The Emergence of Freedom

<p><strong><em>The Emergence of Freedom</em></strong> by James A. Barham</p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Scientism is the reigning belief system of our time. It is the worldview that the natural sciences as they exist today give us a complete and sufficient understanding of all of nature including ourselves. This book has two main aims. The first is to challenge eight key ideas commonly held by supporters of scientism: eternalism in the philosophy of time physicalist reductionism (hard) determinism mechanism in biology neural reductionism psychologism moral relativism and technocratic statism. The second and perhaps more important aim is to provide a new positive narrative that explains humanity's place in nature in contrast to the dominant scientistic narrative. The key concepts explored throughout the book are emergence freedom and spirit. Emergence denotes the universal tendency in nature for increasing quantity to lead to novel qualities. Freedom means nature's broad disposition towards ever-increasing autonomy. Spirit signifies the domain of reality created by human social interaction language and rationality.</span></p>