Author: Mark Schaefer
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 153265345X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 263
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Book Description
The world is full of people who are very certain--in politics, in religion, in all manner of things. In addition, political, religious, and social organizations are marketing certainty as a cure all to all life's problems. But is such certainty possible? Or even good? The Certainty of Uncertainty explores the question of certainty by looking at the reasons human beings crave certainty and the religious responses we frequently fashion to help meet that need. The book takes an in-depth view of religion, language, our senses, our science, and our world to explore the inescapable uncertainties they reveal. We find that the certainty we crave does not exist. As we reflect on the unavoidable uncertainties in our world, we come to understand that letting go of certainty is not only necessary, it's beneficial. For, in embracing doubt and uncertainty, we find a more meaningful and courageous religious faith, a deeper encounter with mystery, and a way to build strong relationships across religious and philosophical lines. In The Certainty of Uncertainty, we see that embracing our belief systems with humility and uncertainty can be transformative for ourselves and for our world.
Author: Mark Schaefer
Publisher: Wipf and Stock
ISBN: 9781532653445
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The world is full of people who are very certain--in politics, in religion, in all manner of things. In addition, political, religious, and social organizations are marketing certainty as a cure all to all life's problems. But is such certainty possible? Or even good? The Certainty of Uncertainty explores the question of certainty by looking at the reasons human beings crave certainty and the religious responses we frequently fashion to help meet that need. The book takes an in-depth view of religion, language, our senses, our science, and our world to explore the inescapable uncertainties they reveal. We find that the certainty we crave does not exist. As we reflect on the unavoidable uncertainties in our world, we come to understand that letting go of certainty is not only necessary, it's beneficial. For, in embracing doubt and uncertainty, we find a more meaningful and courageous religious faith, a deeper encounter with mystery, and a way to build strong relationships across religious and philosophical lines. In The Certainty of Uncertainty, we see that embracing our belief systems with humility and uncertainty can be transformative for ourselves and for our world. ""In this important book, Mark Schaefer demonstrates that we cannot be certain about anything that matters. And yet, through metaphor we are drawn toward deeper understanding of both religious and scientific reality. Schaefer demonstrates broad knowledge, great insight, and humility in a book that will help overcome the unfounded fanaticisms of our age. I hope it will be widely recognized and read."" --J. Philip Wogaman, Wesley Theological Seminary Mark Schaefer is the University Chaplain at American University (AU) in Washington, DC, and Director of AU's Kay Spiritual Life Center, one of the oldest interfaith centers in the United States. With degrees in language and law, and with nearly two decades serving in young adult campus ministry, he also serves as an Adjunct Professorial Lecturer at AU and Wesley Theological Seminary, teaching courses in Religion, New Testament, and Biblical Greek.
Author: F. David Peat
Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
ISBN: 0309170214
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247
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Book Description
Early theorists believed that in science lay the promise of certainty. Built on a foundation of fact and constructed with objective and trustworthy tools, science produced knowledge. But science has also shown us that this knowledge will always be fundamentally incomplete and that a true understanding of the world is ultimately beyond our grasp. In this thoughtful and compelling book, physicist F. David Peat examines the basic philosophic difference between the certainty that characterized the thinking of humankind through the nineteenth century and contrasts it with the startling fall of certainty in the twentieth. The nineteenth century was marked by a boundless optimism and confidence in the power of progress and technology. Science and philosophy were on firm ground. Newtonian physics showed that the universe was a gigantic clockwork mechanism that functioned according to rigid lawsâ€"that its course could be predicted with total confidence far into the future. Indeed, in 1900, the President of the Royal Society in Britain went so far as to proclaim that everything of importance had already been discovered by science. But it was not long before the seeds of a scientific revolution began to take root. Quantum Theory and the General Theory of Relativity exploded the clockwork universe, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that our knowledge was, at best, incompleteâ€"and would probably remain that way forever. There were places in the universe, such as black holes, from which no information at all could ever be obtained. Chaos Theory also demonstrated our inherent limits to knowing, predicting, and controlling the world around us and showed the way that chaos can often be found at the heart of natural and social systems. Although we may not always recognize it, this new world view has had a profound effect not only on science, but on art, literature, philosophy, and societal relations. The twenty-first century now begins with a humble acceptance of uncertainty. From Certainty to Uncertainty traces the rise and fall of the deterministic universe and shows the evolving influences that such disparate disciplines now have on one another. Drawing on the lessons we can learn from history, Peat also speculates on how we will manage our lives into the future.
