Dedication and Preface (1st Edition)
Preface to the Online Edition (2nd Edition)
1. Introduction: Our Cosmological Roots
Our Home in the Universe2. Philosophical Interlude: Philosophy and the Scientific Method
Romancing the Universe
Infinite Textures and the Microcosmos
The Cosmic Calendar
The Multiverse and Inflation
The Relevance of the Cosmic Perspective
Cosmic Brethren
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
Science and Certainty3. Our Biological Roots: Evolution and Philosophical Issues
Scientific Method
A Little Logic
Philosophical Terms
Science and Creativity
Philosophical Issues
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
Darwin and Natural Selection4. Cultural Roots: 1. The Ancient Greeks
Fossil Evidence: "A Million Facts"
Contemporary Observations of Evolution
Embryology: Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny
Universality of the Cell: Deoxyribonucleic Acid
Eco-Evo-Devo
Philosophical Considerations
Lamarck and the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
Scientific Creationism
The Design Argument
The Cosmological Argument
The Moral Argument
The Evolution of Emotion
The Naturalistic Fallacy
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
Belief in Natural Law5. Cultural Roots: 2. Science and Religion -- The Copernican Revolution
Protagoras and the Sophists
Socrates and Plato
Mathematics and Reality
Common Sense and Reality: The Allegory of the Cave
Mathematics Today? Why Does It Work So Well?
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
Plato's Homework Problem: The Problem of the Planets
Solutions to the Problem of the Planets
Instrumentalism, Realism, and Paradigms
Ptolemy: The Completion of the Geocentric Universe
Copernicus: The New Heliocentric Universe
Kepler, Galileo, and the Church
An Epistemological Reflection: Is There a Logic of Discovery?
Beliefs and Objectivity: Does the World Kick Back?
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings6. Cultural Roots: 3. Science as a Religion, the World as a Country
Voyagers7. Our Time: 1. Understanding the Theory of Relativity
Newton and a Greater God
Descartes: On the Shoulders of Giants
Gravity, Action at a Distance, Absolute Space and Time
Descartes Compromise: Mind-Matter Dualism
Newton and the Divine Sensorium
Epistemological Implications of Newtonianism
Science as a Religion
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
Slow Time and Fast Time8. Our Time: 2. Quantum Physics and Reality
David Hume: The Problem of Causality
Immanuel Kant: Turning Subjectivity into Objectivity
Concepts and Other Worlds
Einstein and a Philosophical Discovery
Cosmic Trains
Time Dilation
Epistemological Implications
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
What is an Electron? Of Particles and Waves9. Darwin's Universe Revisited: Intelligence, Communication, and Extraterrestrial Life
Thought Experiments
The Copenhagen Interpretation
A Debate: Bohr versus Einstein
Bell's Discovery
Quantum Jogging
The Aspect Experiment
Quantum Ignorance and Reality
A Paradigm for the Twenty-first Century?
Neorealism
Flat Land and Hyperspace
Many Worlds
The Participatory Universe
Mysticism and the Convergence Thesis
String Theory
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings Articles to Knock Your Socks Off
The Egocentric Illusion10. The Human Prospect
Extraterrestrial Life
Intelligence and Evolutionary Convergence
Sagan's Cosmic Rosetta Stone
The Ontological Status of Mathematics
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
Reptiles with Nuclear Weapons
Weapons and Hope
Meliorism and Nihilism: What is the Universe For?
Nietzsche and Socrates
Science as a Religion Revisited
The Anthropic Principle
Voyager and the Second Death
Concept Summary
Suggested Readings
Copyright 2013 Ronald C. Pine All Rights Reserved.