Publisher's Synopsis
Is the universe ultimately meaningful, ordered to an end of transcendental value? Or is it merely the product of random interactions in which organization emerges only locally and by chance and is conserved only so long as rare and improbable conditions prevail? There can, in fact, be no more important question, for on the resolution of this question depends the significance of all our worldly labors. The Ultimate Meaningfulness of the Universe represents a new departure in this debate, arguing that because it describes rather than explains the universe, mathematical physics is radically incapable of addressing this question. The book argues for a new scientific research paradigm that while incorporating and building on the description of the universe supplied by modern mathematical physics, goes beyond it in a restored discipline of teleological explanation. The book sketches applications in the physical, biological, and social domains, and shows that powerful evidence already points toward the ultimate meaningfulness of the universe.
