A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature

by Jonathan Witt and Benjamin Wiker

Book Overview

Meaningful or meaningless? Purposeful or pointless? When we look at nature, whether at our living earth or into deepest space, what do we find? In stark contrast to contemporary claims that the world is meaningless, Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt reveal a cosmos charged with both meaning and purpose. Their journey begins with Shakespeare and ranges through Euclid's geometry, the fine-tuning of the laws of physics, the periodic table of the elements,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830827994
• ISBN13: 9780830827992
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Wide-Eyed Wonder

This book somewhat builds on the anthropic principle, the idea that our planet is finely tuned for life. It follows the long-out of print and highly readable contribution by Augros and Stanciu, The New Story of Science. The authors search the world for evidences of not simply design, but genius, and examine human genius to see what it might look like. Along the way they not only ruminate over a myriad dazzling ideas and observations, but also bring a much-needed cooling down to the pitched debate over intelligent design. The surprise is how well-written the book is. Any reader dipping into lay-level science tomes notices at once that it's going to be rough going. This book, however, is a joy to read, and the authors take their place with other lively and intriguing science authors like Michael Berlinski, Heinz Pagels, Rudy Rucker and Nigel Calder.

Excellent Exploration of Nature's Genius

A Meaningful World is a profoundly thoughtful, clever and witty exploration of the beauty and genius of nature. Where reductionists see unguided, mechanistic processes and meaninglessness, Doctors Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt see purpose and layer upon layer of meaning. The new book is a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate surrounding neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory and the theory of intelligent design (ID), and a must-read for those who follow this debate. By drawing upon insights from the arts and aesthetics, Wiker and Witt move beyond design simpliciter and look to the genius of nature. The intricacy, artistry, and depth of Shakespeare's works serve as a backdrop or lens by which the authors move on to the natural sciences, giving compelling accounts of the genius of mathematics and chemistry. Wiker and Witt succeed in giving readers a profound appreciation of the elegance of geometry and the simplicity of the periodic table. Along the way, the authors show the faulty logic (if not utter absurdity) of materialists and deconstructionists who have proclaimed the meaningless of life itself. Instead, the universe and life is shown to be overflowing with meaning and purpose. A Meaningful World compliments the recent breakthrough publication about intelligent design in cosmology and physics, The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery (by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards). Here, Wiker and Witt build off and expand on important insights about the natural world's intelligibility and discoverability, and some of the conditions necessary to sustain complex life. The genius of nature is on full display in this ingenious book. A Meaningful World is highly recommended.

The Summation of Evidence of Design

Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt have coauthored a very compelling account of why science and the arts reveal design and genius in nature. This accomplishment serves as a summation of the various written accounts of the revival of the theory of design as the overarching philosopical explanation of the physcial world. Stating that the sum is greater than the individual parts, Wiker and Witt have written a thorough attack upon the materialist reductionist belief system and exposed the central false assumption of our times. It can be surely argued that Wiker and Witt overused the analogy of Shakespeare and use the phrase " materialist reductionism" more than one too many times. Since most of us understand the concept, it would have been helpful for them to strengthen the argument by contrasting meaning with other secular maladies and thinkers. This is still easily a five star performance. Critics will argue that this book merely rehashes familiar arguments in the ID literature. Wiker and Witt admit that this is the case. To some extent, this is the path of all philosophy and this blend of philosophy and science will challenge honest and thoughtful people to follow the evidence where it leads and that is inexorably towards meaning and design. I strongly recommend that everyone own this book. Wiker and Witt ask in the first chapter if a scientist can be a scientist if the universe is meaningless or even less than purposeful? The fact that we know so much about nature and the universe suggests very strongly that nature is not a work of chance but of great genius and precision. We do our students a grave disservice by telling them point-blank that it is all a fortutious bit of luck that the world is the way that it is. Scientists, young and old, have the opportunity to chart even greater levels of understanding about our world. Perhaps the greatest lie about ID is that it squashes science and intellectual curiosity. Surely, it is the materialists in their apparent nihilism, who want to force young minds into mental straight-jackets. After all these months, these arguments begin to become boring and frustrating. It is tempting to suggest to all of those who insist that life and the natural world is a cosmic joke without rhyme or reason, show us some evidence or just keep your misinformation to yourself. Instead, they have the power to tell the majority that our perceptions must be kept out of the public arena as if pointless trumps purposeful because science says so. Scientific discovery will continue to reveal that nature is ordered and organized, according to Wiker and Witt-- and this is exactly the fact of the matter.

Reductionism Reduced

The world is flat. Or so it is through the myopic spectacles of reductionist materialism. In "A Meaningful World," Wiker and Witt move from fatuous attempts to reduce the true genius of Shakespeare and Mozart to brute matter in motion, the basest of causes (see p. 190 for a hilarious parody). With this perspective, one's mind is opened to see the same materialistic reduction of living things from organic wholes to their lowest material level. But what gets lost in the shuffle, of course, is both the reality of the organism itself (the living thing!) and all of the hierarchical organization which comprises levels of complex reality that Darwin could never have imagined (see p.197). Especially enjoyable is the illumination of the wonders of the periodic table and how it was uncovered; and the illumination of the many amazing properties of water. Sounds boring, I know. But just imagine if nature itself is fighting back against those who have argued for the meaninglessness of our world. That is an exciting proposition. Only a philosopher like Wiker and a literary critic like Witt could awaken us from our dogmatic slumbers to see the reality that is the genius of nature.

It's a Meaningful World After All

Just from the prologue and first chapter, one can tell that this book is tremendous. I especially appreciate Wiker and Witt pointing out that meaninglessness is parasitic to meaning and that the design we're finding at the most basic levels runs contrary to materialism and can be logically extrapolated to design on a grand scale. Also, their highlighting of genius as yet another, obviously highest-level of design is a great ratcheting up of the evidence for meaning, which is even more testable than mere theorizing about design and purpose. Honestly, I found myself wanting to break out in praise as I read this book and pondered the incredible complexity of His work, which we're barely beginning to discover. Indeed, what is man, that He is mindful of him?