On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Is Nature Moral?

1. Introduction [Murphy: Preface]
   • How are the anthropic principle, theology, and ethics connected?
   • "The (apparent) fine-tuning of the cosmological constants to produce a life-bearing universe (the anthropic issue) seems to call for explanation [p. xv]."
   • A theistic explanation most coherent
   • God (appears) to work in concert with nature, never violating it.
   • Therefore, a kenotic ethic:

     a "kenotic" or self-renunciatory ethic, according to which one must renounce self-interest for the sake of the other, no matter what the cost to oneself [p. xv].

   • This at variance with ethics suggested by current social science
   • Therefore, rethink in light of God's self-sacrificing love.
2. Discussion questions:
   1. Should theology be part of the scientific endeavor?
   2. Is the universe kenotic?

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3. Should theology be part of the scientific endeavor?
   • theology mediates and accredits revelation
   • revelation becomes additional data to science
   • Why this now [chapter 1, Murphy and Ellis]?
     • Task needed today: cosmology: reconstruction of a unified world view relating human life to the natural world and its transcendental background
     • Historic seperation of ethics from science (Kant):
       • science known by experience and pure reason
       • moral world known by intuition and practical reason
       • free ethics from religious entanglements
     • Presuppositions in task (pp4-8, ibid):
       • scientific setting
         1. bottom-up & top-down causation (the whole is greater than the parts)
         2. evolution of life
         3. the hot big bang
         4. the anthropic issue
         5. the issue of metaphysics (some things are outside of science)
       • philosphical
         1. anti-relativism
         2. the reliability of scientifc knowledge (science does uncover objective knowledge)
       • ethical
         1. fact-value holism (facts can't be freed of interpretation)
         2. ethics is tied to science but not reducible to it.
         3. the non-relativity of moral knowledge
         4. free will
       • theological
         1. theology provides genuine knowledge of a transcendent reality
         2. anabaptist heritage
         3. other religions (congruent with kenosis)
         4. theological claims as explanatory
   • theology provides the broadest paradigm of the sciences [Randolph]:
     • more encomlpassing wholes
     • increasing complexity [Murphy and Ellis, pp22] -- for example, human brain and machine intelligence
       • emergent order: order emerges out of the whole -- new information is generated
       • top-down causation: lowel levels effected by higher levels

     Metaphysics (Theology)
     	Ethics
     Cosmology	Applied Natural Sciences Engineering Environmental Science Computer Sci.	Social Sciences Law Political Science Economics	Human Sciences Psychology Sociology Anthropology
     Astrophysics
     Geology, Ecology
     Biology
     Chemistry
     Physics

   • some boundary questions leading to this are:
     • anthropic principle [Murphy and Ellis, p49]
       • why is the universe so finely tuned for life?
       • how did intelligent life evolve?
       • what is its significance?
       • how widespread is it?
       • Weak Anthropic Principle: We can observe the universe only from places and times where intelligent life can exist (and can have evolved)
       • Strong Anthropic Principle: Intelligent life must exist in the universe; it is a necessity
         possibly required for the consistency of QM which depends on the "observer"
       • Ultimate Causation
         • random chance -- we're an accident
         • high probability -- many initial conditions lead to a life-friendly universe
         • necessity -- this is it; it has to be this way; hence S.A.P.
         • universality -- all that is possible, happens
         • design -- God did it.
     • pre-big bang reality [Murphy and Ellis, p48]
       initial conditions given
       where did the universe come from?
     • afterlife
     • cloning
     • bioengineering
     • ad infinitum
     • an example [Murphy and Ellis, pp32]: free will vs determinism,
       • determinism => bottom-up causation: the whole = sum of the parts (we are just so many atoms and chemicals)
         causal reductionism
         is our emotional state the product of our metabolism, or is our metabolism the product of our emotional state?
       • free will => emergent order and top-down causation
         top-down action => intention
         therefore, microlevel is ontologically indeterminate (shades of Heisenberg!)

