In this article, I respond to Malik’s analysis of positions on common descent (“Creationism, Human exceptionalism, Adamic exceptionalism, and No exceptions”), regarding their metaphysical and herme...

Abstract not available

The theory of evolution has supposedly displaced human beings from their lofty positions as unique special creatures and placed them within a process of evolution where they are nothing more than a...

COVID-19 has increased awareness of the threat viruses can pose and drawn attention to the different areas of suffering one can be affected by. In this article, I use viruses as a case study to exp...

ABSTRACT Sociological studies of Islam and science in the West have developed in the past two decades. This response is positioned in the light of one such study (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/ptr/projects/science-british-muslim-religious-leadership.aspx). It argues that Malik’s work is part of emerging transatlantic networks of learning and authority in Islam and science discourses. It suggests

This paper deals with the dialectics of settlement continuity and change in Palestine's southern coastal plain during the Mamluk and Early Ottoman periods (1270–1750 CE). Using Ḥamāma, an Arab village in Majdal ‘Asqalān's hinterland as a test-case, the paper introduces a new method of establishing settlement continuity — a major challenge in the study of the historical geography of late medieval and

ABSTRACT Digital technology has changed individual and communal lives radically, resulting in the emergence of online-based churches. Concerns regarding the nature of online-based churches call for a theological investigation. This article critically examines ongoing debates and argues that: An online-based church should be construed and welcomed from the perspective of theocentrism. As of now, it

ABSTRACT This paper presents a Twelver Shīʿī defence of human evolution. It was written in dialogue with Shoaib Ahmed Malik's, Islam and Evolution: Al-Ghāzālī and the Modern Evolution Paradigm. It synthesises classical Twelver Shīʿī exegesis, hadith, doctrines, and philosophy with contemporary exegesis and scientific thought. Rather than taking the approach of scientific exegesis, it focuses on the

Published in Theology and Science (Ahead of Print, 2023)

Published in Theology and Science (Ahead of Print, 2023)

Published in Theology and Science (Ahead of Print, 2023)

ABSTRACT Inter-religious discussion on science and religion can help focus on neglected theological and metaphysical aspects. Here, I consider two examples of this: (1) the effect of models of divine action on design arguments, and (2) the effect of theological hermeneutics on the creation-evolution debate. Regarding design arguments, I analyze and respond to Shoaib A. Malik’s four Ashʿari criticisms

Bob Hale has defended a new conception of properties that is broadly Fregean in two key respects. First, like Frege, Hale insists that every property can be defined by an open formula. Second, like Frege, but unlike later definabilists, Hale seeks to justify full impredicative property comprehension. The most innovative part of his defense, we think, is a “definability constraint” that can serve as

The discovery of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was an important finding in Australian science, involving a self-educated field naturalist and a small team of plant pathologists who had to work in relative academic isolation and with inadequate glasshouse facilities. After its discovery in Melbourne in 1915, TSWV rapidly spread throughout Australia and by 1929, it posed an existential threat to the

This paper explores the production of vernacular geological knowledge about uranium during the Cold War. In particular, it investigates uranium gathering practices in Siberia as a form of geopower exercised where Soviet citizens were encouraged to participate in geological exploration of the ‘bowels of the Earth’ for national benefits. This paper further discusses a novel theorization of the early

Here, I take alethic views of understanding to be all views that hold that whether an explanation is true or false matters for whether that explanation provides understanding. I then argue that there is (as yet) no naturalistic defence of alethic views of understanding in cognitive science, because there is no agreement about the correct descriptions of the content of cognitive scientific explanations

Active materials are self-propelled non-living entities which, in some circumstances, exhibit a number of cognitively interesting behaviors such as gradient-following, avoiding obstacles, signaling and group coordination. This has led to scientific and philosophical discussion of whether this may make them useful as minimal models of cognition (Hanczyc, 2014; McGivern, 2019). Batterman and Rice (2014)

South Korea's tidal flats, called getbol, are muddy and grayish coastal wetlands under the tidal influence that constitute the predominant landform of South Korea's west and southwest coasts. Today, getbol is appreciated for its biological and geological diversity, for which it recently earned UNESCO's World Heritage status. Yet, throughout the 20th century, more than 50% of getbol areas were lost

