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

Description

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, the artistry of ordinary substances like carbon and water, the intricacy of biological organisms, and the irreducible drama of scientific exploration itself.

Along the way, Wiker and Witt fashion a robust argument from evidence in nature, one that rests neither on religious presuppositions nor on a simplistic view of nature as the best of all possible worlds.

In their exploration of the cosmos, Wiker and Witt find all the challenges and surprises, all of the mystery and elegance one expects from a work of genius.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments
Prologue

1. Meaning-fulness and Meaninglessness
2. Hamlet and the Search for Meaning
3. Shakespeare and the Elements of Genius
4. The Geometry of Genius
5. The Periodic Table: A Masterpiece of Many Authors
6. A Cosmic Home Designed for Discovery
7. The Genius of the Elements
8. The Reemergence of the Living Cell
9. The Restoration of the Living Organism
10. The End of the Matter: A Meaningful World

Index