Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia

The term "analogy" (Gr. analoghia) means a relation of likeness or resemblance existing among some elements which constitute two facts or two objects, so that we can infer a relationship of similarity between the facts or the objects themselves.

Astronautics is the science of Space flight. The word was invented in 1927 by the French writer Joseph Henri Rosny, known as Rosny the Elder, and popularised by Robert Esnault Pelterie, one of the pioneers of Space exploration. Although astronautics is a matter for engineers in the same way as astronomy is a matter for scientists, it is still imbued with its own culture and traditions, human doubts and human passion.

From a philosophical and a theological point of view, the notion of "autonomy" (gr. autos nomos, i.e. to be a rule to itself, or to govern itself) refers to the consistency that the world has with respect to God, to the value of its laws and properties.

In the traditional artistic representations of the Nativity of Jesus of Nazareth, there is a reference to an astronomical event, commonly known as “the Star of Bethlehem.” The background is the Biblical text of the Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 2:1-11).

The contemporary dialogue between science and theology is often presented in terms of a comparison between the “Book of Nature” and the “Book of Scripture.” The metaphor of the Book of Nature is used to emphasize the parallel between nature and a “written document.” That is, a document written by someone and addressed to someone else; a document intended to convey an intelligible content; a text that might require a certain effort to be properly interpreted and explained according to its author’s original meaning. 

The world of movies is one of the most important places where cultural and social trends, and contemporary ways of thinking meet together. This world is not extraneous to science nor to religion.

The notion of "creation" is theological in character. It belongs primarily to the language of biblical Revelation. When discussed within the broader contexts of religion, philosophy, or even science, such theological specificity is pointed out specifying that it is a creation ex nihilo, i.e. out of nothing.

While animals and plants simply cease to exist, men die. Death is a very particular kind of object which arises together with the dawn of humanity: it as an anthropological condition. The way humans take care of the bodies of their parents, brothers, and friends has always been different from the way they deal with other corpses...

By "determinism" we usually mean that "once we know the laws governing the universe, or a particular system of it, and the associated initial conditions, those laws are such to "determine" in a fixed and absolute way the entire the temporal evolution of the system".

Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was the Titanic enterprise in 28 volumes attempted by some of the most representative exponents of the French Enlightenment, combining some of the best 18th-century cultural products around the idea of a scientific and rational arrangement of the whole of knowledge.

Although the term is universally known and used in both scientific culture and everyday speech, when we speak of "evolution" a number of useful clarifications are needed; in fact, precisely because of its widely usage some terminological confusion can easily arise.

The sight of the starry sky has always given rise to profound questions. Among these, the question about the possibility that other planets may be inhabited by some form of life has been one of the most common and exciting.

Natural finalism answers metaphysical questions such us: why do the natural forms appear as they do? Are there any natural goal-seeking processes? Finalism has been linked to determinism as natural laws often relate causality to the prediction of final states. Modern science, however, added much indeterminism: quantum physics, chaos, random mutations, etc.

Despite of its long-lasting theological tradition and its deep-rooting into the very birth of philosophy, the theme of the natural knowledge of God has always been the subject of critical debate. Starting from the Modern Age, the different theological perspectives on this subject were mainly due to different understandings of the dynamic between faith and reason.

Born within the Hebrew religious tradition, Christianity has its founder in Jesus of Nazareth. His teachings and works were proclaimed by his disciples and constitute what we call the Gospel, or the “Good News”. This message, centered around the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection, contains what his disciples heard and saw, but also the witness of the gradual insight they acquired reflecting upon the living acquaintance and intimacy they experienced with their Master.

The expression ‘hermeneutic’ derives from the Greek verb hermeneuein. That verb is related to the noun hermeneus,  which is referable to the name of the god Hermes by a playful thinking that is more compelling than the rigor of science. Hermes is the divine messenger who brings the message of destiny. The reference to Hermes and his being “the messenger God” underlies the reference to the intermediary par excellence in Platonic thought, an emblematic figure of philosophy itself, in his capacity as a mediator and as an interpreter.

By the word "idealism" we indicate that kind of philosophy which, when asked for the source of all human knowledge, answers by making knowledge identical with thought, that is with the ideas themselves.

Words such as "form" or "to form", "formula" or "to formulate", "format" or "information" are widely used. They belong not only to the language of classic and modern philosophy, but also to the language of science, especially to the field of computer sciences, which deal with logic and communication.

The expression Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a kind of paradox that attributes to what is “artificial,” something which is essentially “natural,” that is intelligence, the jealous prerogative of human nature. The expression is provocative indeed. There are those who ask whether a machine might really be “intelligent,” in the same sense that we use such an adjective to refer to the human mind.

The notion of "law" is strongly analogical in character. Originating in the socio-juridical field, its usage was then extended to that of scientific rationality. In enters the domain of science first through the notions of harmonic rule and numerical proportion (Pythagoras), and, after the foundation of experimental method, through the mathematical formulation of physical phenomena. At the same time, the notion of law seems to refer to the presence of a ruler, that is one who governs.

When looking at the reality, the human beings perceive a natural link between themselves and the other animals, with which they share the great majority of their biological functions and processes, but, at the same time, the human beings realize their singularity and uniqueness.