Author: Ludomir M. Laudański
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642256961
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 314
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Book Description
„Between Certainty & Uncertainty” is a one-of–a-kind short course on statistics for students, engineers and researchers. It is a fascinating introduction to statistics and probability with notes on historical origins and 80 illustrative numerical examples organized in the five units: · Chapter 1 Descriptive Statistics: Compressing small samples, basic averages - mean and variance, their main properties including God’s proof; linear transformations and z-scored statistics . · Chapter 2 Grouped data: Udny Yule’s concept of qualitative and quantitative variables. Grouping these two kinds of data. Graphical tools. Combinatorial rules and qualitative variables. Designing frequency histogram. Direct and coded evaluation of quantitative data. Significance of percentiles. · Chapter 3 Regression and correlation: Geometrical distance and equivalent distances in two orthogonal directions as a prerequisite to the concept of two regression lines. Misleading in interpreting two regression lines. Derivation of the two regression lines. Was Hubble right? Houbolt’s cloud. What in fact measures the correlation coefficient? · Chapter 4 Binomial distribution: Middle ages origins of the binomials; figurate numbers and combinatorial rules. Pascal’s Arithmetical Triangle. Bernoulli’s or Poisson Trials? John Arbuthnot curing binomials. How Newton taught S. Pepys probability. Jacob Bernoulli’s Weak Law of Large Numbers and others. · Chapter 5 Normal distribution and binomial heritage – Tables of the normal distribution. Abraham de Moivre and the second theorem of de Moivre-Laplace. · Chapter 1 Descriptive Statistics: Compressing small samples, basic averages - mean and variance, their main properties including God’s proof; linear transformations and z-scored statistics . · Chapter 2 Grouped data: Udny Yule’s concept of qualitative and quantitative variables. Grouping these two kinds of data. Graphical tools. Combinatorial rules and qualitative variables. Designing frequency histogram. Direct and coded evaluation of quantitative data. Significance of percentiles. · Chapter 3 Regression and correlation: Geometrical distance and equivalent distances in two orthogonal directions as a prerequisite to the concept of two regression lines. Misleading in interpreting two regression lines. Derivation of the two regression lines. Was Hubble right? Houbolt’s cloud. What in fact measures the correlation coefficient? · Chapter 4 Binomial distribution: Middle ages origins of the binomials; figurate numbers and combinatorial rules. Pascal’s Arithmetical Triangle. Bernoulli’s or Poisson Trials? John Arbuthnot curing binomials. How Newton taught S. Pepys probability. Jacob Bernoulli’s Weak Law of Large Numbers and others. · Chapter 5 Normal distribution and binomial heritage – Tables of the normal distribution. Abraham de Moivre and the second theorem of de Moivre-Laplace. · Chapter 5 Normal distribution and binomial heritage – Tables of the normal distribution. Abraham de Moivre and the second theorem of de Moivre-Laplace.
Author: Bernhard Poerksen
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 184540470X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
Nothing that can be said is independent of us. Whatever can be said is coloured by our dreams and aspirations, by the way our brain works, by human nature and human culture. Whoever claims to know or to observe is - according to the central constructivist assumption - inescapably biased. This book presents the views of the founders of constructivism and modern systems theory, who are still providing stimulating cues for international scientific debate. The conversations of Heinz von Foerster, Ernst von Glasersfeld, Humberto R. Maturana, Francisco J. Varela, Gerhard Roth, Siegfried J. Schmidt, Helm Stierlin, and Paul Watzlawick with Bernhard Poerksen, display a kind of thinking that steers clear of rigid fixation and reveals the ideal of objectivity to be a myth. The conversations turn on the results of brain research, the breaks through of cybernetics, the linguistic determination of thought, and the intrinsic connection between epistemology and ethical practice. Throughout, the central figure of the observer is examined with sophisticated wit and just enough irritating grit to create the pearl in the oyster. Constructivism thus emerges as a philosophy of possibilities that keeps generating new points of view, insists on fundamental scepticism with regard to certainties and dogmas, and provides the foundation for an ethics of perception: Each and every one of us is responsible for their view of things.
Author: Helga Nowotny
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745687652
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 161
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Book Description
Uncertainty is interwoven into human existence. It is a powerful incentive in the search for knowledge and an inherent component of scientific research. We have developed many ways of coping with uncertainty. We make promises, manage risks and make predictions to try to clear the mists and predict ahead. But the future is inherently uncertain - and the mist that shrouds our path an inherent part of our journey. The burning question is whether our societies can face up to uncertainty, learn to embrace it and whether we can open up to a constantly evolving future. In this new book, Helga Nowotny shows how research can thrive at the cusp of uncertainty. Science, she argues, can eventually transform uncertainty into certainty, but into certainty which remains always provisional. Uncertainty is never completely static. It is constantly evolving. It encompasses geological time scales and, at the level of human experience, split-second changes as cells divide. Life and death decisions are taken in the blink of the eye, while human interactions with the natural environment may reveal their impact over millennia. Uncertainty is cunning. It appears at unexpected moments, it shuns the straight line, takes the oblique route and sometimes the unexpected short-cut. As we acknowledge the cunning of uncertainty, its threats retreat. We accept that any scientific inquiry must produce results that are provisional and uncertain. This message is vital for politicians and policy-makers: do not be tempted by small, short-term, controllable gains to the exclusion of uncertain, high-gain opportunities. Wide-ranging in its use of examples and enriched by the author’s experience as President of the European Research Council, one of the world’s leading funding organisations for fundamental research. The Cunning of Uncertainty is a must-read for students and scholars of all disciplines, politicians, policy-makers and anyone concerned with the fundamental role of knowledge and science in our societies today.