The concept of moralisation of health behaviours was introduced in social psychology to describe the attribution of moral properties to habits and conditions like smoking or being a vegetarian. Moral properties are powerful motivators for people and institutions, as they may trigger blame, stigma, and appraisal, as well as the polarisation of interest and scientific hype. Here I extend the concept

This article examines the women's protest camps at RAF Greenham Common cruise missile base, Berkshire, England, between 1981 and 1990. Using new evidence from government correspondence in the Home Office archives, it argues that the legal status of the common and its history were key determinants of how the protest camps were policed and repeatedly evicted. The processes of eviction were determined

In recent years, statues of Gandhi have been attacked by a variety of radically incommensurable movements. Subaltern social movements struggling to dismantle the legacies of colonialism, slavery and apartheid have attacked Gandhi on the grounds of his alleged racism, casteism, misogyny and because he functions as a cipher for the imperialism of the contemporary Indian state and the racism of Indian

Published in Theology and Science (Vol. 21, No. 3, 2023)

Published in Theology and Science (Vol. 21, No. 3, 2023)

ABSTRACT This is an introduction to the special issue. It provides the historical context of Islam and Science that then leads to the theme of the issue. This special issue is the proceedings of a conference at Cambridge Muslim College that was held in December 2022.

Published in Theology and Science (Ahead of Print, 2023)

Quantum mechanics supersedes classical mechanics, and social science, some argue, should be responsive to this change. This paper finds that two rather different arguments are currently being used to argue that quantum mechanics is epistemically relevant in social science. One, attributed to Alexander Wendt, appeals to the presence of quantum physical effects in the social world. The other, attributed

Abstract not available

I examine the classical idea of ‘algorithm’ as a sequential, step-by-step, deterministic procedure (i.e., the idea of ‘algorithm’ that was already in use by the 1930s), with respect to three themes, its relation to the notion of an ‘effective procedure’, its different roles and uses in logic, computer science, and mathematics (focused on numerical analysis), and its different formal definitions proposed

In addition to natural curiosity, science is characterized by a number of psychological processes and perceptions. Among the psychological features, scientific enquiry relates to uncovering—or discovering—aspects of a world perceived as hidden from humans. A speculative theoretical model is presented, suggesting the evolution of science reflects psychological repercussions of wearing clothes. Specifically

ABSTRACT Scientific realism and anti-realism, in various forms, frame many philosophical discussions about what constitutes a successful scientific theory. This paper explores this within an Islamic framework by examining the Sunnī theological tradition's various divine action models (DAMs) for their possible impact upon the theological reception of scientific realism and anti-realism, concluding that

ABSTRACT Alfred North Whitehead years ago proposed an organismic approach to physical reality in which the constituent parts of physical entities co-constitute the governing structure of the entity even as the structure constrains the ongoing activity of the constituent parts. In this article, the author proposes that such an organismic approach to reality would be strengthened if one employs a systems-oriented

Published in Theology and Science (Vol. 21, No. 3, 2023)

Millennia of evolutionary ecology have seen Australia become one of the driest and flattest continents on Earth—and in the process, home to more than 700 species of Eucalyptus. Colonial scientists named them using a binomial system, thereby overwriting local vernaculars that had persisted for tens of thousands of years. This paper traces the man commemorated in the Albany Blackbutt, Eucalyptus staeri

ABSTRACT This article asks what, if anything, Christian theology should learn from the cognitive science of religion (CSR). Two possible answers are explored. The first is that Christian theology has nothing to learn from CSR. This is rejected in favour of the second: theology can learn from CSR by appropriating CSR insights carefully and critically to a theological understanding formed first and foremost

ABSTRACT This article critically reviews how creationists or antievolutionists are using discussions in philosophy of science to undermine the efficacy of evolution to defuse the tension between evolution and religion. They include (1) the scientific realism debate, (2) the distinction between historical and experimental sciences, (3) the problem of induction, and (4) the definitional problem of species

Abstract not available

Philosophers of science, particularly those working on science and values, often talk about the need for science to be socially responsible. However, what this means is not clear. In this paper, we review the contributions of philosophers of science to the debate over socially responsible science and explore the dimensions that a fruitful account of socially responsible science should address. Our

Facing a choice between postgraduate study and the world of work, Roy Woodall took the advice of his research supervisor at the University of California, Berkeley, to return to Australia and find ore deposits. He spent almost all his working life with Western Mining Corporation where, from 1967 to 2001, he was successively Chief Geologist, Exploration Manager, and Director of Exploration. From humble

In the poem La Luce, composed in 1685 and dedicated to Christina of Sweden, Giovanni Michele Milani propounds a mechanical and vitalist (meta-)physics of light that complies with Christian tenets by adopting a peculiar version of Democritean atomism. His lecture for the Roman Simposiaci Academy indicates the extent of Milani’s dissatisfaction with Aristotelian philosophy. While he attended the Physico-mathematical

In 1693, professor Jan František Löw von Erlsfeld published a reading list for the students of medicine at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague. The list records over 350 authorities from Aristotle to Johann Zwelfer and offers a unique insight into the structure of medicine and knowledge-sharing. It also points towards the fact that the Prague faculty was developing intellectual connections with

This study reconsiders Francis Bacon’s ideas on spirits, death, and the prolongation of life through a chronological examination of his works. His conception of death has often been considered unique because it presupposed a common material basis for the dissolution of inanimate things and the death of human beings. However, his focus on this commonality seems to have faded gradually – though not completely

Any understanding of the transformation from indirect imperial to centralized nation-state rule must consider the complex interplay between knowledge production, sovereignty, and power, as well as the historical geographies that shape them. As such, this article focuses on Middle Eastern modern-state formation through the case of Dersim, a region in contemporary Turkey's Eastern Anatolia, in the late

‘Traffic logic’ draws attention to how civil rights in public space, such as free speech, are often compromised by officials in favour of expanding bureaucratic traffic codes, designs and plans. However, internal disputes among state departments about nascent traffic logic schemes will sometimes be strategically employed by social movements to campaign for civil liberties and rights in public space

I will argue that the ontological doctrine of physicalism inevitably entails the denial that there is anything conceptual in logic and mathematics. The elements of a formal system, even if they are tagged by suggestive names, are merely meaningless parts of a physically existing machinery, which have nothing to do with concepts, because they have nothing to do with the actual things. The only situation

Published in Theology and Science (Vol. 21, No. 3, 2023)

Is Gilles Deleuze’s concept of virtuality sufficiently close to the concept of virtuality used in informatics and the philosophy of information for computer-created objects and virtual reality to justify the latter’s explanation by means of the former? This question is the main objective of the present paper. We aim to show that, contrary to its most widespread interpretations, the Deleuzian conception

ABSTRACT A distinctive feature of many Jewish approaches to evolutionary theory has been a panentheistic understanding of the cosmos. Among the earliest Hebrew translations of Darwin are those found in Toldot Adam or The Origin of Man (1874) by the Polish Jewish Naphtali Levy (1840–1894). Often regarded as a traditionalist who sought to harmonize science and Torah, Levy was in fact much more radical

ABSTRACT Matthew Braddock’s argument from false god beliefs (AFG) is one of the most significant debunking arguments to emerge from the growing literature on Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR). This argument aims to produce a defeater for any basic theistic belief. In this essay, I reply to AFG by defending a counter-example to AFG’s crucial premise. In particular, I argue that the cognitive mechanisms

ABSTRACT Bethany Sollereder’s recent work God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering attempts a novel treatment of the topic of evolutionary theodicy. While her contribution delivers several brilliant insights, its reliance upon the “Only Way” defense, open theism, and kenotic theology leaves it open for critique. After outlining these points, I propose two solutions to supplement her defense—namely Alvin

ABSTRACT This paper will look at David Malet Armstrong's conception of the Laws of Nature in light of Iqbal's conception of nature and divine action. For the sake of pragmatic austerity Armstrong rooted his theory in naturalism, physicalism, and an understanding of the world as a “state of affairs.” In contrast to Humean empiricists, nominalists, and transcendent realists, Armstrong affirmed the reality

ABSTRACT This paper integrates the notion of the Powers developed by Walter Wink with a quantum social theory posited by Alexander Wendt. While Wink argues the Powers are manifestations of social structures with an interior spirituality, resembling creatures, his picture lacks explanatory depth and is addressed by Wendt’s quantum social theory which argues agents and social structures co-emerge into

Published in Theology and Science (Vol. 21, No. 3, 2023)