Astonishment and Science: Engagements with William Desmond

by Paul Tyson (Editor)

Overview

Science can reveal or conceal the breathtaking wonders of creation. On one hand, knowledge of the natural world can open us up to greater love for the Creator, give us the means of more neighborly care, and fill us with ever-deepening astonishment. On the other hand, knowledge feeding an insatiable hunger for epistemic mastery can become a means of idolatry, hubris, and damage. Crucial to world-respecting science is the role of wonder: curiosity, perplexity, and astonishment. In this volume, philosopher William Desmond explores the relation of the different modes of wonder to modern science. Responding to his thought are twelve thinkers across the domains of science, theology, philosophy, law, poetry, medicine, sociology, and art restoration. Introduction --Paul Tyson The Dearth of Astonishment: On Curiosity, Scientism, and Thinking as Negativity --William Desmond Preparing to Paint the Virgin's Robe --Spike Bucklow Cultivating Wonder --Steven Knepper The Astonishment of Philosophy: William Desmond and Isabelle Stengers --Simone Kotva Astonishment and the Social Sciences --Paul Tyson Curiosity, Perplexity, and Astonishment in the Natural Sciences --Andrew Davison Scientism as the Dearth of the Nothing --Richard J. Colledge The Determinations of Medicine and the Too-Muchness of Being --Jeffrey Bishop Attending to Infinitude: Law as in-between the Overdeterminate and Practical Judgment --Jonathan Horton Life's Wonder --Simon Oliver Being in Control --Michael Hanby Wondering about the Science/Scientism Distinction --D. C. Schindler Basil and Desmond on Wonder and the Astonishing Return of Christian Metaphysics --Isidoros C. Katsos The Children of Wonder: On Scientism and Its Changelings --William Desmond

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666728071
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	12/27/2022
Series:	Veritas
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

William Desmond is David Cook Chair in Philosophy at Villanova University, and professor of philosophy emeritus at the Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.



Paul Tyson writes about Christian Platonism, theological metaphysics, epistemology, the theology of science, theological sociology, the sociology of knowledge, and the theology and politics of money.


Paul Tyson writes about Christian Platonism, theological metaphysics, epistemology, the theology of science, theological sociology, the sociology of knowledge, and the theology and politics of money.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This in-itself-wonderful collection of essays by globally eminent theologians and philosophers asks that we return science to contemplative wonder for the sake of a more rigorous veracity.”

—John Milbank, University of Nottingham



“Astonishment is the wellspring of thinking. It makes us realize that the being of the world exceeds everything that model-driven theory constructs can capture. A civilization that does not preserve the logic of astonishment within its research methods and instruments slaughters the chicken that lays the golden eggs of ‘scientific progress.’ This highly political book shows that we need to recover what distinguishes a mindful physician, jurist, scientist, philosopher, or theologian from a project-driven academic cobbler.”

—Johannes Hoff, Universität Innsbruck

Editorial Reviews

"This in-itself-wonderful collection of essays by globally eminent theologians and philosophers asks that we return science to contemplative wonder for the sake of a more rigorous veracity."

--John Milbank, University of Nottingham



"Astonishment is the wellspring of thinking. It makes us realize that the being of the world exceeds everything that model-driven theory constructs can capture. A civilization that does not preserve the logic of astonishment within its research methods and instruments slaughters the chicken that lays the golden eggs of 'scientific progress.' This highly political book shows that we need to recover what distinguishes a mindful physician, jurist, scientist, philosopher, or theologian from a project-driven academic cobbler."

--Johannes Hoff, Universität Innsbruck

From the Publisher