In common, everyday language, we usually designate as “matter” everything which falls under the direct perception of our external senses: we call “material” that which one can see, touch, smell, taste and hear.

Among the various branches of knowledge, medicine has a quite special place, due to the particular nature of its object: human beings and their health. Originally born as a University discipline, medicine joins together the aspects of both a theoretical science and a practical art.

The problem of the relationship between the mind and the body has stimulated the intellect of mankind of all epochs and cultures, because of the various implications it had, including those on the religious and existential levels.

In the language of the phenomenology of religion the term "mystery" (Gr. mysterion) is often associated with adjectives such as awesome (lat. tremendum), astonishing or fascinating (lat. fascinans), which try to express the relations of human beings with the divine and the experience they have of it.

It is difficult to summarize in a single sketch how theology has made use of the Book of Nature since the birth of scientific method. We have many indicators, some contradictory. Around the 18th century, for example, in Britain the naive attempt to explain the attributes of God by means of a physico- or astro-theology, as occurred in the works of Ray, Derham, or Paley, co-existed alongside the writings of Joseph Butler who, focusing on the more realistic category of analogy, wrote an essay destined to exert a great influence on the works of John Henry Newman.

The expression “New Age” suggests the idea of a renovatio mundi, i.e. a renewing of the world, which should take place thanks to a huge transformation of the general way of thinking, laid out by the common endeavor of a number of movements which cooperate together in achieving the same goal.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has its roots in the “Academy of the Lincei” which was founded in Rome in 1603 as the first exclusively scientific academy in the world. The Academy of the Lincei achieved international recognition, but did not survive the death of its founder, Federico Cesi.

First of all, I would like to mention only certain meanings and uses of the term. The concept of progress will be defined into more details all along the article. The word “progress” has been frequently used in cultural discussions and it is still used in common language.

The two great discoveries of 19th century physics were the nature of light as waves of electromagnetic radiation and the use of statistical mechanics to understand the energetic properties of complex systems.

Contrasting realism with idealism is standard philosophical practice. Contra the idealist, the perceptual epistemological realist contends that sensory perception gives us direct, unmediated cognitive access to external things. Traditionally, a precise characterization of realism and idealism requires an elucidation of two concepts: the material versus the mental. This classical distinction has roots in our common experience.

The theory of relativity is considered to be one of the greatest scientific theories of recent times as it allowed for the development of an entire cosmology, revolutionized the concepts of time, space, and matter, even from the philosophical point of view, and, together with quantum mechanics, it forms the basis of all of physics as we know it today.

The faith in resurrection from death, through the power of God, constitutes one of the pivotal teachings of the Judaeo-Christian religious tradition. According to Tertullian (160-220), "the hope of Christians is the resurrection of the flesh." In addition, it seems something original and particular to Hebrews and Christians alone.

One of the most influential figures in the field of science and religion in the twentieth century was undoubtedly Ian Graeme Barbour (1923–2013). Trained both as an experimental physicist (PhD University of Chicago), and a Christian theologian (BDiv Yale Divinity School), Barbour was well positioned to explore the potential interaction of the two fields. Over the course of his academic career, he made contributions to natural science, theology, and the methodology of the burgeoning interdisciplinary field in the Anglophonic world,

It is fitting to commence this essay with these words from John Paul II: "The church and the scientific community will inevitably interact; their options do not include isolation. Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish. We need each other to be what we must be, what we are called to be."

For most people, the first encounter with science takes place at school. Despite the growing importance of scientific communication at large and the increase in training and information channels, the greatest impact is made by science classes at school, through the first textbooks and the impression made by the teachers’ face and broad or strict personalities and approaches.

Narratives are important from cultural and historical perspectives. They have stayed with humans along the centuries. Today, they are useful for understanding the structure of human lives in varied fields that study the nature of the human being from different perspectives. Contemporarily, different fields of study, such as philosophy, theology, psychology and the neurosciences affirm that narratives are rooted in human nature and that human life has a narrative structure. 

If it is true that Nature, generally understood, is the common ground on which not only scientific observations and philosophical reflections, but also the religious experience grew and developed, the "sky" represents the “conceptual ambit” in which science, philosophy and religion probably reached their deepest interpenetration.

In the Western tradition the notion of “spirit,” or “mind,” is rich and complex for the various religious, philosophical and theological meanings it comprises. In this polysemantic horizon, the symbol/concept of spirit is inherently one of tension, if not even bipolar: from the theological point of view, it denotes the presence of God in relation to the world and, dialectically, His difference from it in terms of transcendence and sacredness/sanctity.

We experience time as a continuous and unstoppable passage from what has been to what is now and, further, to what will be. This almost imperceptible flow does not mean that time is an absolute entity, for instance the so-called theory of “absolute” or empty time, advanced by Newton, among others; indeed, in reality, time is a characteristic that derives from movement, as thought by the “relational theory” of time, differently formulated by Aristotle and Leibniz.

The study of the relationship between scientific and human culture, between an empirical and a sapiential view of the world —including in the latter the knowledge coming from theology and biblical Revelation— unavoidably leads to the question of the possibility and the conditions that can render meaningful the search for a "unity of knowledge."

The idea that to foster and pass on knowledge one needed people and places precisely devoted to this end goes back to Antiquity: between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries, this idea was to be implemented in an organized manner through the foundation of Mediaeval universities.