18 Ibid., p. 3.
19 E.g. Tuveson, pp. 170–9, Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, chapter XV.
20 Lomas, p. 320.
21 From Lomas’ lecture ‘Sir Robert Moray – Soldier, Scientists, Spy, Freemason and Founder of the Royal Society’, given at Gresham College, 4 April 2007. A transcript is available on the Gresham College website: www.gresham.ac.uk/event.aspPageId=45&EventId=589.
22 Quoted in Purver, p. 221.
23 Quoted in ibid., pp. 221–2.
24 Quoted in ibid., p. 232.
25 Quoted in ibid.
26 Quoted in Bluhm, p. 185.
27 Ibid., pp. 183–6.
28 Gribbin, p. 229.
29 Lord Rees, today’s President of the Royal Society, quoted in Bragg, p. 22.
30 Gribbin, pp. 238–9.
31 Hollis, p. 262.
32 Richard S. Westfall, ‘Newton and the Hermetic Tradition’, in Debus (ed.), Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance, vol. II, pp. 185–6.
33 ‘Newton, the Man’ in Keynes, p. 363.
34 Ibid., p. 366.
35 Quoted in Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, p. 200.
36 McGuire and Rattansi, p. 109.
37 Ibid., p. 127.
38 Ibid., p. 124.
39 Westfall, ‘Newton and the Hermetic Tradition’, in Debus (ed.), Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance, vol. II, p. 193.
40 Dobbs, The Janus Face of Genius, p. 68.
41 Ibid., pp. 185–6.
42 Quoted in Westfall, Never at Rest, p. 434.
43 Westfall, ‘Newton and the Hermetic Tradition’, in Debus (ed.), vol. II, pp. 194–5.
44 Hitchens, p. 65.
Chapter Seven
1 Fowden, pp. 68–74.
2 See below, p. 185.
3 Festugière, p. 102.
4 Luckert, p. 55.
5 Lurker, p. 121.
6 Ibid.
7 Ray, p. 65.
8 Ibid., p. 160.
9 Fowden, p. 34.
10 Lurker, pp. 69–70.
11 Ray, p. 165.
12 Fowden, p. 27.
13 Ibid., pp. 40–1.
14 According to Plutarch (p. 161) the establishing of the Serapis cult was the work of Manetho and a member of the family that held the hereditary priesthood of the Greek mystery centre of Eleusis, which makes sense if it was to be a ‘hybrid’ cult for Egyptians and Greeks. Although some doubt Plutarch’s story, Manetho was certainly associated with the cult – see J. Gwyn Griffith’s notes to ibid., pp. 387–8.
15 Iamblichus, p. 5.
16 Fowden, p. xxv.
17 Churton, The Gnostic Philosophy, p. 120.
18 Plotinus, p. 9.
19 Luckert, p. 261.
20 Ibid., p. 262.
21 Quoted in ibid., p. 260.
22 See ibid., chapter 14.
23 Ibid., p. 257.
24 Eunapius, ‘Lives of the Philosophers’, in Philostratus and Eunapius, pp. 419–25.
25 Herodotus, p. 130.
26 Luckert, p. 42.
27 E.g. Lurker, p. 99.
28 See Luckert, chapter 2.
29 Ibid., p. 52.
30 Lurker, p. 31.
31 Lehner, p. 34.
32 Luckert, p. 52.
33 Ibid., p. 45.
34 Ibid., p. 57.
35 Campbell and Musès, p. 138.
Chapter Eight
1 ‘Humanism’ is a fluid term, coined in the mid-nineteenth century and applied not just to contemporary ideas but also retrospectively to earlier philosophers and social reformers. It is applied to any philosophy that places human beings at the centre of things, asserting not only their fundamental right to control their own destiny but also stressing their ability to do so. But beyond that, the precise definition varies depending on the era in question: the values and ideals of a twenty-first century humanist are very different from a fifteenth-century one. The biggest difference is that today’s humanism tends to eschew the metaphysical and religious. Under this definition, the likes of Pico, Ficino and Bruno qualify as humanists, but they would never have recognized the term.
2 Magee, p. 7.
3 P. M. Rattansi, ‘Some Evaluations of Reason in Sixteenth-and Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy’, in Teich and Young (eds.), p. 149.
Chapter Nine
1 In the radio programme ‘The Multiverse’, part of the In Our Time series, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 February 2008.
