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| [[Image:lighterstill.jpg]] | | [[Image:lighterstill.jpg]] |
− | [[Image:Real_presences.jpeg|right]] | + | [[Image:Real_presences.jpeg|right|frame]] |
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− | A Review of '''Real Presences''' by G. Steiner | + | A Review of the book '''Real Presences''' written by G. Steiner |
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| ==fr. Theology Vol. 102 (1999) 169-176== | | ==fr. Theology Vol. 102 (1999) 169-176== |
− | ''Real Presences: Two Scientists’ Response to [[George Steiner]]'' | + | ''Real Presences: Two Scientists’ Response to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Steiner George Steiner]'' |
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| ==Authors== | | ==Authors== |
| Wilson Poon and Tom McLeish | | Wilson Poon and Tom McLeish |
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− | Real Presences is Steiner's personal manifesto against the [[deconstruction movement]] in modern [[literature]] (and [[art]] and [[music]]). It is not a book that many scientists would read, let alone re-read.And yet we have read and re-read the book; it has made us laugh and cry. Why? This essay is a first attempt at articulating the shock of relevance two scientists felt after their encounter with this remarkable book. | + | Real Presences is Steiner's personal manifesto against the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction deconstruction] movement in modern [[literature]] (and [[art]] and [[music]]). It is not a book that many scientists would read, let alone re-read.And yet we have read and re-read the book; it has made us laugh and cry. Why? This essay is a first attempt at articulating the shock of relevance two scientists felt after their encounter with this remarkable book. |
− | | + | <center>For lessons on the related [[topic]] of '''''[[Presence]]''''', follow '''''[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Presence this link]'''''.</center> |
| ==Section 1== | | ==Section 1== |
| Real Presences is evidently born out of pain (one reviewer calls it a ‘vulnerable’ book), the pain | | Real Presences is evidently born out of pain (one reviewer calls it a ‘vulnerable’ book), the pain |
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| powerfully with our vision of what lies at the core of science: | | powerfully with our vision of what lies at the core of science: |
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− | <p>‘The famous question at the roots of [[metaphysics]] is: “Why should there not be nothing?” ’ | + | <blockquote>‘The famous question at the roots of [[metaphysics]] is: “Why should there not be nothing?” ’ |
| (152) ‘Today, mathematical models proclaim access to the origins of the present [[universe]]. | | (152) ‘Today, mathematical models proclaim access to the origins of the present [[universe]]. |
| Molecular [[biology]] may have in reach an unravelling of the thread whose beginning is that | | Molecular [[biology]] may have in reach an unravelling of the thread whose beginning is that |
| of life. Nothing in these prodigious conjectures disarms, let alone elucidates, the fact that | | of life. Nothing in these prodigious conjectures disarms, let alone elucidates, the fact that |
| the world is when it might not have been, the fact that we are in it when we might, when | | the world is when it might not have been, the fact that we are in it when we might, when |
− | we could not have been.’</p> | + | we could not have been.’</blockquote> |
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| But what is science? In Steiner’s terms it is men and women extending the cortesia of welcome to | | But what is science? In Steiner’s terms it is men and women extending the cortesia of welcome to |
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| of disappointment to read (italics ours) | | of disappointment to read (italics ours) |
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− | <blockquote>‘Only art can go some way towards making accessible, towards waking into some | + | <center>‘Only art can go some way towards making accessible, towards waking into some |
− | measure of communicability, the shear inhuman otherness of matter.’</blockquote> | + | measure of communicability, the shear inhuman otherness of matter.’</center> |
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| Frighteningly, ‘we are utterly free not to receive ... [when we are] face to face with the presence of | | Frighteningly, ‘we are utterly free not to receive ... [when we are] face to face with the presence of |
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| ==Bibliography== | | ==Bibliography== |
− | 1 George Steiner, Real Presences (Faber and Faber 1989)
| + | #George Steiner, Real Presences (Faber and Faber 1989) |
− | 2 George Steiner, A Festival Overture, Festival Lecture (The University of Edinburgh 1996)
| + | #George Steiner, A Festival Overture, Festival Lecture (The University of Edinburgh 1996) |
− | 3 Numbers in brackets refer to pages in Real Presences.
| + | #Numbers in brackets refer to pages in Real Presences. |
− | 4 See, e.g. The EPSRC Programme 1997-98 (Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council 1997)
| + | #See, e.g. The EPSRC Programme 1997-98 (Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council 1997) |
− | 5 Reprinted in Language and Silence (Faber and Faber 1985)
| + | #Reprinted in Language and Silence (Faber and Faber 1985) |
− | 6 John Carey’s Introduction in The Faber Book of Science (Faber and Faber 1995)
| + | #John Carey’s Introduction in The Faber Book of Science (Faber and Faber 1995) |
− | 7 See, e.g., B. Appleyard, Understanding the Present (Pan 1992)
| + | #See, e.g., B. Appleyard, Understanding the Present (Pan 1992) |
− | 8 S. Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory (Hutchison 1993)
| + | #S. Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory (Hutchison 1993) |
− | 9 J. Gribbin and M. Rees, Cosmic Coincidences (Heinemann, 1990)
| + | #J. Gribbin and M. Rees, Cosmic Coincidences (Heinemann, 1990) |
− | 10 This process is documented by, e.g. S. Weinberg, op. cit., p. 196.
| + | #This process is documented by, e.g. S. Weinberg, op. cit., p. 196. |
− | 11 C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle (Fontana 1985), title of Chapter 14
| + | #C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle (Fontana 1985), title of Chapter 14 |
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| [[Category: Languages and Literature]] | | [[Category: Languages and Literature]] |
| [[Category: Philosophy]] | | [[Category: Philosophy]] |