Table Of ContentTruth in Science, the Humanities and Religion
BALZAN SYMPOSIUM 2008
TRUTH IN SCIENCE, THE HUMANITIES
AND RELIGION
organized by the
International Balzan Foundation
at the
University of Lugano (Università della Svizzera italiana)
16–17 May 2008
PROCEEDINGS
edited by
M.E.H. NICOLETTE MOUT
AND WERNER STAUFFACHER
Editors
M.E.H. Nicolette Mout Werner Stauffacher
Piazzetta U. Giordano, 4 Piazzetta U. Giordano, 4
20122 Milano 20122 Milano
Italy Italy
[email protected] [email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4020-9895-6 e-ISBN 978-1-4020-9896-3
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9896-3
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010927805
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
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Foreword
Since 1961, the International Balzan Foundation awards prizes for outstanding
achievements through its General Prize Committee. A prize for Humanity, Peace
and Brotherhood among peoples is awarded, at an interval of not less than three
years to personalities and institutions for and in support of their contribution to
humanitarian work, brotherhood and peace in the world. In addition, two prizes
each are awarded every year for scholarly excellence in the Humanities – i.e. the
arts, humanities and social sciences – and for fundamental research in the Sciences
– i.e. physics, astronomy, mathematics, natural sciences and medicine together with
epidemiology. The four fields to be awarded – two in the Humanities, and two in
the Sciences – change every year. No more than four prizes may be awarded in any
one year. The General Prize Committee takes care to focus on those disciplines
which are not covered by other well-known international prizes.
More recently, the Foundation has begun to organize symposia about themes of
overriding significance and importance, both for the scientific and scholarly com-
munity and for the general public, with the intention to encourage and intensify
interdisciplinary discussions and debate among scientists and scholars from vastly
differing horizons, but also inviting personalities from the “outside-world” of poli-
tics and economy. Thus, in 1988, following the surge of ethical awareness and
resulting constraints in science, biology and medicine, an international seminar on
“Challenges of Bioethics” was held in Venice. In 2002, a symposium followed at
the Royal Society in London. Under the heading of “Meeting the Challenges of the
Future”, it was devoted to the dialogue between “the two cultures”, i.e. between
the Humanities on one hand, and the Sciences on the other.
For 2008, the theme chosen by the General Prize Committee was “Truth”.
Truth in the humanities and the sciences as well as in religion and theology; truth,
not in contrast to fraud but as the ultimate goal of scientific endeavour of any
kind, the truth that is said to be “the horizon of scientists and philosophers”. A small
preparatory committee of members of the General Prize Committee was asked to
draw up the program. The Balzan Foundation invited 21 distinguished scholars
and scientists – several of them Balzan Prize Winners – as speakers and panel
members as well as a selected audience of about 200 academics and scholars
from mostly European Universities, academic Institutions and learned Societies
– among which a number of students from Italian and Swiss universities selected
v
vi Foreword
by the Academies of the two countries – to the Italian-Swiss University of Lugano
for the two-day-Symposium.
The question of the meaning of “truth” is central to many areas of contemporary
debate, whether between those subscribing to a post-Enlightenment view of the
world and those who seek fundamental truth in religious texts, or between those
maintaining that there are absolute truths and those believing facts to be social
constructs. For some, the ultimate truth is revealed through religious faith and tex-
tual authority. Can this view be reconciled with an evidence-based, materialist,
post-Enlightenment perspective of the truth as embraced by the natural sciences? If
religion holds the key to the truth, which religion and which truths?
During the five thematic sessions of the symposium, all attended by the same
audience and by all the speakers and panel members, these and many other ques-
tions, but in particular the one about the meaning of truth, were examined and
debated. The whole range of perspectives represented on the panels and in the audi-
ence came to the fore. After the keynote lecture by Professor Simon Blackburn, the
five sessions covered the following disciplines: philosophy, mathematics, physics,
cosmology, the biological sciences including biodiversity and sustainability, his-
tory, the social sciences, theology and religion.
This volume contains the speakers’ lectures, the corresponding reactions of the
invited panel members as well as the panel and general discussions of the two-day-
symposium. Thus the interested reader can familiarize himself with views ranging
from philosophy to religion, from mathematics, physics and cosmology to history
and the social and natural sciences. Undoubtedly, he will discover conflicts and
discrepancies but also lines of convergence. In doing so, he will find that the adjec-
tives which – perhaps unfortunately – are most frequently associated with the word
“truth” are “provisional” or “relative”. In Session VI, finally, the reader will find
the concluding impressions of two eminent participants who were instrumental in
the conception of the symposium, Professor Simon Blackburn, author of the book
Truth , and Lord Krebs, member of the preparatory committee, who suggested the
title of the symposium after having read the book. Rather than attempting to sum-
marize the two days of conferences and debate, they put their fingers on critical
moments of the discussions where discrepancies, possible convergences, but also
possible avenues for future research and reflection seemed to come to light. Unless
a reader is specifically interested in one particular viewpoint and immediately
chooses to read the corresponding chapter, one might suggest to him to begin his
reading with Blackburn’s and Krebs’ succinct and enlightening retrospective analysis
of the symposium.
