Is it possible to talk about God in the context of contemporary science?

Author: Antonio Aparicio Juan and Francisco José Soler Gil.
Date of publication: Pamplona, 8 September 2015.

The scientific search for a physical theory that is often called "the theory of everything" raises many questions and many controversies. It seems that facing these questions requires adopting a approach multidisciplinary for its implications in Physics, in Philosophy and in Theology. For this seminar we count on the presence of two speakers whose interests move in these fields and with complementary profiles. Both will make a brief intervention exposing their positions. The interventions will be followed by a discussion between the speakers and those attending the seminar.

Antonio Aparicio Juan holds a PhD in Physics from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía and the University of Granada since 1988. researcher invited at Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, California, USA (1997-98). Senior Associate Professor of University at the department of Astrophysics of the University of La Laguna (ULL). researcher main group of Stellar Populations in Galaxies at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). Since 2014 he is director of the department of astrophysics of the ULL and coordinator of the area of teaching of the IAC. He has more than 90 publications in ISI first quartile journals in the area of Astrophysics. Master in Philosophy. He has written several texts of knowledge dissemination in Astrophysics and has also made incursions in the philosophical field with titles such as "Why Science", "Astronomy and Astrology in Isidoro de Sevilla" or "Realism and Quantum Physics".
Introduction to his exhibition: Does current cosmology point to a self-sufficient universe? In other words, is the universe the ultimate reality, or is there something else? The first thing to say is that the current standard model of cosmology is very successful in representing the observable universe and that it seems at Degree to provide, in the future, a description of its origin and ultimate destiny based on the laws of physics. However, it is necessary to keep in mind a few important things. The first is that it is not the same that the physical representation given by the model is self-sufficient or that the Universe itself is self-sufficient. The second is that in the Universe there is freedom and that it is not clear that this is subject to the laws of physics. The third, and most important, is that, after all, the fundamental question is not whether the universe, or even less its physical representation, is self-sufficient; the fundamental question, posed by Leibniz three centuries ago, is well known to philosophers: why is there something rather than nothing? Cosmology does not seem to be in a better position now than before to give an answer to this question.

Francisco José Soler Gil has done programs of study in Physics and Philosophy. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Bremen and is currently a member of the group of research of Philosophy of Physics at the aforementioned university, as well as researcher at the University of Seville. He has also been a member of the group of research of particle astrophysics at the Technical University of Dortmund. partner of prestigious scientific and philosophical journals, he has published in recent years several books about the relationship between reason and faith, with special emphasis on cosmological approaches. "God and Modern Cosmologies", "God or the subject?", "The Divine and the Human in Stephen Hawking's Universe", "Aristotle in the Quantum World", "Materialistic Mythology of Science" and "Introduction to the Philosophy of Cosmology" are some titles of his many texts on the area of the Philosophy of science.

Introduction to his exhibition: Recentresults of the research in physics and cosmology may point in the direction that the universe is not an ultimate, but a penultimate reality, in two different ways: [1] physical reality may not be exhausted in the domain we currently know as the universe and, also, [2] what we have learned about the universe may be pointing to aspects of reality beyond physics. Examples of the former are found in physical models that suggest a multiverse, or a physical reality prior to the big bang. Of the second we find them when considering the rationality and the character of physical object of the cosmos described by current cosmology, data that open questions about the universe that are no longer located in the physical plane. A brief reflection on these two ways of going beyond the universe is proposed.