Today I’m giving my second public lecture on this trip to the US. It is a Vivan J Lamb Lecture in theology and science at the University of Villanova in Philadelphia. The title of my lecture is: Biological Complexity: A New Scientific Revolution and Its Impact on Philosophy and Theology. I will explain how the departure from the strictly reductionist paradigm in biological sciences reopens the way for a conversation with ontology and metaphysics, giving an origin to the discipline of philosophy of biology as we know it of today. I will then discuss new philosophical mechanism in biology, emergentism, and Aristotelian essentialism as possible answers to the question concerning the nature of living organisms. Finally I will make a short reference to divine action which seems to be unlocked by the broader understanding of causality in contemporary biology. So, all the themes I worked on recently put together in a lecture for a general audience with some background in science, philosophy, and theology.
Category Archives: Biology
Public lecture at the CTNS in Berkeley
I’m coming back to Berkeley with a public lecture at the CTNS. I’ve been researching the topic of evolution more, especially the question of divine concurrence with natural causes in evolutionary changes. I realized that although many followers of theistic evolution willingly accept the idea of God as primary cause working through secondary causes in evolutionary changes, they do not specify what this causation is about and whether all causation in those complex changes is being delegated to the creatures. I developed a model explaining divine concurrence in evolutionary changes. I already wrote an article in which I present this new model (it is being reviewed by one of the academic journals). I’m happy to visit Berkeley again and being able to share it with scholars and students interested in this topic.
Aristotle, Aquinas & Emergence
I was asked to write an article relating the teaching of Aquinas to contemporary science for the journal Scientia et Fides. I decided to use and further develop the material contained in my doctoral dissertation. I expanded my reinterpretation of the classical notion of emergence, with its emphasis on the role of downward causation, in terms of the fourfold notion of causation in Aristotle and Aquinas, and the theory of divine action offered by the latter. The PDF version of the article is available HERE.
Abstract of the article:
One of the main challenges of the nonreductionist approach to complex structures and phenomena in philosophy of biology is its defense of the plausibility of the theory of emergence and downward causation. The tension between remaining faithful to the rules of physicalism and physical causal closure, while defending the novelty and distinctiveness of emergents from their basal constituents, makes the argumentation of many proponents of emergentism lacking in coherency and precision. In this article I aim at answering the suggestion of several thinkers to redefine emergence and downward causation in terms of the broader Aristotelian view of causation. In addition, I further develop this interdisciplinary conversation to include theological implications of emergentism, analyzed in reference to Aquinas’ understanding of divine action in terms of the same fourfold division of causes—bringing thus natural science, philosophy, and theology into creative and fruitful dialogue.
Keywords: emergence; downward causation; hylomorphism; teleology; Aristotle; Aquinas.
CTNS Conference 2016
Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences organizes a conference on this Saturday:
The Annual Russell Family Research Conference
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Steps to a Metaphysics of Incompleteness
It is dedicated to the work of Terrence Deacon from the UC Berkeley whose theory of emergence is one of the main topics of my doctoral dissertation. Deacon will present the paper he wrote together with Tyrone Cashman. Then there will be four scholars responding to the paper. I am one of them. Go to the website to get more details:
The Annual Russell Family Research Conference
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Thomism and Evolution
I’m sharing the good news. My article on the thomistic response to the theory of evolution – that I have been working on for a long time – has been published today in an online version of the coming issue of Theology and Science. you can find link to the article and a pdf of the final draft on my profile on ACADEMIA.EDU and RESEARCHGATE.NET.
The paper is significant for two reasons.
First, I’m bringing in it my discovery of a preliminary definition of natural selection in Aquinas’ commentary on Aristotle’s Physics II, 8 (198b 29-32), that can be found in In Phys. II, lect. 12, par. 253.
Second, in the theological part of the paper I bring Aquinas’ Commentary on Sentences (In I Sent., dist. 44, I, 2, co.) where Thomas — in the context of divine action in the possible perfection of the universe — says explicitly about addition of new species (multae aliae species).
Abstract
Neither Aristotle nor Aquinas assumes the reality of the evolution of species. Their systems of thought, however, remain open to the new data, offering an essential contribution to the ongoing debate between scientific, philosophical, and theological aspects of the theory of evolution. After discussing some key issues of substance metaphysics in its encounter with the theory of evolution (hylomorphism, transformism of species, teleology, chance, the principle of proportionate causation), I present a Thomistic response to its major hypotheses. Concerning the philosophy of Aquinas I trace what might be seen as a preliminary description of natural selection in his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics. Turning toward theology, besides addressing the topics that were referred to in the past—such as: Aquinas’ reading of Genesis, his account of creation as dependence in being, secondary and instrumental causality, and univocal/equivocal predication of God—I bring into discussion Thomas’ concept of the perfection of the universe, which has been virtually unused in this context.
Key Words: Aristotle; Aquinas; Natural selection; Chance; Divine causality; Evolution; Hylomorphism; Perfection of the Universe; Teleology
Metaphysics of Downward Causation
I have just finished writing my presentation for the conference on Agency and Quantum Physics in Innsbruck. I’m excited about it. This is the first time that I’m invited to give an hour long talk at the major session of an international conference. The conference begins on March 30th and ends on April 2nd. Here is the abstract of my paper:
Metaphysics of Downward Causation:
Nonreductionist Physicalism versus New Aristotelianism
Mariusz Tabaczek, O.P.
Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Abstract
Many proponents of methodological nonreductionism in contemporary science find the notion of downward causation (DC) a sine qua non of the strong (ontological) version of emergence (EM), which strives to give an account of the irreducible character of the complex levels of the organization of matter. But what for many is the essence of nonreductionist physicalism, carries with it quite a bevy of problematic issues, and becomes a stumbling block and an obstacle for those, who acknowledge the metaphysical and logical inconsistencies of the emergent theory based on the idea of DC. For how can physicalism be non-reductionist? How can DC be reconciled with the causal closure of physics? What do “higher” and “lower” levels refer to? What is causal in DC? What is being caused (acted upon)? What is the very nature of DC?
I will argue that the defense of DC requires from us a broader notion of causation, which goes beyond the efficient causes accepted and described in modern science. I want to argue in favor of the retrieval of formal causation in particular. Its acceptance not only makes EM and DC plausible, but also helps to overcome and replace Humean causation of events with the causation of living and non-living beings, explained in terms of their causal powers and dispositions. I hope to show, in the course of my presentation, that true non-reductionism needs to be philosophically grounded. Yet it can still remain compatible with science provided it values and is open to the reflection offered by philosophy of nature. My position follows new Aristotelianism developed within the analytic tradition, although an explicit reintroduction of formal cause goes beyond it to the original thought of Aristotle.
Search for truth 