that the four cardinal virtues—courage, fairmindedness, humaneness, and reverence—are rendered coherent by mindful reflection. We focus on the concept of mindful reverence and propose that the mindful reverence elicited by the evolutionary narrative is (...)
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  5.  69
    Vertical and Horizontal Transcendence.Ursula Goodenough - 2001 - Zygon 36 (1):21-31.
    Transcendence is explored from two perspectives: the traditional concept wherein the origination of the sacred is “out there,” and the alternate concept wherein the sacred originates “here.” Each is evaluated from the perspectives of aesthetics and hierarchy. Both forms of transcendence are viewed as essential to the full religious life.
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  6.  48
    Religiopoiesis.Ursula Goodenough - 2000 - Zygon 35 (3):561-566.
    Religiopoiesis describes the crafting of religion, a core activity of humankind. Each religion is grounded in its myth, and each myth includes a cosmology of origins and destiny. The scientific worldview coheres as such a myth and calls for a religiopoietic response. The difficulties, opportunities, and imperatives inherent in this call are explored, particularly as they impact the working scientist.
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  7.  49
    A Setback to the Dialogue: Response to Huston Smith.Ursula Goodenough - 2001 - Zygon 36 (2):201-206.
    Huston Smith's book, Why Religion Matters, offers an eloquent evocation of mystical sensibility. Unfortunately, along the way, he offers a strongly negative and often inaccurate account of the scientific worldview, the claim being that the science is laying siege to the spiritual.
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  8.  49
    Religious Naturalism and Naturalizing Morality.Ursula Goodenough - 2003 - Zygon 38 (1):101-109.
    I first offer some reflections on the term religious naturalism. I then outline how moral thought might be configured in the context of religious naturalism. It is proposed that the goal of morality is to generate a flourishing community and that humans negotiate their social interactions using moral capacities that are cultivated in the context of culture. Six such capacities are considered: strategic reciprocity, humaneness, fair–mindedness, courage, reverence, and mindfulness. Moral capacities are contrasted with moral susceptibilities, fueled by self–interest, and (...)
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  9.  46
    The religious dimensions of the biological narrative.Ursula W. Goodenough - 1994 - Zygon 29 (4):603-618.
    A cell/molecular biologist challenges the thesis that science and religion are two ways of experiencing and interpreting the world and explores instead the possible ways that the modern biological worldview might serve as a resource for religious perspectives. Three concepts—meaning, valuation, and purpose—are argued to be central to the entire biological enterprise, and the continuation of this enterprise is regarded as a sacred religious trust.
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  10.  46
    What science can and cannot offer to a religious narrative.Ursula W. Goodenough - 1994 - Zygon 29 (3):321-330.
    A molecular/cell biologist offers perspectives on the contributions that the scientific worldview might and might not make to religious though. It is argued that two essential features of institutionalized religions–their historical context and their supernatural orientation—are not addressed by the sciences, nor can the sciences contribute to the art and ritual that elicit states of faith and transcendence. The sciences have, however, important stories (myths) to offer, stories that have the potential to unify us, to tell us what is sacred, (...)
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  11.  42
    Biology: What one needs to know.Ursula Goodenough - 1996 - Zygon 31 (4):671-680.
    Biology on this planet represents an astonishing experiment in carbon‐based chemistry which, over billions of years, has generated billions of species adapted to countless major and minor fluctuations in ecological circumstances. In one sense there is no way to generalize about biology. While biological activities can all be ultimately explained by physical laws (like everything else in the universe), it is the emergent intensely particular properties of organisms that most interest us. This essay represents an attempt to describe some of (...)
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  12.  52
    Causality and Subjectivity in the Religious Quest.Ursula Goodenough - 2000 - Zygon 35 (4):725-734.
    The dynamics of seeking causation and the dynamics of subjectivity are presented and then brought together in a consideration of the three core components of the religious quest: the search for and experience of ultimate explanations, the interiority of religious experience (“spirituality”), and the empathic experience of religious fellowship.
