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History and philosophy of science.

Article Excerpt
Chair: Maritza Abril, University of Southern Mississippi

Vice-chair: John D. Davis, Jackson, MS

FRIDAY MORNING

Hunter Henry Executive Room 8

8:30 DOES SCIENCE CONTRIBUTE TO PEACE?

S. Kant Vajpayee, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406

A difficult question indeed! The answer could be both yes and no. Which one is closer to the truth? Only an extremely enormous research, both in terms of time and cost, can settle that. For our purpose, let's focus on the two pertaining questions. Is it moral to seek and sustain peace? Does science contribute toward this effort? My aim here is simply to alert the scientists to the fact that what they do to advance knowledge can be sinful if it contributes to the absence of peace, provided that sustenance of peace is considered moral. Take nuclear energy. Its use for peaceful purposes will hardly be objected by anyone. But the extension of the associated science for nuclear bombs is undoubtedly divisive to humanity. Scientists engaged in fundamental research may not be able to judge whether their work will contribute toward peace or violence. But those researching in applied areas for military purposes could not claim their ignorance. With the recent emphasis on earmarked researching, both within and without the institutions of higher learning, on what is useful in a short-time frame, scientists need to be aware of what they investigate and whether or not their work is compatible with their "hearts". The basic question is whether scientists can and should influence the fruits of their work or should they take the backseat and let the policy makers, the society, and the politicians take charge.

9:00 CAN MATHEMATICS, COMPUTER SCIENCE, AND STATISTICS HELP US UNDERSTAND WHETHER FAITH AND REASON CAN INTERACT

Andrew Harrell, Vicksburg, MS 39180

In this talk we will look at a part of the recent discussion of theologians about science and religion. This part concerns how mathematics, computer science, and statistics might be able to present arguments that explain how faith and reason interact. In the book by William Demski, "No Free Lunch (NFL)" some of the mathematics and computer science in the two earlier papers by Wolpert and Macready have been used to support the authors\' philosophical, statistical arguments for the necessity of what is called "The intelligent design of the Universe". The question then comes down to whether there is an intelligent designer of our genome? However, in a later paper by the same two authors, they have given a mathematical counterexample to the key statement in Chapter 4 of the NFL book that the mathematical arguments there can deal with "the coevolving...