Philosophy and Science in Cultures: East and West
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Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series IVA, Eastern and Central European Philosophical Studies, Volume 50 General Editor George F. McLean Philosophy and Science in Cultures: East and West Russian philosophical studies, XIII Edited by Marietta T. Stepanyants Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2014 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Box 261 Cardinal Station Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Philosophy and science in cultures: east and west / edited by Marietta T. Stepanyants. -- first [edition]. Pages cm. -- (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series IVA, Eastern and Central European philosophical studies ; Volume 50) (Russian philosophical studies ; 8) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Philosophy and science. I. Stepanyants, M. T. (Marietta Tigranovna), editor. B67.P53 2014 2014025836 100--dc23 CIP ISBN 978-1-56518-296-7 (pbk.) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction. Expanding the Horizons of Philosophy and Science 1 Marietta T. Stepanyants (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Part I. A General Statement of the Problem of the Relationship between Philosophy and Science Chapter I. Scientific Knowledge in a Socio-cultural Dimension 23 Vyacheslav S. Stepin (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter II. Philosophy, Science and Modern Technology 31 Vladislav A. Lektorsky (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter III. The Heuristic Role of Metaphysics in Scientific Knowledge 37 Elena A. Mamchur (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter IV. Freedom of the Will: Western Alternatives to 45 Biological Reductionism Roger Smith (Lancaster University, UK) Chapter V. The Neurologic Approach to Consciousness: 57 Scope and Limits Michel Hulin (University Paris-Sorbonne, France) Chapter VI. Meta-theoretical Issues within Secular Philosphy 65 of Science. A Transcendental Perspective Seyed Javad Miri (University of Sharif, Iran) Chapter VII. Technology Assessment and its relations to philosophy. 75 Introduction and Overview Armin Grunwald (University of Karlsruhe, Germany) Chapter VIII. Tradition and Innovation: Russian and German 93 Experience in the Development of Innovative Systems Vitaly G. Gorokhov (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Part II. Indian Tradition Chapter IX. Can there be a Science of Meditation? 105 Arindam Chakrabarti (University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu, USA) Chapter X. The Relationship of Science (śāstra, vidyā) and 123 Philosophy (darśana) in the Traditional Indian Culture Natalya A. Kanayeva (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter XI. Buddhist Atomism in the Light of Modern Concepts 131 of “Emergent Property” and “Qualia” Victoria G. Lysenko (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter XII. Complimentary Growth of Science of Language 143 and Philosophy of Language in India Malhar Kulkarni (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mumbai, India) iv Table of Contents Chapter XIII. On Certain Speech and Cultural Presuppositions 153 for the Emergence of the Theory of Science in Ancient India Based on the Painting Treatise Citrasūtra Victoria V. Vertogradova (Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS, Russia) Chapter XIV. Preserving Objectivity and Reclaiming Traditional 159 Knowledges: Philosophy of Science Looks at the Spiritual EcoFeminism of Vandana Shiva Vrinda Dalmiya (Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, India; University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA) Chapter XV. The Epistemological and Cosmological Foundations 169 of Indian Astrology and Divination Audrius Beinorius (Center of Oriental Studies, Vilnius University, Lithuania) Chapter XVI. Some Buddhist Ideas of Reality and the 183 “Extended Everett’s Concept” by M.B. Mensky Andrey A. Terentyev (“Buddhism of Russia” Magazine, Russia) Part III. Far-East Tradition Chapter XVII. Chinese Culture and Atomism 193 Arteym I. Kobzev (Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS, Russia) Chapter XVIII. Some Features of Later Mohist Interpretation 205 of Shi 實 “Object” Stanislav J. Rykov (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter XIX. About Principles of “Female Alchemy” in 217 “Xiwang Mu Nüxiu Zhengtu Shize” (Ten Rules of the Queen Mother of the West on the Proper Path of Women’s Cultivation) Irina V. Belaya (Moscow Regional Institute of High Socio-economic Education, Russia) Chapter XX. Some Features of the Development of Science 229 and Technology in the 17th-19th Century Japan in the Context of National Spiritual Tradition Lyubov B. Karelova (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter XXI. Scientific Progress and the Search for 239 Redevelopment Following the Aftermath of the 2011 Earthquake in East Japan Mitsuru Eguchi (Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Japan) Part IV. Islamic Tradition Chapter XXII. How Can Islamic Philosophy Contribute to 247 a Comparative Study of Philosophy Gholamreza A'avani (Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Iran) Chapter XXIII. Koran Epistemology and Scientific Discourse 259 Taufik Ibrahim (Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS, Russia) Table of Contents v Chapter XXIV. Philosophy and Science in Islam. An Outlook 267 Mehmet Bayrakdar (Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey) Chapter XXV. Some Aspects of Avicenna’s Epistemology 275 Natalya V. Efremova (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter XXVI. Visions of Time in Islam 281 Gerhard Bowering (Yale University, USA) Chapter XXVII. About the classification of Science: Aristotle, 289 Eastern Peripatetics, and al-Ghazali. Nur S. Kirabaev and Maytham al-Janabi (Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Russia) Chapter XXVIII. On Criticism of Reason in Philosophy 297 of al-Ghazali Ilshat R. Nasyrov (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Russia) Chapter XXIX. Interfaith Dialogue in the Context of 307 New Theological Language Adnan Aslan (Süleyman Şah University, Turkey) Chapter XXX. The Possibility, Meaning and Importance of 319 Comparison between Islamic and Western Philosophies Hamidreza Ayatollahy (Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies; Department of Philosophy, Allameh Tabatabaii University, Iran) Index 327 INTRODUCTION EXPANDING THE HORIZONS OF PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE MARIETTA T. STEPANYANTS There is no such thing as one universal truth for all. We must preserve everything which constitutes the riches of people, their world. We must know how to listen to each other, not be contented with what we have already got, always searching, seeking the perfection of ourselves and of the society as a whole.1 – Hilary Putnam Although philosophy and science had originally been closely related, the relations between the two disciplines have frequently been marred by tension, rivalries, mutual misunderstanding and criticism. One known example of a perfect accord between philosophy and science is the Arab world in the IX-XII century, where the “Eastern Peripatetics,” such as al- Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and other representatives of the falsafa, were always philosophers as well as scientists. The divergence between philosophy and science emerged and became pronounced during the periods of radical social change and transformation of scientific and philosophical paradigms. There is no doubt that our age of groundbreaking innovation requires a full and profound reflection within a global context, with the existing diversity taken into account. It is for this purpose that the Third Moscow International Conference on comparative philosophy was conceived, its theme formulated as Philosophy and Science in the Cultures of the East and the West (22-25 May, 2012). The conference aimed to maintain the tradition of comparative forums established by the Centre for Oriental Philosophies’ Studies at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. The Conference was attended by philosophers and scientists from Russia, Germany, Great Britain, France, India, Iran, Japan, Lithuania, Syria, Turkey and the United States. Its programme included two plenary and three thematic sessions focusing on the Far Eastern, Indian and Muslim traditions, respectively. However, we prefer to present the texts of the papers grouped by relevance to the contemporary global discourse and not by region. 1 From Hilary Putnam’s paper presented at the Sixth East-West Philosophers’ Conference (1989). 2 Marietta T. Stepanyants IS THERE A NEED FOR UNITY BETWEEN SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY? This question often gets a negative response – not only from the man in the street, but certain prominent scientists as well. Among them are the Nobel Laureates in physics S. Weinberg and R. Feynman, who claim that philosophy of science is unable to provide modern scholars with any practical advice relevant to their work, and that despite the fact that philosophers tend to discuss matters essential to science, they allegedly tend to spew erroneous inanities for the most part. Despite their commitment to a variety of cultural traditions, all the authors of this volume are unanimous in answering the above question in the positive. The argumentation is conducted within three temporal strata – the past, the present and the future. In the former case, the necessity and the benefits of the union between philosophy and science are demonstrated by numerous historical precedents both in the West (Roger Smith, Freedom of the Will: Western Alternatives to Biological Reductionism; Yelena Mamchur, The Heuristic Role of Metaphysics in Scientific Knowledge; Vitaly Gorokhov, Traditions and Innovations: Russian and German Experience of the Development of the Innovative Systems), and in the East