Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

Historian of science Frederic Bumham has stated that the "God hypothesis" is now more respectable hypothesis than at any time in the last one hundred years. This essay explores recent evidence from cosmology, physics, and biology, which provides epistemoiogical support, though not proof, for belief in God as conceived by a theistic worldview. It develops a notion of epistemoiogical support based upon explanatory power, rather than just deductive entailment. It also evaluates the explanatory power of theism and its main metaphysical competitors with respect to several classes of scientific evidence. The cmclusion follows that theism explains a wide ensemble of metaphysically-significant evidences more adequately and comprehensively than other major worldviews or metaphysical systems. Thus, unlike much recent scholarship that characterizes science as either conflicting with theistic belief or entirely neutral with respect to it, this essay concludes that scientific evidence actually supports such.

Hilary Putnam has discussed religion in his philosophical writings only since the early 1990s, While his approach is Wittgensteinian, Putnam seeks to avoid the pseudo-Wittgensteinian view which reduces religion to a language-game or form of life which cannot be rationally criticized from any external standpoint. In defending the possibility of critical philosophical discussion of religious issues, Putnam draws on the tradition of American pragmatism, especially William James, With classical pragmatists, he also shares a profoundly Kantian background, tightly connecting religion with morality. Finally, Putnam's pragmatism may be interpreted as a form of existentialism Putnam way of philosophizing about religion-matters of vital importance to human beings while contradictory and paradoxical, may nevertheless offer a way of restoring critical philosophy in a fragmented postmodern world which has lost ethical integrity.

In his classic, The Idea of a University, John Henry Cardinal Newman advanced three arguments for the inclusion of theology in the liberal arts curriculum. These include the very nature of a university in its profession to teach all subjects, the interdisciplinary value of theology, and the danger of academic quackery and usurpation, when a subject matter is not given its due place in the curriculum. The arguments for theology are intimately connected to Newman's high ideal of education, rightly celebrated by educators today. The crisis in contemporary liberal education is reflected in a dispute between Edward O. Wilson and Richard Rorty over the concept of "consilience." Yet there are promising signs of a renewal of liberal education through a deeper appreciation of theology in the course of studies in higher education.

Voyages and crises of philosophy refer to philosophical knowledge of truth, in contrast to skepticism and relativism. They encompass the rational foundation of philosophy and the application of a critical method to central contents. Realist phenomenology plays a key role in the seventh voyage by providing an objective foundation to a priori knowledge. It shows also that essential necessity possesses a supreme form of intelligibility. Cognition is reached via insight and deduction. Three kinds of essences explain the difference between empirical and a priori sciences, while the "impoverishment of a priori" is transcended through necessary essences. Rethinking Edmund Husserl's method allows access to real existence, where objective values replace axiological nihilism. Rigorous philosophy is thus compatible with divinely revealed truth about the mysteries of God and man.

Der Sinn der philosophischen Gottesbeweise besteht in der Widerlegung pseudowissenschaftlicher Argumente des Atheismus und in der reflexen Unterstützung des religiösen Glaubens. Zwischen der philosophischen Theologie und der Religion kommt eine wesentliche Dialektik zur Geltung. Wird die philosophische Theologie, die eben philosophischen Gottesbeweis kulminiert, abgelehnt, so tritt an ihre Stelle die Gefahr des Abgleitens in einen irrationalen Dezisionismus. Alle Sätze der philosophischen Theologie sind Sätze über die Welt und den Menschen; sie erklären deren Bedingung Möglichkeit und Wirklichkeit, samt den Implikationen dessen, was ihr "Urgrund" ist Einerseits sucht der (weit verstandene) Glaube reflexe Einsicht, andererseits Iässt theoretische Gotteserkenntnis dasjenige intakt, worauf es dem religiösen Menschen unbedingt ankommt: die "Funktion" der freien Hingabe.

God's action in the world poses a challenge for the Christian scholar. At the scholarly level of one's discipline, invocations of divine Providence as an explanatory category are considered unacceptable. Yet the scholar-believer necessarily acknowledges that God is indeed active in His Creation. Generally, this tension is resolved via the assumption of methodological naturalism at the level of one's discipline and the embrace of theism at the level of one's faith. This can result in an incoherence between the commitments of one's discipline and one's faith. Yet both theology and physics suggest that this tension may be relieved somewhat by acknowledging that the physical universe is no longer understood to be closed to the possibility of divine action. Consequently, Christian historians may want to reconsider the value of Providence as an explanatory category.

By nature, every man is a philosopher who continuously seeks explanations for both the universe and the human condition. In the modern era, scientific explanations based on the scientific method and its accompanying philosophical framework of quantification, naturalism, and reductionism have obscured other approaches to explaining the world. Curiously, the emerging science of complexity and complex systems is challenging scientists to develop a more holistic approach to nature. The resulting more comprehensive view of nature combines traditional modeling based on the scientific method and empirical verification, complemented by modeling based upon philosophical principles. Aristotle's philosophy of nature suggests a model of complex systems which is both intellectually satisfying and complementary to the mathematical models already in use. The rediscovery of a philosophy of nature would contribute to a holistic worldview, providing a neutral middle ground in the science-religion dialogue.

At the dawn of the Third Millennium, philosophy is at an important crossroads in its role as paideia—philosophy educating humanity. A major challenge for philosophy today is to mediate the emergmg science-religion dialogue, and enhance understanding of the relationship between science, ethics, and faith. Curiously, the methodological dilemmas and thorny issues of demarcation between science and religion reflect a new awareness regarding metascientific questions posed by science itself. We are at the threshold of a new Golden Age of scientific discoveries and faith-informed, interdisciplinary, and liberal learning interconnecting once more all areas of knowledge with ethics and faith. The likely key to new discoveries is an interdisciplinary approach seeking interrelatedness between all phenomena. This means also that the restoration of philosqphy in the classic sense as sophia or the love of wisdom can only be achieved within the larger framework of dialogue among all disciplines in the quest for truth.