Why Middle-Sized Matters to Science and Religion
Editorial
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.014Keywords
hylomorphism, top-down causation, causal pluralism, ontological pluralism, middle-sized objects, science and religionAbstract
This special issue explores both the metaphysical and theological significance of “middle-sized things” — everyday objects, persons, and sacraments — in light of developments in contemporary science and philosophy. Against prevailing neo-Humean and microphysicalist backdrops, where only microphysical entities are taken as fundamental, contributors interrogate the ontological reality and causal powers of the macroscopic domain through engagements with quantum physics, biology, the metaphysics of substance, and sacramental theology. Essays range from arguments for Aristotelian hylomorphism and critiques of reductionism to narrative theories of identity and teleological accounts of divine action. Together, they examine whether middle-sized entities can be causally efficacious, metaphysically basic, and theologically significant.
References
Halvorson, Hans. 2025. “Fundamental Physics and Middle-Sized Dry Goods.” Scientia et Fides 13 (2): 25–47. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.015.
Koons, Robert, William M. R. Simpson, Barbara Drossel, and George Ellis. 2025. “The Two Faces of Semi-Physicalism: a Response to Hans Halvorson.” Scientia et Fides 13 (2): 49–76. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.016.
Qureshi-Hurst, Emily. 2025. “Many Worlds and Narratives of Personal Identity.” Scientia et Fides 13 (2): 77–103. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.017.
Rooney, James Dominic. 2025. “Hylomorphism and Persons in Odd Situations.” Scientia et Fides 13 (2): 105–131. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.018.
Breidenbach, Janice Chik, and Daniel Sadasivan. 2025. “Quantum Action and Substance Causation.” Scientia et Fides 13 (2): 135–161. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.019.
Robinson, Howard 2025. “Middle-sized Objects, Hylomorphism, and Transubstantiation.” Scientia et Fides 13 (2): 163–180. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.020.
Koons, Robert. 2025. “Staunch Transubstantiation and the Metaphysics of Middle-Sized Things.” Scientia et Fides 13 (2): 181–194. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2025.021.
Simpson, William M. R. 2023. Hylomorphism. Cambridge University Press.
Voosholz, Jan, and Markus Gabriel, eds. 2021. Top-Down Causation and Emergence. Synthese Library, Springer Cham.
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