NATURALIZING TRANSCENDENCE IN THE NEW COSMOLOGIES OF EMERGENCE

Author: Braxton, Donald M.

Source: Zygon, Volume 41, Number 2, June 2006 , pp. 347-364(18)

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Abstract:

Recent discourse on emergence within the natural sciences offers a superior alternative to traditional notions of transcendence. Emergence is a term of common parlance in the natural sciences. It designates moments when various systems develop an internal dynamic that generates an entirely new level of complexity, a qualitatively different mode of existence that cannot simply be reduced to its constituent parts. To the natural scientist, emergence is an expression of transcendence without reference to final causality or central organizing principle. Autopoietic emergence is more congruent with contemporary understandings of the universe than the traditional anthropomorphizing concept of teleological design. In this article I offer both an interpretation of emergence as a new category for the interpretation of divinity and an explanation for traditional anthropomorphism rooted in contemporary cognitive sciences.

Keywords: cognitive science; design; emergence; feedback loop; stigmergy; teleology; theology; transcendence

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00742.x

Affiliations: 1: J. Omar Good Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Juniata College, 1700 Moore Street, Huntingdon, PA 16652;, Email: braxton@juniata.edu.

Publication date: 2006-06-01