2 Barrow and Tipler, p. 5.
3 Susskind, ‘A Universe Like No Other’, p. 38.
4 Weinberg, The First Three Minutes, p. 154.
5 Carr and Rees, p. 612.
6 Dyson, p. 44.
7 Quoted in Davies, The Mind of God, p. 199.
8 Stockwood (ed.), p. 64.
9 Davies, The Mind of God, Chapter 8.
10 Feynman, p. 12.
11 Davies, The Mind of God, p. 197.
12 In the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘The Multiverse’ (see note 1 above).
13 Hawking and Mlodinow, p. 161.
14 Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma, pp. 166–70.
15 Susskind, ‘A Universe Like No Other’, p. 37.
16 Ibid., p. 39.
17 In the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘The Multiverse’ (see note 1 above).
18 Smolin, The Trouble with Physics, pp. 166–7.
19 Jeans, p. 96.
20 Davies, The Mind of God, p. 173.
21 In the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘The Multiverse’ (see note 1 above).
22 Carr, p. 14.
23 Ibid.
24 Quoted in Smolin, The Trouble With Physics, p. 125.
25 Ibid., pp. 158–9.
26 Al-Khalili, p. 23.
27 Smolin, The Trouble with Physics, p. 163.
28 Quoted in Malone, p. 191.
29 See Nick Bostrom, ‘Are We Living in The Matrix? The Simulation Argument’, in Yeffeth (ed.).
30 Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma, pp. 213–4.
31 Hawking, ‘The Grand Designer’, p. 25.
32 Al-Khalili, p. 23.
33 Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory, p. 182.
34 Susskind, ‘A Universe Like No Other’, p. 36.
35 Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory, p 182.
36 Hoyle, pp. 217–8.
37 Davies, The Mind of God, p. 16.
38 Quoted in Schönborn.
39 Ibid.
40 Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma, pp. 228–30.
Chapter Ten
1 Quoted in Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth, p. 417.
2 Ibid., p. 416.
3 De Duve, Vital Dust, p. xv.
4 Watson and Crick, p. 738.
5 See Ingrid D. Rowland, ‘Athanasius Kircher, Giordano Bruno, and the Panspermia of the Infinite Universe’, in Findlen (ed.).
6 Hoyle and Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space, p. xiii–xv.
7 Quoted in Carey.
8 Quoted on BBC News website, ‘“Life Chemical” Detected in Comet’, 18 August 2009: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8208307.stm.
9 Schueller, p. 34.
10 Quoted in ibid., p. 31.
11 Ibid., p. 34.
12 Quoted in ibid., p. 35
13 Lovelock, Gaia (1979 edition), p. vii.
14 In the documentary, ‘Life, the Universe and Everything: James Lovelock’ in the Beautiful Minds series, produced and directed by Paul Bernays, ARC Productions for BBC Four, 2010.
15 Interviewed in the above documentary.
16 Lovelock, Gaia (2000 edition), p. xv.
17 Ibid., p. ix.
18 Lovelock, The Ages of Gaia, p. 15.
19 De Duve, Vital Dust, p. 20.
20 Ibid, pp. 286–9.
21 Ibid., pp. 292–3.
Chapter Eleven
1 E.g. Dawkins, The God Delusion, p. 173.
2 Crick, p. 58.
3 Monod, p. 167.
4 Hoyle and Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space, p. 119.
5 Davies, The Cosmic Blueprint, p. 109.
6 Smith, Did Darwin Get It Right?, p. 167.
7 Crick, p. 113.
8 Narby, The Cosmic Serpent, p. 92.
9 De Duve, Life Evolving, p. 51.
10 See Leipe, Aravina and Koonin.
11 Hamilton, p. 29.
12 Ibid.
13 In his Gifford Lecture ‘Life’s Solution: The Predictability of Evolution Across the Galaxy (and Beyond)’, given at the University of Edinburgh on 19 Feb 2007. Audio file available at the University of Edinburgh’s Humanities and Social Science’s website: www.hss.ed.ac.uk/giffordexemp/2000/details/ProfessorSimonConwayMorris.html.
14 Dawkins, The God Delusion, pp. 164–5.
15 Cavalier-Smith, p. 998.
16 Prokaryotes have, since Carl Woese’s discovery in 1977, been divided between bacteria and archaea, as described above, but neither this nor the evolution of the apparent independent DNA of bacteria, affects our point here.
17 Cavalier-Smith, p. 978.
18 Ibid.
19 Margulis and Sagan, pp. 115–6.
20 Ibid., p. 118.
21 Quoted in Ridley, p. 315.
22 Williams, p. v.
23 Ibid., p. 11.
24 Smith, The Evolution of Sex, p. 10.
25 Smith, Did Darwin Get It Right?, p. 165.
26 Ridley, p. xxii.
27 Smith, Did Darwin Get It Right?, p. 165.
28 Williams, p. 8.
29 Margulis and Sagan, p. 157.
30 Smith, Did Darwin Get It Right?, pp. 166–7.
31 Williams, p. 11.
32 See Guarente and Kenyon.
33 A. M. Leroi, A. K. Chippindale and M. R. Rose, ‘Long-Term Laboratory Evolution of a Genetic Life-History Trade-Off in Drosophila Melanogaster’, in Rose, Passananti and Matos (eds.). (This is a reproduction of a paper that first appeared in the journal Evolution in 1994.)
