Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Science is very successful in discovering the structure and history of the physical world, but its success is purchased by the modesty of its ambition. There is more to be told of the encounter with reality, including the nature of scientific inquiry itself, than can be gained from impersonal experience and experimental test. This book goes beyond science to consider the human context in which it operates and to pursue that wider understanding which we all seek. It looks to issues of meaning and value, intrinsic to scientific practice but excluded from science's consideration by its own self-denying ordinance. It raises the question of the significance of the deep mathematical intelligibility of the physical world and its anthropically fruitful history. It considers how we may find responsible ways to use the power that science places in human hands. Science is portrayed as an activity of human persons pursued within a convivial and truth-seeking community. This book neither over-values science (as if it were the only worthwhile source of knowledge) nor devalues it (as if it were to be treated with suspicion or not taken seriously). Beyond Science provides a considered and balanced account which firmly asserts science's place in human culture, maintained in mutually illuminating relationships with other aspects of that culture.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• 1 Is science enough
• 2 Understanding the physical world
• 3 Working together
• 4 Memoirs of the great
• 5 What happened to the human mindi
• 6 What does it meani
• 7 Ultimate questions
• 8 Is, ought and wonder
• 9 Responsible behaviour
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Polkinghorne's short account of science, scientists, interpretations of their work by nonscientists, and what lies beyond science in the realm of human and cosmic nature is a testament to the author's personal beliefs. The story is more suited to an evening's freewheeling discussion in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace, rather than as a book whose purpose is to illuminate specific universal questions regarding the nature and future of human, terrestrial, and cosmic existence. An interesting part is chapter 2, where the author provides a crisp indictment of philosophers of science who, without personal experience of the pain and rigor of scientific investigations, pontificate on the character and meaning of such investigations and, as a rule, have it wrong. Polkinghorne's overriding issue is the proper explanation and origin of human consciousness, the mental aspect of being human, and its connection to the brain. His discussion ranges over a plethora of issues, from questions of purpose in evolution to the ultimate fate of our universe. He concludes by stating his faith that the true "Theory of Everything" is provided by a belief in a personal god. This book will be appreciated best by scientifically informed readers. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. E. Hadjimichael Fairfield University

Booklist Review

Not many distinguished physicists have discovered their vocation as Anglican priests. As one who did, Polkinghorne writes with rare authority on the ultimate meaning of science. Against those who regard it as no more than contrived but useful formulas, he insists that science opens a genuine understanding of the harmonies of the universe. But against those who regard science as our only access to truth, he defends the scientifically inexplicable yearnings for elegance and vision that have made science itself--and much else--possible. Only the foolish, he argues, will repudiate science; only the even more foolish will reject all values not derived through it. And for Polkinghorne, ultimate values spring from faith in God as creator of the universe scientists explore. Not all skeptics will yield to this synthesis of faith and rationality, but Polkinghorne will awaken in many thoughtful readers a new appreciation for their place in the marvelous cosmos. (Reviewed Sept. 1, 1996)0521572126Bryce Christensen

Author notes provided by Syndetics

John Polkinghorne, K.B.E., F.R.S., is past president and now fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, and Canon Theologian of Liverpool, England.

(Bowker Author Biography)