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4. Kenotic nature of nature
   • ethics: the science of determining the good of humankind
   • definition of good actions, good human characteristics, good social organizations is the subject matter.
   • definitely intertwined in the social and human sciences [M/e, p. 118]:
     1. theology/metaphysics ------> telos
     2. ethics ------>
        1. institutions
        2. practices
        3. virtues
     3. social and human sciences -----> social and personal embodiment
   • hard-core of ethical theory [M/E, p119]: Self-renunciation for the sake of the other is humankind's highest good no matter the cost to one's self
   • Consequences:
     • renunciation involves detachment from material possessions
     • renounce our rights as rewards
     • choosing not to harm another when we have been harmed
     • nonviolence
     • acceptance of suffering
     • submission to God (islam)
   • Can not be imposed
     • must be non-coercive
     • imposition of this ethic leads to inquistion, abuse, tyranny
   • Consistency relations wrt kenotic ethic [M/E, p.204, Fig 9-2]:
     • kenotic doctrine of God <--> animal suffering <--> kenotic ethic
     • kenotic doctrine of God <--> quantum indeterminacy <--> kenotic ethic
     • kenotic doctrine of God <--> existence, lawlikeness & anthropic character of the universe <---> kenotic ethic
     • kenotic doctrine of God <--> kenotic ethic <--> social sciences
   • Confirmation from cosmology, physics, and biology:
     • Assumption: universe created to allow development of moral (intelligent) life, i.e., purpose of universe is to make possible an uncoerced, moral response to the Creator [p. 208ff]
       • lawlike character of the universe: without order free will is meaningless, since cannot anticipate result of a (im)moral response
       • anthropic universe and free will: there must exist moral intelligence with free will; hence S.A.P.
       • undetermined actions must be permitted (to exercise free will)
       • provident universe: the impartial operation of the laws of science offers to all, irrespective of morals or beliefs, the bounty of nature. Therefore, God is non-coersive.
       • hidden nature of ultimate reality: God hides, since if God were obvious we would be coersed into moral belief. If God were obvious, even the atheist would have to believe!
     • Kenosis in Biology
       • central feature of biological life is the recycling of materials through many generations.
       • we are only lent the materials of our body to use for a while and then to return them to nature
       • similarly for the stars
       • great chain of being
       • death, therefore, necessary
       • giving of one's life is, therefore, redemptive
     • QM and noncoerciveness [M/E, p.213f]
       • noncoercive divine action at the q level permitted; God need not violate the laws of science to act (noninterventionist)
       • q indeterminacy allows revelation: visions of ultimate reality to those open to them
         at the q level within the human nervous system, the divine can make itself known
   • Why the kenotic nature binding on us? Resurrection [Wegter-McNelly]
     • the guarantee of the divinity and unity of Jesus with God
     • therefore, Jesus's kenotic life is an example of God and binds us to it
     • "God's guarantee that the effectiveness of self-renunciation and kenosis will ultimately prevail [M&E, p 193]."
     • by living as Jesus did, we are genuinely involving ourselves in the ultimate character of reality
     • yet God's act in the resurrection is decidedlly unkenotic: absolute divine power over creation
     • therefore, "He descended into Helll" from the Apostle's Creed
       • Jesus descended before he ascended
       • Jesus plundered Hell, freeing its inhabitants
       • Jesus's death ws freeing: do not accept death, rather engage death
       • Jesus's death rejects the power of domination: do not just appear to suffer death, rather actually did and engaged death
     • Death and Resurrection is an axis that affirms the kenotic principle of engaging death and transforming it into life
     • Consider holoprocess
       • the whole in everything
       • pan connection
       • utterly other within us
       • kenosis and plethora
       • An expanded ethic:

         renouncing the separate self for the sake of the other self is the highest good, no matter the cost to one's self

       • seeing the face of God in everyone and everything
       • finding and accepting the other in one's self
       • removing barriers among all createds
       • embracing all within ourselves
     • Kenosis is liberating; creation is liberating

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5. An ethical scientific endeavor
   • Roundtable
   • Partnership, not encounter
   • Science education to include ethics/theology

References

1. Murphy, Nancey and George F. R. Ellis; On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics; Fortress Press ©1996.
2. Randolph, Richard O.; Environmental Ethics and Its Implications for A Hierarchy of Sciences; CTNS Bulletin; Volume 18, Number 4; Fall 1998.
3. Wegter-McNelly, Kirk; "He Descended into Hell": A Liberation Response to the Use of Kenosis in On the Moral Nature of the Universe; CTNS Bulletin; Volume 18, Number 4; Fall 1998.

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