34 Stephen Jay Gould, ‘G. G. Simpson, Paleontology, and the Modern Synthesis’, in Mayr and Provine, pp. 153–4.
35 Mayr, pp. 529–30. A genus is the next step up from a species in biological classification, a group of distinct species that are closely related genetically, sharing a close common ancestor. Examples are the genera Canis, to which dogs, wolves, jackals, coyotes and dingoes belong, and Equus, which includes horses, donkeys and zebras.
36 In the radio show ‘The Whale – A History’, in the In Our Time series presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 May 2009.
37 See, for example, Smith, Did Darwin Get It Right?, pp. 148–9.
38 Goodwin, pp. xii–xiii.
39 Many have the impression from the title of his book The Selfish Gene that Richard Dawkins proposes that natural selection acts at the level of the gene. But he doesn’t: he argues that evolution should be viewed from the level of genes, because animals and plants are basically big bags of genes. Natural selection acts on the individual, but its ultimate effect is on the gene pool of the species, determining what genes are in it and how many of each gene there are. Although offering a potentially useful new perspective for evolutionists to look at certain questions, this theory ultimately only describes the same things in different words.
40 Fort, p. 38.
41 Le Page, p. 26.
42 Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth, pp. 297–8.
43 See Dawkins, Climbing Mount Improbable, chapter 5.
44 Mayr, p. 541.
45 Popper, p. 171.
46 Ibid., p. 168.
47 Ibid., p. 172.
48 Smith, Did Darwin Get It Right?, p. 180.
49 Smith, The Evolution of Sex, p. ix.
50 Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, p. 287.
51 Conway Morris, Life’s Solution, pp. 315–6.
52 See Mayr’s preface to Mayr and Provine, pp. ix–x.
53 Mayr and Provine, p. xv.
54 Stephen Jay Gould, ‘The Hardening of the Modern Synthesis’, in Grene (ed.), p. 88.
55 Ibid., p. 90.
56 Ibid., p. 91.
57 Dawkins, The Ancestor’s Tale, p. 262.
58 Quoted in Costas R. Krimbas, ‘The Evolutionary Worldview of Theodosius Dobzhansky’, in Adams (ed.), p. 188.
59 Dobzhansky, Genetics of the Evolutionary Process, p. 430.
60 Ibid., p. 431.
61 Costas R. Krimbas, ‘The Evolutionary Worldview of Theodosius Dobzhansky’, in Adams (ed.), p. 189.
62 Dobzhansky, Genetics of the Evolutionary Process, p. 391.
63 Teilhard de Chardin, p. 258.
64 See Curtis L. Hancock, ‘The Influence of Plotinus on Bergson’s Critique of Empirical Science’, in Harris, vol. I.
65 Bergson, p. 384.
66 Barrow and Tipler, p. 204.
Chapter Twelve
1 Popper, p. 173.
2 Conway Morris, Life’s Solution, p. 316.
3 In his sixth and final Gifford Lecture, ‘Towards an Eschatology of Evolution’, at the University of Edinburgh, 1 March 2007. Audio file available at the University of Edinburgh’s Humanities and Social Science’s website: www.hss.ed.ac.uk/giffordexemp/2000/details/ProfessorSimonConwayMorris.
4 Conway Morris, Life’s Solution, p. xv.
5 Ibid., p. xii.
6 Abstract to Conway Morris’ Gifford Lecture ‘Life’s Solution’, see Chapter 11, note 13.
7 Conway Morris, Life’s Solution, pp. 292–5.
8 In his fourth Gifford Lecture ‘Becoming Human: The Continuing Mystery’, given at the University of Edinburgh on 26 Feb 2007. Audio file available at the University of Edinburgh’s Humanities and Social Science’s website: www.hss.ed.ac.uk/giffordexemp/2000/details/ProfessorSimonConwayMorris.
9 Conway Morris, Life’s Solution, p. 328.
10 Shapiro, p. 807.
11 De Duve, Vital Dust, p. 297.
12 In his fourth Gifford Lecture – see note 8 above.
13 Polanyi, p. 47.
14 From the abstract of his fourth Gifford Lecture – see note 8 above.
15 ‘Who Speaks for the Earth?’, thirteenth and final episode of the TV series Cosmos, first broadcast 21 December 1980. DVD released by Freemantle Home Entertainment, 2009. Directed by David F. Oyster, written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan and Steven Soter.
