God, Freedom, and Evil: Perspectives from Religion and Science

This paper develops analogies concerning the evolution of dissipative structures in nonequilibrium thermodynamics to interpret irrational human behavior in which one finds a lack of correspondence between the invested means and the consequences observed. In an attempt to positively explain the proce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Main Author: Życínvski, Joseph M. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2000
In: Zygon
Year: 2000, Volume: 35, Issue: 3, Pages: 653-664
Further subjects:B Thermodynamics
B Process theology
B Irrationality
B Grace
B nonequilibrium
B God's action
B Whitehead's philosophy
B Moral Evil
B Freedom
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Summary:This paper develops analogies concerning the evolution of dissipative structures in nonequilibrium thermodynamics to interpret irrational human behavior in which one finds a lack of correspondence between the invested means and the consequences observed. In an attempt to positively explain the process of cooperation between the free human person and interacting God, I use philosophical categories of Whitehead's process philosophy in an aesthetic model that opposes composition and performance in a musical symphony. Certainly, the essence of human freedom can be expressed in neither thermodynamical nor aesthetic terms. The models proposed can, however, facilitate our understanding of the mutual relations between God's action in the world and the drama of human free choice of moral evil.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/0591-2385.00302