Science not only changes the world around us by way of new technologies. Increasingly, the scientific world view transforms how we perceive ourselves - our identity as a human being. Does it matter to humanity's future when science projects an image of reality that
Science not only changes the world around us by way of new technologies. Increasingly, the scientific world view transforms how we perceive ourselves - our identity as a human being. Does it matter to humanity's future when science projects an image of reality that is inherently fragmented, random, and disconnected? Could it make a difference when future science might instead unify reality's separate dimensions, including matter, life, and consciousness, without reducing one to the other? Is a scientific world view possible that is deeply integrated and fundamentally relational?
The Fetzer Franklin Fund explores this possibility of a new synthesis and seeks breakthroughs towards scientific views of reality that are integrated and relational. In conducting its program of open exploration, the Fetzer Franklin Fund focuses on foundational questions at the frontiers of physics, biology, and consciousness research. In addition, the Fund supports work that re-examines the foundations of science, including metascientific and metaphysical work, and the development of novel methodologies for both conventional and frontier research.
What are ‘scientific views of reality that are integrated and relational’?
The idea of the unity of knowledge, and of the unity of reality, has been part of both Eastern and Western traditions for thousands of years, including in ancient philosophies, pre-modern science, and mystical teachings as well as many spiri