Scientific Concept of Beauty, Part I

... So we ask: What, according to our best scientific minds, are the traits of this omnipresent splendor in our universe? The most concise and clear answer to this question that I have seen occurs in the study by Robert Augros and George Stanciu, The New Story of Science. We can do no better than to summarize their thought and add a few of our own reflections.

For contemporary science the first trait of beauty is an elegant simplicity. In this context simplicity refers to an essential purity, a freedom from superfluities, useless accretions, and needless complications. Einstein's theory of gravitation possess this grace and proprietary, whereas competing theories do not, and thus "none of them are taken seriously." Astronomer Roger Penrose commented that "no rival theory comes close to general relativity in elegance or simplicity of assumption." For the scientist simplicity implies both completeness and economy: "It must take into account all the facts and must include only what is necessary. Nothing lacking, nothing superfluous." Notable in the field of mathematical physics, Henri Poincare commented that "it is because simplicity and vastness are both beautiful that we seek by preference simple facts and vast facts." We notice in this requirement for valid scientific discoveries, namely that they be elegantly simple and yet vast, the classical philosophical traits of the beautiful: unity and wholeness.

Evidential Power Of Beauty by Thomas Dubay

I came to this book with a great deal of trepidation, knowing Dubay's reputation for high level theological thinking. I was surprised and pleased to find that I had inadvertently prepared myself, at least in part, to follow his train of thought by reading two very different books.

The first was Aristotle for Everybody by Mortimer J. Adler. Although presented in their own beautiful simplicity in mentally "bite-sized" chapters this book was a challenge for me. However, I retained enough that when Dubay began talking about various philosophical concepts, especially that of "form," I was able to follow with relative ease.

The second was The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel which I reviewed for Spero News. Whether one agrees or not with the beliefs of the scientists interviewed for that book, one can't help but come away with a certain understanding of how they see and define beauty within the discipline of science. Again, I didn't realize that I had absorbed something of that understanding until I encountered it in the pages of this book but it did smooth the way for me somewhat.

I am still working my way through this and may hit the really difficult concepts later on. Also, I don't wish to give the impression that you must have a lot of preparation to even begin reading this book. It is merely interesting to me that I recognized these concepts as building blocks learned from previous reading.

You can go on to Part II here.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity