George F. R. Ellis Ph.D, Templeton Prize 2004
23 Jun '05 15:08At the moment there are a number of discussions on the Forums going on that deal with Ethics, Natural Law, Divine Law, Civil Law etc.
Debators who are interested in these issues could be interested in the works of George Ellis Ph.D, winner of the Templeton Prize 2004.
http://www.templetonprize.org/bios_recent.html
“Ethics is causally effective,” he says, referring to the power that ethics has to change the world, “and provides the highest level of values that set human goals and choices.” Describing himself as a “moral realist,” Ellis argues that ethics, like mathematics, is a part of the universe that we discover rather than invent, and that there are deep ethical truths built into the physical universe.
His work on the origin of the universe, evolution of complexity, the functioning of the human mind, and how and where they intersect with areas beyond the boundaries of science, has been covered in such books as On the Moral Nature of the Universe, written with Nancey Murphy. He believes that kenotic behavior is “deeply imbedded in the universe, both in ethics and in other aspects of our lives” and that it is the only way to achieve what might otherwise be “rationally impossible.” Self-sacrificing love, according to Ellis, is the true nature of morality, another area that he says cannot be explained with simple physics or indeed by any science.
Beyond ethics, Ellis contends that there are many areas that cannot be accounted for by physics. Directly challenging the notion that the powers of science are limitless, Ellis notes the inability of even the most advanced physics to fully explain factors that shape the physical world, including human thoughts, emotions and social constructions such as the laws of chess. He comments that this is not a claim on behalf of vitalism: rather it is a simple statement of fact as regards present day science.
http://www.templetonprize.org/bios_recent.html
Debators who are interested in these issues could be interested in the works of George Ellis Ph.D, winner of the Templeton Prize 2004.
http://www.templetonprize.org/bios_recent.html
“Ethics is causally effective,” he says, referring to the power that ethics has to change the world, “and provides the highest level of values that set human goals and choices.” Describing himself as a “moral realist,” Ellis argues that ethics, like mathematics, is a part of the universe that we discover rather than invent, and that there are deep ethical truths built into the physical universe.
His work on the origin of the universe, evolution of complexity, the functioning of the human mind, and how and where they intersect with areas beyond the boundaries of science, has been covered in such books as On the Moral Nature of the Universe, written with Nancey Murphy. He believes that kenotic behavior is “deeply imbedded in the universe, both in ethics and in other aspects of our lives” and that it is the only way to achieve what might otherwise be “rationally impossible.” Self-sacrificing love, according to Ellis, is the true nature of morality, another area that he says cannot be explained with simple physics or indeed by any science.
Beyond ethics, Ellis contends that there are many areas that cannot be accounted for by physics. Directly challenging the notion that the powers of science are limitless, Ellis notes the inability of even the most advanced physics to fully explain factors that shape the physical world, including human thoughts, emotions and social constructions such as the laws of chess. He comments that this is not a claim on behalf of vitalism: rather it is a simple statement of fact as regards present day science.
http://www.templetonprize.org/bios_recent.html
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