Theoria et Historia Scientiarum. III (1993)

Cracow May symposia create a good tradition. To the best known Cracow encounters belong The Galileo Affair: A Meeting of Faith and Science (1984), Newton and the New Direction in Science (1987), The Mathematical Structure of the World (1989), Problem of Universals and Contemporary Science (1990). This year the topic was: Theology, Philosophy, and Cosmology: on West and East. The Western Way of thinking and viewing the Universe was represented, among others, by people from the United Kingdom and the United States, whereas the Eastern tradition by those from Moscow and Sankt Petersburg. Actual changes in East Europe and Soviet Union make such encounters vital for creating mutual respect and understanding.

Friendly discussions and exchange of ideas constituted an essential element of the meeting. Some of Russian participants expressed the need to join the main stream of the West-European stream of philosophical thinking: some others opted for preserving the Easter tradition going back to the Byzantine culture. Both groups were inclined to agree that now-a-days it is science and not religion that requires defending in Russia. Collapse of prestige of science is a reaction for many years of slogan philosophy justifying all sorts of nonsense ,,in the name of Science" and ,,scientific world view". Science is also held responsible for unimaginable degradation of environment, including the Chernobyl disaster.

Perhaps for the first time for centuries, the world”and Europe in particular”faces the possibility to eliminate hatred and exclude global conflicts. To reach this goal not only disarmament is indispensable but also genuine exchange of ideas and common thinking.

During the Cracow Symposium the Second Coyne Lectures were delivered by Rev. Robert Sokolowski (Washington D.C.); their topics were: 1) Christian Religious Language, 2) DNA as a Code: Some Philosophical Comments, 3) Linguistic Aspects of the Eucharist. They will be published elsewhere. The same concerns the papers delivered by Rev. Stanley Jaki (Princeton), Dr. Jacek Urbaniec and Professor Alexander V. Soldatov.

Michael Heller
September 1991

Preface

David A. PAILIN (Manchester), The Divine Perspective(s): God and Time

Yuri V. Balashov (Moscow), Philosophical Roots o f the Anthropic Principle 

Małgorzata GŁÓDŹ (Warsaw), On the Edge of Promise and Misuse: Contemporary Dialogue Between Science and Religion

Michael HELLER (Cracow), Uses and Abuses o f Cosmological Argumentation

Joseph ŻYCIŃSKI (Cracow), Quantum Cosmology, Possible Worlds, and Modal Actualism

Audrey A. GRIB (St. Petersburg), The Idea of Eternity and Modern Relativistic Cosmology

Marianne S. KOSHKARYAN (Moscow), M. F. Sciacca's Ontology and Philosophical Tradition

Books Received

Wiesław Mincer

Tomasz Komendziński