Author: Sibilla Cantarini
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027269149
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 377
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Book Description
The selected papers of this volume cover five main topics, namely ‘Certainty: The conceptual differential’; ‘(Un)Certainty as attitudinality’; ‘Dialogical exchange and speech acts’; ‘Onomasiology’; and ‘Applications in exegesis and religious discourse’. By examining the general theme of the communication of certainty and uncertainty from different scientific fields, theoretical approaches and perspectives, this compendium of state-of-the-art research papers provides both an interdisciplinary comparison of the latest investigations, methods and findings, and new advances and theoretical insights with a common focus on human communication.
Author: Mark Burgess
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1491923377
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 473
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Book Description
Quite soon, the world’s information infrastructure is going to reach a level of scale and complexity that will force scientists and engineers to approach it in an entirely new way. The familiar notions of command and control are being thwarted by realities of a faster, denser world of communication where choice, variety, and indeterminism rule. The myth of the machine that does exactly what we tell it has come to an end. What makes us think we can rely on all this technology? What keeps it together today, and how might it work tomorrow? Will we know how to build the next generation—or will we be lulled into a stupor of dependence brought about by its conveniences? In this book, Mark Burgess focuses on the impact of computers and information on our modern infrastructure by taking you from the roots of science to the principles behind system operation and design. To shape the future of technology, we need to understand how it works—or else what we don’t understand will end up shaping us. This book explores this subject in three parts: Part I, Stability: describes the fundamentals of predictability, and why we have to give up the idea of control in its classical meaning Part II, Certainty: describes the science of what we can know, when we don’t control everything, and how we make the best of life with only imperfect information Part III, Promises: explains how the concepts of stability and certainty may be combined to approach information infrastructure as a new kind of virtual material, restoring a continuity to human-computer systems so that society can rely on them.
Author: Julia Galef
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735217556
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
"...an engaging and enlightening account from which we all can benefit."—The Wall Street Journal A better way to combat knee-jerk biases and make smarter decisions, from Julia Galef, the acclaimed expert on rational decision-making. When it comes to what we believe, humans see what they want to see. In other words, we have what Julia Galef calls a "soldier" mindset. From tribalism and wishful thinking, to rationalizing in our personal lives and everything in between, we are driven to defend the ideas we most want to believe—and shoot down those we don't. But if we want to get things right more often, argues Galef, we should train ourselves to have a "scout" mindset. Unlike the soldier, a scout's goal isn't to defend one side over the other. It's to go out, survey the territory, and come back with as accurate a map as possible. Regardless of what they hope to be the case, above all, the scout wants to know what's actually true. In The Scout Mindset, Galef shows that what makes scouts better at getting things right isn't that they're smarter or more knowledgeable than everyone else. It's a handful of emotional skills, habits, and ways of looking at the world—which anyone can learn. With fascinating examples ranging from how to survive being stranded in the middle of the ocean, to how Jeff Bezos avoids overconfidence, to how superforecasters outperform CIA operatives, to Reddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why our brains deceive us and what we can do to change the way we think.
Author: Andrzej Zuczkowski
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027269211
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 423
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Book Description
This volume is a collection of 18 papers on the communication of certainty and uncertainty. The first part introduces recent theoretical developments and general models on the topic and its relations with modality, subjectivity, inter-subjectivity, epistemicity, evidentiality, hedging, mitigation and speech acts. In the second part, results from empirical studies in medical and supportive contexts are presented, all of which are based on a conversational analysis approach. These papers report on professional dialogues including advice giving in gynecological consultations, breaking diagnostic bad news to patients, emergency calls, addiction therapeutic community meetings and bureaucratic-institutional interactions. The final part concerns the qualitative and quantitative analysis of corpora, addressing scientific writing (both research and popular articles) and academic communication in English, German, Spanish and Romanian. The collection is addressed to scholars concerned with the topical issues from a theoretical and analytical perspective and to health professionals interested in the practical implications of communicating certainty or uncertainty.
