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Zusatztext 70557764 Informationen zum Autor By Ralph Lewis M.D. - Foreword by MICHAEL SHERMER Klappentext A psychiatrist presents a compelling argument for how human purpose and caring emerged in a spontaneous and unguided universe. Can there be purpose without God? This book is about how human purpose and caring, like consciousness and absolutely everything else in existence, could plausibly have emerged and evolved unguided, bottom-up, in a spontaneous universe. A random world--which according to all the scientific evidence and despite our intuitions is the actual world we live in--is too often misconstrued as nihilistic, demotivating, or devoid of morality and meaning. Drawing on years of wide-ranging, intensive clinical experience as a psychiatrist, and his own family experience with cancer, Dr. Lewis helps readers understand how people cope with random adversity without relying on supernatural belief. In fact, as he explains, although coming to terms with randomness is often frightening, it can be liberating and empowering too. Written for those who desire a scientifically sound yet humanistic view of the world, Lewis's book examines science's inroads into the big questions that occupy religion and philosophy. He shows how our sense of purpose and meaning is entangled with mistaken intuitions that events in our lives happen for some intended cosmic reason and that the universe itself has inherent purpose. Dispelling this illusion, and integrating the findings of numerous scientific fields, he shows how not only the universe, life, and consciousness but also purpose, morality, and meaning could, in fact, have emerged and evolved spontaneously and unguided. There is persuasive evidence that these qualities evolved naturally and without mystery, biologically and culturally, in humans as conscious, goal-directed social animals. While acknowledging the social and psychological value of progressive forms of religion, the author respectfully critiques even the most sophisticated theistic arguments for a purposeful universe. Instead, he offers an evidence-based, realistic yet optimistic and empathetic perspective. This book will help people to see the scientific worldview of an unguided, spontaneous universe as awe-inspiring and foundational to building a more compassionate society.FROM THE INTRODUCTION COSMIC MEANING AND THE “BIG QUESTIONS” Our sense of purpose and meaning is entangled with assumptions that life events happen for intended reasons and that the universe itself is inherently purposeful. Why is this so? Belief in a purposeful universe is pervasive, and not just among conventional religious believers. It is a belief generally also shared by many followers of more nuanced theologies that don’t subscribe to a belief that specific events in our individual lives happen for intended reasons. It’s also typically shared by “spiritual but not religious” people who may not even believe in a “personal god” who intervenes in our individual lives. Before the transformative scientific insights of the last few decades, it could quite reasonably have seemed self-evident that our world is purposefully designed and controlled by intentional higher power(s). It might actually have seemed naive to suggest that the ingenious complexity that characterizes our world could have arisen spontaneously. Even today, a few highly reputable scientists still maintain that the physics of the universe appears to be precisely fine-tuned to allow life to evolve. Adding to the impression of a spiritual realm and supernatural design, the mystery of consciousness is especially compelling: How can consciousness possibly be derived from material particles, and how could such a complex phenomenon evolve spontaneously and unguided? How can the experience of “I” be reducible to the laws of physics and to mere matter? Moreover, what about values ...
