Spookiness, Sea Sponges, Stardust, and the Sacred: The Ethics of Quanto-Bio-Cosmic Ontological Interdependence
Developments in twentieth-century science upended the classical Newtonian paradigm that posited a mechanistic universe of atomized entities, regular forces, and natural laws. Trajectories in quantum, biological and cosmic sciences began to indicate instead a paradigm of entanglement and relativity....
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
Journal of religious ethics
Year: 2021, Volume: 49, Issue: 2, Pages: 382-411 |
| Further subjects: | B
Cosmology
B Ecology B Interdependence B quantum physics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Developments in twentieth-century science upended the classical Newtonian paradigm that posited a mechanistic universe of atomized entities, regular forces, and natural laws. Trajectories in quantum, biological and cosmic sciences began to indicate instead a paradigm of entanglement and relativity. Religious ethicists and theologians, especially feminists, have interpreted the new model by adopting “interdependence” as a relational-ontological symbol. What are the implications of this move for religious ethics? I consider a selection of representative works that ascribe normative value to quanto-bio-cosmic ontological interdependence. The contemporary scientific paradigm affirms feminist and liberationist relational ontologies, but the attempt to synthesize an “ethico-onto-epistemology” from natural processes inevitably runs up against the fact/value distinction as well as ethical ambiguities intrinsic to natural interdependence. These issues must be addressed if interdependence is to survive as a theological ethical symbol. |
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| ISSN: | 1467-9795 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religious ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jore.12356 |