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  13.  51
    Creativity in science.Ursula W. Goodenough - 1993 - Zygon 28 (3):399-414.
    . Creativity is a concept far more often associated with art than with science. The creative dimension of scientific inquiry and practice is described and compared with its artistic counterpart; similarities and differences are analyzed.
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  14.  31
    Darwinian Natural Right.Ursula Goodenough - 2001 - Tradition and Discovery 28 (3):42-43.
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  15.  44
    Genomes, Gould, and Emergence.Ursula Goodenough - 2001 - Zygon 36 (3):383-393.
    The publication of the human genome has elicited commentary to the effect that, since fewer genes were identified than anticipated, it follows that genes are less important to human biology than anticipated. The flaws in this syllogism are explained in the context of a treatise on how genomes operate and evolve and how genes function to produce embryos and brains. Most of our most cherished human traits are the result of the emergence of new properties from preexisting genetically scripted ideas, (...)
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  16.  57
    Reductionism and holism, chance and selection, mechanism and mind.Ursula Goodenough - 2005 - Zygon 40 (2):369-380.
  17.  48
    Reflections on Scientific and Religious Metaphor.Ursula Goodenough - 2000 - Zygon 35 (2):233-240.
    The importance of scientific conflicts for theology and philosophy is difficult to judge. In many disputes of significance, prominent scientists can be found on both sides. Profound philosophical and religious implications are sometimes said to be implied by the new theory as well. This article examines the dispute over natural selection between Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould as a contemporary instance of such a conflict. While both claim that profoundphilosophical conclusions flow from their own alternative account of evolution, I (...)
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  18.  66
    Reflections on Science and Technology.Ursula Goodenough - 2000 - Zygon 35 (1):5-12.
    Science and technology are frequently confused. This essay points out thebases for this confusion and then focuses on a basic distinction, namely, that whereas science brings us information that we have little choice but to absorb and reflect upon, technology is something that humans elect to do and, hence, can also elect not to do. It is proposed that technological ethics are most cogently undertaken with scientific understanding as the linchpin and religious/artistic sensibilities as the muse.
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  19.  46
    The Emergence of Sex.Ursula Goodenough - 2007 - Zygon 42 (4):857-872.
    Biological traits, the foci of natural selection, are by definition emergent from the genes, proteins, and other “nothing-buts” that constitute them. Moreover, and with the exception of recently emergent “spandrels,” each can be accorded a teleological dimension—each is “for” some purpose conducive to an organism's continuation. Sex, which is “for” the generation of recombinant genomes, may be one of the most ancient and ubiquitous traits in biology. In the course of its evolution, many additional traits, such as gender and nurture, (...)
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  20.  21
    The emergence of selves and purpose.Ursula W. Goodenough & Jeremy E. Sherman - 2021 - Zygon 56 (4):960-970.
    Zygon®, Volume 56, Issue 4, Page 960-970, December 2021.
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  21.  9
    The sacred depths of nature: how life has emerged and evolved.Ursula Goodenough - 2023 - New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    When people talk about religion, most soon mention the major religious traditions of our times, but then, thinking further, most mention as well the religions of Indigenous peoples and of such vanished civilizations as ancient Greece and Egypt and Persia. That is, we have come to understand that there are-and have been-many different religions; anthropologists estimate the total in the thousands. They also estimate that there have been thousands of human cultures, which is to say that the making of a (...)
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  22. Think pieces.Carl S. Helrjch, Peter E. Hodgson, Nicholas T. Saunders, Jeffrey Koperski, Ursula Goodenough Religiopoiesis, Ursula Goodenough, Loyal Rue, David Knight, Phiup Cl-Ayton & Joseph M. Zycinski - 2000 - Zygon 35 (3-4):716.
  23. Think pieces.Peter E. Hodgson, Nigholas T. Saunders, Jeffrey Koperski, Ursula Goodenough Religiopoiesis, Ursula Goodenough, Loyal Rue, David Knight, Philip Clayton, Joseph M. Zycinski & Michael Heller - 2000 - Zygon 35 (3-4):716.