M.E.H. Nicolette Mout and Werner Stauffacher
Contents
Foreword .......................................................................................................... v
Opening Session .............................................................................................. 1
Addresses of Welcome:
Giorgio Giudici, Mayor of Lugano
Piero Martinoli, President of the University of Lugano
Bruno Bottai, Chairman of the Board of the International Balzan “Prize”
Foundation
Keynote Lecture:
Simon Blackburn Truth and Ourselves: the Elusive Last Word
Session I: Philosophy ...................................................................................... 17
Emanuele Severino T ruth, Contradiction, Nihilism
Panel: Pascal Engel, Karlheinz Stierle,
Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo
Session II: Mathematics – Physics and Cosmology ..................................... 37
Yuri Manin Truth as a Value and Duty: Lessons of Mathematics
Bengt Gustafsson T houghts on Truth in Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Panel: Kai Hauser, Paolo de Bernardis
Session III: Biological Sciences – Biodiversity – Sustainability .................. 65
Jean-Pierre Changeux I s the Brain the Organ of Truth?
Robert McCredie May S cience as Organized Scepticism
Panel: Marco Baggiolini
Session IV: History – Social Sciences ............................................................ 89
Quentin Skinner T ruth and Explanation in History
Dominique Schnapper C ultural Relativism: Meaning and Limits
Panel: Keith Thomas, Mauro Baranzini
vii
viii Contents
Session V: Theology – Religion ...................................................................... 117
Georges Cardinal Cottier OP F aith and Truth
Mohammed Arkoun Violence, the Sacred, and the Regimes of Truth
Geza Vermes T he Truth about the Historical Jesus
Panel: Jan Assmann, Brian Hebblethwaite
Session VI: Conclusion ................................................................................... 165
John Krebs and Simon Blackburn ‘ Truth’: Common Themes?
Concluding Remarks: Bruno Bottai, Achille Casanova, Mike Gray,
Alessio Marconi
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 175
Chairmen, Speakers, Invited Discussants ..................................................... 179
Appendix: The International Balzan Foundation ........................................ 183
Name Index ...................................................................................................... 189
Opening Session
16 May 2008 – 11:00 a.m.
Addresses of Welcome:
Giorgio Giudici, Mayor of Lugano
Piero Martinoli, President of the University of Lugano
Bruno Bottai, Chairman of the Board of the International Balzan “Prize”
Foundation
Introduction and Chair:
Sergio Romano, Chairman of the General Prize Committee of the International
Balzan “Prize” Foundation
Keynote Lecture:
Truth and Ourselves: the Elusive Last Word
Simon Blackburn
Sergio Romano:
Welcome to our meeting, in a city which is very Italian and very Swiss at the same
time. In fact, it has the extraordinary characteristic of being what one would call an
ambiguity or, as others would call it, an extraordinary synthesis. This city is our
host, and in a certain sense it is a symbol of the Balzan Foundation, which is an
Italian-Swiss foundation.
I don’t think we could hold our conference in a better place, especially because
we are in this city’s university. Only three decades ago it did not exist, and now it
has assumed the role of being one of the most interesting among the Italian lan-
guage universities. Because of its young age its fields of activity are maybe still
somewhat limited, but they attain a very high level.
Giorgio Giudici:
I am particularly proud of welcoming you, on behalf of the city of Lugano, to this
important meeting promoted by the International Balzan Foundation. The Foundation
has requested the presence of famous scholars in order to reflect on such an impor-
tant theme as truth, a theme underlying all our actions, all our research, as well as
Balzan (ed.), Truth in Science, the Humanities and Religion: Balzan Symposium 2008, 1
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9896-3_1, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
2 Opening Session
our decisions in the field of politics and of lawgiving. When we ask ourselves
whether what we are doing is right or not, we also address the question whether a
particular truth is valid in a moral context. In this sense, we know that there is no
absolute and universally shared truth. Indeed, what is true in the universe of science
may not be true, or may not be recognized as such, in the universe of morality.
There are evident examples supporting this in the field of science. This is why I am
inviting people to follow reason. As Schopenhauer said, those who appreciate truth
should also listen to good reasons even when they come from the mouth of their
opponents. Nor should we ever forget in our disputes what Voltaire said, namely
that peace is worth more than truth. The fact that many participants of very high
scholarly standing have come to Lugano to discuss these themes, and the fact that
these themes will be discussed in an interdisciplinary manner point to the best way
to understand the theme itself. This is why I am particularly grateful to the Balzan
Foundation for choosing our city and this university to promote reflection on a
value of such high importance.
The International Balzan Foundation and this conference bring new lustre to this
recently built university. It was built at this very site and inaugurated in October
1996 in accordance with the idea of bringing academia to the very heart of the city.
This has helped to make up for the deficiency that had relegated Lugano, one of the
important cities in Switzerland, to a marginal role for a long time in recent history.
Lugano now intends to play a more important role in the society of knowledge, and
it aspires to be – and the conditions for this are right – to become a crossroads of
communication and ideas. Indeed, because of the foundation of this university,
together with the new important programmes on which we are working in order to
complete and broaden the spectrum of this new cultural centre, it makes sense to
envisage Lugano as a centre and a reference point for cultural and economic
relations and exchanges between the North and the South of Europe. This important
conference enhances our hope that we can achieve this aim.
Piero Martinoli:
I am happy to welcome you on behalf of the Italian-Swiss University.
I think I reflect the opinion of all my colleagues in our faculties of Architecture,
Sciences, Communication, Information technologies and Economics in saying that I
am proud that our university is hosting the Balzan Foundation for this two-day confer-
ence about ‘Truth’. Ever since I became familiar with the topics on the agenda, I real-
ized that this meeting would be extremely interesting and that it is fully in line with
both the missions of our university and of the Balzan Foundation. Thirty research
institutes, twenty two-year Masters’ programmes, and many hundreds of university
students – these are just some of the figures reflecting how young and dynamic our
academic universe is. It brings together very different people from varying national
and social backgrounds and reconciles topics as far apart as the study of financial
systems and that of mass media. Here, our students find a very fertile ground promot-
ing intellectual exchange and confrontation in dialectics. While promoting a multidis-
