On God, Space, and Time

ISBN-13: 9781560003977 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 243 str.

A. J. Vroman; Akiva J. Vroman

Opis

For Akiva Jaap Vroman -a day in the infinite past- is nonsense. All the days that have elapsed belong to a past of countable days; they started on a first day a finite number of days ago. Time began this first day. It follows that an eternal past does not exist. Vroman bases his reasoning on a simple mathematical law: an infinite quantity remains the same infinite quantity if a finite quantity, however large, is subtracted from it. On God, Space, and Time devotes itself to this proof. On God, Space, and Time is rooted in the epistemological thinking of Immanuel Kant and Jean Piaget and the law of Leucippus, and draws from the somewhat disparate fields of psychology, physiology, mathematics, and physics. Vroman discusses the modern vindication of the existence of the Creator using ontological arguments, which observe the cosmos solely through our sense-perceptions and the world of space and matter. He balances this worldview with a discussion of brain chemistry and physiology in -God, Mind, and Body- showing that the world of space and matter is nothing but an interpretation made by our working mind. Vroman also describes the Spanish-based Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages who came close to solving the Genesis-Creation contradiction, which cannot be reconciled through the external world of Greek philosophy. As we travel through time with Vroman, who ranges easily and poetically over important concepts and influential thinkers, we encounter a variety of subjects: Spinoza's new definition of God and the authority of reason in the age of Descartes, Leibniz, and Newton; Jewish idealists, such as Nachman Krochmal, Solomon L. Steinman, Solomon Formstecher, and Samuel Hirsch; the concept of space-time; and Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Arthur Schopenhauer, Max Wentscher, and Charles Darwin. He presents engaging, worthwhile discussions of futurology; the astrological world of sub-lunar events; religious eschatology, specifically the Jewish and Christian Messiah; apocalyptic revelation in psychological science, the future of the universe, God and moral virtue, the medical approach to the question of life and death, and finally, personal thoughts on religious worship and service based on reason and moral sense. On God, Space, and Timea valuable historical synthesis of Western thought on man's vision of God, and consequently reality. This volume will interest many, particularly those intrigued by philosophy, religion, and futurology.

Spis treści

Introduction, 1. An Introduction to Reality and Imagination, 2. The Modem Vindication of the Existence of the Creator, 3. God: The Ontological Argument and the Argument from Design, 4. God, Mind, and Body: Part 1, 5.God, Mind, and Body: Part 2, 6. The Spanish Intermezzo, 7. Spinoza: The Aftermath of the Spanish Intermezzo, 8. The Very Few Jewish Idealists after Spinoza, 9. The Legacy of Spinoza, 10. The Development of the Concept of Space-Time, 11. Immanuel Kant and His Spiritual Inheritance, 12. Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Max Wentscher, 13. Charles Darwin and the Ensuing -ism, 14. An Introduction to Ignorance, 15. Religious Eschatology, Part 1: The Jewish Messiah, 16. Religious Eschatology, Part 2: The Christian Messiah, 17. Religious Eschatology, Part 3: Apocalyptic Revelation in Psychological Science, 18. Religious Eschatology, Part 4: The Fate of the World in the, 19. God and Moral Virtue, 20. The Modem World against God, 21. The Question of Life and Death: The Medical Approach, 22. Bridging the Chasm between God and Mankind in Judaism, 23. On the Future of Humanism and Divine Justice in Judaism, 24. Worship and Service in Prospect.

O autorze

Akiva Vroman