Abstract
The thought of Ernan McMullin on the relationship between science and theology can be summarized with a word that he himself used: consonance. We briefly describe this epistemological proposal, and we show a concrete instance of its application by way of a short analysis of one of McMullin’s interdisciplinary works, “Cosmic Purpose and the Contingency of Human Evolution.” With the help of the authoritative comment that William Stoeger has made on this paper, we sketch McMullin’s effort to find a consonance between two different claims: the theological one – humans expected – and the evolutionary one – humans unexpected. In this case, consonance is reached by recurring to the classic Augustinian notion of the atemporality of God. We then show how McMullin’s way of interpreting consonance affects the question of the viability of a natural theology in a scientifically informed era. In fact, his distrust of various kinds of natural theology is another crucial aspect of his epistemological framework for interdisciplinary dialogue.
References
Allen, Paul L. “An Augustinian Philosopher between Dualism and Materialism: Ernan McMullin on Human Emergence.” Zygon, 48:2 (2013), 294-304. 10.1111/zygo.12009Search in Google Scholar
Allen, Paul L. Ernan McMullin and Critical Realism in the Science-Theology Dialogue. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. Search in Google Scholar
Allen, Paul L. “McMullin’s Augustinian Settlement: The Consonance between Faith and Science.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 86:2 (2012), 331-342. 10.5840/acpq201286224Search in Google Scholar
Alvarez, Walter. T-Rex and the Crater of Doom. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. Search in Google Scholar
Artigas, Mariano. The Mind of the Universe: Understanding Science and Religion. Radnor, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2000. Search in Google Scholar
Ayala, Francisco J. “Teleological Explanations in Evolutionary Biology.” Philosophy of Science, 37:1 (1970), 1-15. 10.1086/288276Search in Google Scholar
Barbour, Ian G. Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues. A Revised and Expanded Edition of Religion in an Age of Science. London: SCM, 1998. Search in Google Scholar
Bergant, Dianne and Carroll Stuhlmueller. “Creation According to the Old Testament.” In Evolution and Creation, edited by Ernan McMullin, 153-175. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985. Search in Google Scholar
Coyne, George V. “Science Meets Biblical Exegesis in the Galileo Affair.” Zygon, 48:1 (2013), 221-229. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01324.xSearch in Google Scholar
Deltete, Robert J. “Ernan McMullin on Anthropic Reasoning in Cosmology.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 86:2 (2012), 323-330. 10.5840/acpq201286223Search in Google Scholar
Drees, Willem B. “Editorial: Informed Intellect and Integrity.” Zygon, 46:2 (2011), 261-264. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2011.01194.xSearch in Google Scholar
Gould, Stephen Jay. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. Search in Google Scholar
Hess, Peter M. J. and Paul L. Allen. Catholicism and Science. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. Search in Google Scholar
Lennox, James G. “Darwin was a Teleologist.” Biology and Philosophy, 8:4 (1993), 405-421. 10.1007/BF00857687Search in Google Scholar
Lennox, James G. and Kostas Kampourakis. “Biological Teleology: The Need for History.” In The Philosophy of Biology: A Companion for Educators, edited by Kostas Kampourakis, 421-454. Dordrecht: Springer, 2013. Search in Google Scholar
McDonald, Patrick J. “Fr. Ernan McMullin on Evolutionary Biology and a Theology of the Human.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 86:2 (2012), 355-367. 10.5840/acpq201286226Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Biology and the Theology of the Human.” Zygon, 48:2 (2013), 305-328. 10.1111/zygo.12001Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Cosmic Purpose and the Contingency of Human Evolution.” Theology Today, 55:3 (1998), 389-414; reprinted in Zygon, 48:2 (2013b), 338-363. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Cosmology and Religion.” In Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious and Scientific Perspectives, edited by Norriss S. Hetherington, 581-606. New York: Garland, 1993. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Darwin and the Other Christian Tradition.” Zygon, 46:2 (2011), 291-316. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2010.01183.xSearch in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Evolution and Special Creation.” Zygon, 28:3 (1993), 299-335. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1993.tb01036.xSearch in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Fine-Tuning the Universe?” In Science, Technology and Religious Ideas, edited by George W. Fields and Mark H. Shale, 97-125. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Galileo’s Theological Venture.” Zygon, 48:1 (2013), 192-220. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01320.xSearch in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “How Should Cosmology Relate to Theology?” In The Sciences and Theology in the Twentieth Century, edited by Arthur Peacocke, 17-57. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Integral Naturalism. Review of The Mind of the Universe: Understanding Science and Religion by Mariano Artigas.” First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion & Public Life, 110 (2001), 45-49. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Introduction: Evolution and Creation.” In Evolution and Creation, edited by Ernan McMullin, 1-56. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Natural Science and Belief in a Creator: Historical Notes.” In Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding, edited by Robert J. Russell, William R. Stoeger, George V. Coyne, 49-79. Notre Dame, IN: Vatican Observatory and University of Notre Dame Press, 1988. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Realism in Theology and in Science: A Response to Peacocke.” Religion and Intellectual Life, 2 (1985), 39-47. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan, “The Impact of the Theory of Evolution on Western Religious Thought.” In Synthesis of Science and Religion, edited by Thoudam Damodara Singh, 76-86. San Francisco, CA: Bhaktivedanta Institute, 1988. Search in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “The Inference that Makes Science.” Zygon, 48:1 (2013), 143-191. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01319.xSearch in Google Scholar
McMullin, Ernan. “Values in Science.” Zygon, 47:4 (2012), 686-709. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01298.xSearch in Google Scholar
Ruse, Michael. Darwin and Design: Does Evolution Have a Purpose? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. 10.2307/j.ctv1qdqzvcSearch in Google Scholar
Ruse, Michael. “Evolutionary Biology and Teleological Thinking.” In Functions: New Essays in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology, edited by André Ariew, Robert Cummins, Mark Perlman, 33-59. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Search in Google Scholar
Ruse, Michael. “Science and Values: My Debt to Ernan McMullin.” Zygon, 47:4 (2012), 666-685. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01287.xSearch in Google Scholar
Sayre, Kenneth M. Adventures in Philosophy at Notre Dame. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2014. 10.2307/j.ctvpj7fc7Search in Google Scholar
Sober, Elliott R. “Progress and Direction in Evolution.” In Creative Evolution?!, edited by J. H. Campbell and J. William Schopf, 19-33. Boston: Jones and Bartlett, 1994. Search in Google Scholar
Stoeger, William R. “Ernan McMullin on Contingency, Cosmic Purpose, and the Atemporality of the Creator.” Zygon, 48:2 (2013), 329-337. 10.1111/zygo.12006Search in Google Scholar
Sweetman, Brendan. “The Dispute between McMullin and Plantinga over Evolution.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 86:2 (2012), 343-354. 10.5840/acpq201286225Search in Google Scholar
Van Fraassen, Bas C. “Scientific Realism and the Empiricist Challenge: An Introduction to Ernan McMullin’s Aquinas Lecture.” Zygon, 48:1 (2013), 131-142. 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01322.xSearch in Google Scholar
©2015 Amerigo Barzaghi, Josep Corcó
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
