The relatively recent discovery of an abundance of exoplanets raises the possibility, if not the probability, that intelligent life exists beyond our solar system. These discoveries have piqued public curiosity into cosmology and rekindled time-honoured theological speculation about the extent of creation and God's interaction with it. This volume therefore makes a timely contribution, bringing theological insights to bear on the questions posed by contemporary cosmology. Vainio introduces the volume by observing that cosmology lies at the 'slippery' boundary between science, philosophy and theology. He navigates this uneasy terrain by engaging in a wide-ranging interdisciplinary exploration (no doubt aided by conversations at the NASA-supported Societal Implications of Astrobiology project at the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton, where the underpinning research took place). The first three chapters provide a sweeping overview of key moments in the history of theological thought concerning cosmology, addressing the ancient world, early Christian thought and early modern scientific revolutions (Galileo, Newton and Darwin) respectively. Vainio identifies Christianity's general 'hermeneutical openness' to cosmological questions, whilst drawing cautionary tales from instances where theologians failed to approach scientific questions with sufficient care. The second trilogy of chapters turns to recent cosmological discoveries and theories, focusing on their treatment in analytic philosophy of religion. First, Vainio introduces various multiverse theories and explores their ramification for fine-tuning arguments, perfect being theology and the problem of evil, all the while acknowledging the highly speculative nature of both the cosmological and theological ideas at stake. Second, he examines the theological consequences of a cosmos teeming with extra-terrestrial intelligent life versus a human cosmic solitude. Third, the question of human insignificance in light of a vast and potentially diversely populated cosmos is raised. Various criteria for ascribing significance are considered; particularly insightful is the discussion concerning Christian transvaluation (to borrow a Nietzschean term), which demonstrates how theology shapes judgements about significance. The third group of chapters addresses explicitly theological questions: God and Being, the imago Dei and the question of multiple incarnations. Divine transcendence poses a challenge for relating the cosmos to God, but Vainio argues for an analogia entis which allows for a minimal natural theology. He surveys classical definitions of the imago Dei and helpfully enumerates the various questions which versions of the doctrine attempt to address. Arguing for a wholistic imago Dei which combines structural, functional and relational definitions, he explores the conditions under which angels, animals, aliens and artificial intelligences might be said to reach this threshold. Finally, arguments for and against multiple incarnations are explicated in the book'...
This chapter details and evaluates of the ‘replacement’ and ‘constitution’ hypotheses, the two remaining hypotheses of embodied cognition which were introduced in Chapter 2. The replacement hypothesis seeks to explain cognitive processes by replacing internal mental representations with sensorimotor engagement with the world. It elegantly describes how internal mental models are not required for outfielders catching a ball or robots navigating a maze. However, certain ‘representation-hungry’ cognitive tasks reason about objects not immediately available to perception and are therefore less amenable to replacement-style explanations. The significance of sensorimotor engagement with the environment leads to the constitution hypothesis, which suggests that cognitive processes extend beyond the brain, and are co-constituted by bodily states and environmental resources. However, significant disagreement persists concerning the criteria by which to circumscribe cognition, and some argue that few if any cognitive tasks are implemented on extra-cranial physical media. Even if strong versions of the replacement and constitution hypotheses are limited in scope, weak versions nevertheless draw attention to the way in which a multitude of cognitive tasks are ‘scaffolded’ by environmental resources. In following chapters these views of cognition will be applied to analyse embodied religious practices.
The conceptualisation hypothesis of embodied cognition (Chapter 3) proposes that human concepts are grounded in sensorimotor states. That theory is applied to theological concepts. If abstract concepts pose a challenge for a theory of concepts grounded in sensorimotor states, theological concepts create particular difficulties. The God-concept provides a test case: God is definitively unavailable to perception since God is not an object in the universe, but attempts to associate God with sensorimotor content risk theological charges of idolatry. Hence grounding concepts in sensorimotor states and idolatry-avoidance seem difficult to reconcile. Three strategies are canvased. First, Schleiermacher and Rahner’s religious experience accounts guard against idolatry by distinguishing these experiences from experiences of things in the world. I argue that these experiences fail to ground the concept of God since it isn’t clear how proposed ‘meta-experiences’ relate to sensorimotor experience. Second, metaphors which employ concrete imagery may serve to ground the God-concept. While such metaphors fulfil the grounding criterion in concert with conceptual metaphor theory, it is not clear that they avoid idolatry since they risk likening God with finite objects. Third, the incarnation is proposed as the ultimate solution. As ‘anthropomorphism without the idolatry’, it serves to ground the God-concept in a theologically licit fashion. I explore how the incarnation provides concrete content for the God-concept by supplying direct sensorimotor access to the divine through Christ and - its extensions in narrative, sacrament, and other material vehicles. The incarnation thus accommodates the embodied nature of human concepts.
Embodied cognition, a new paradigm in cognitive science, proposes that human cognition is shaped by the particularities of human embodiment. It emerges as a reaction to ‘cognitivism’, which understands the mind as akin to a computer which uses algorithms to processes abstract symbols. In contrast to cognitivism, its alternative understanding of cognition finds expression in three distinct hypotheses. First, the conceptualisation hypothesis argues that concepts are not abstract symbols but are grounded in sensorimotor states. Second, the replacement hypothesis suggests that cognitive processes rely on sensorimotor engagement with the surrounding environment rather than on internal mental representations. Third, the constitution hypothesis posits that the physical media on which cognition is instantiated is not restricted to the brain but extends to bodily states and environmental resources. Having described the distinctive claims of embodied cognition, evidence and arguments in favour of its picture are surveyed, as well as their current limitations.
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