Green Space, Green Time

The Way of Science

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects All Subjects History & Philosophy of Science Science

by Connie Barlow

Springer-Verlag, New York

Due/Published August 1997, 529 pages, cloth

ISBN 0387947949

Over the last few centuries, science has more and more usurped domains of knowledge that were once the province of religion: for example, the movements of the heavens, the origin and diversity of life, even the inner world of human consciousness. At the same time, however, both science and religion have always enforced strict boundaries. Science can tell us how the world is, but it cannot instruct us about meaning or values.
In a provocative book that is sure to be controversial, Connie Barlow puts forth a compelling case for breaching this barrier—in effect, for a reunification of knowledge and meaning. Evolutionary biology tells us how we came to be; rendered as the Epic of Evolution, it provides a powerful origin story appropriate for these times. Conservation biology, ecology, and Gaia theory all reveal how we fit in with the natural world; Barlow argues that they can not only inform our ethics but also expand our sense of meaning.
Barlow explores both established and new fields in the biological sciences to show how science intersects realms of meaning and value. She describes how some of the leading scientists and philosophers of our day are working to reunite knowledge of the world with a sense of the sacred. In unusually candid conversations with Edward O. Wilson, Diane Ackerman, James Lovelock, Loyal Rue, Ursula Goodenough, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Brian Swimme, and many others, we see an emerging view of a new meaning for science in our lives—and why this new meaning is crucial for our times.

Connie Barlow is a writer and editor whose previous books are Evolution Extended: Biological Debates on the Meaning of Life and From Gaia to Selfish Genes:Selected Writings in the Life Sciences. She lives in New York and New Mexico.