16 In the documentary movie A Brief History of Time, produced by David Hickman and directed by Errol Morris, Anglia Television/Gordon Freedman Productions, 1991.
17 The papers were published in Halliwell, Pérez-Mercader and Zurek.
18 Bierman, ‘A World With Retroactive Causation’, p. 1.
19 Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma, p. 274.
20 George, p. 56.
21 Ibid.
22 Bierman and Houtkooper.
23 See Bierman, ‘Exploring Correlations Between Local Emotional and Global Emotional Events and the Behavior of a Random Number Generator’.
24 Hagel and Tschapke.
25 Radin, ‘Exploring Relationships Between Random Physical Events and Mass Human Attention’, p. 538
26 Radin, Entangled Minds, p. 206.
27 Wheeler, Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam, p. 334.
28 Quoted in Jacques et al, p.1.
29 Interviewed for ‘The Anthropic Universe’, The Science Show, ABC National Radio, 18 February 2006, presented by Martin Redfern, produced by Pauline Newman. Transcript available at: www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2006/1572643.
30 Wheeler, Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam, p. 331.
31 Ibid., p. 333.
32 Gardner and Wheeler.
33 Jacques et al.
34 Wheeler, Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam, p. 337.
35 Davies and Gribbin, p. 208.
36 Wheeler, from his foreword to Barrow and Tipler, p. 6.
37 John Archibald Wheeler, ‘Law Without Law’, in Wheeler and Zurek (eds.), p. 194.
38 On The Science Show, ABC National Radio. See note 29 above.
39 John Archibald Wheeler, ‘Genesis and Observership’, in Butts and Hintikka (eds.), p. 3.
40 B. J. Carr, ‘On the Origin,
Evolution and Purpose of the Physical Universe’, in Leslie (ed.), p. 152.
41 John Archibald Wheeler, ‘Genesis and Observership’, in Butts and Hintikka (eds.), p. 21.
42 Ibid., p. 19.
43 Barrow and Tipler. p. 203.
44 John Archibald Wheeler, ‘Beyond the Edge of Time’, in Leslie (ed.), p. 214.
45 Hawking and Mlodinow, p. 140
46 Gefter, p. 30.
47 Barrow and Tipler, p. 470.
48 On The Science Show, ABC National Radio. See note 28 above.
49 P. M. Rattansi, ‘Newton’s Alchemical Studies’, in Debus (ed.) Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance, p. 179.
50 Hawking, A Brief History of Time, p. 175.
51 Copenhaver, p. 41.
52 Ibid., p. 37.
53 Magee, p. 10.
54 Ibid.
55 Jantsch, p. 308.
56 Ibid., pp. 308–9.
57 Wheeler, ‘Law without Law’, in Wheeler and Zurek, p. 209.
Chapter Thirteen
1 Richard S. Westfall, ‘Newton and the Hermetic Tradition’, in Debus (ed.), Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance, p. 195.
2 John Archibald Wheeler, ‘Beyond the End of Time’, in Leslie (ed.), p. 212.
3 Richard S. Westfall, ‘Newton and the Hermetic Tradition’, in Debus (ed.), Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance, p. 185.
4 David Fideler, ‘Neoplatonism and the Cosmological Revolution: Holism, Fractal Geometry, and Mind-in-Nature’, in Harris (ed.), vol. I, p. 104.
5 Ibid., p. 106.
6 Ibid., p. 117.
7 Luckert, p. 61.
8 National Constitution Centre website: www.constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal/recipient_1994_speech.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Copenhaver, p. 65. (Treatise XVIII)
13 Ibid., p. 36. (Treatise X)
14 Quoted in Fideler, ‘Neoplatonism and the Cosmological Revolution: Holism, Fractal Geometry, and Mind-in-Nature’, in Harris (ed.), vol. I, p. 116.
15 Copenhaver, p. 48 (Treatise XI).
16 ‘What We’ll Never Know’, Rees’ third Reith lecture, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 16 June 2010. A transcript is available at: downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/radio4/transcripts/20100615–reith.rtf.
Appendix
1 Copenhaver, p. xliv.
2 Fowden, p. 4.
3 Jonas, Chapter Seven.
4 See Yamauchi, Chapter one.
5 There is controversy over whether the few surviving writings ascribed to Simon Magus – which we only have because they were quoted by early Christian writers as fodder for hellfire and damnation fulmination – were written by him or his followers, but either way they reflect his theology and philosophy.
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