Richard L. Thompson Reading Group I

Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science

The Richard L. Thompson Book Club Reading Group inaugurated this series to help facilitate the study of Richard L. Thompson (Sadaputa dasa, 1947-2008) works with hybrid (online/in-person) events hosted at the BIHS library in Gainesville, FL, on February 4, 2023 (Sadaputa’s birthday!), 11 AM to 1 PM EST. Special guest speakers included Hrdayananda Das Goswami, Jayadvaita Swami, and Badrinarayan Swami. 

Six of Thompson’s books will be covered chapter by chapter with a lecture summarizing the contents and highlighting the chapter’s essential messages, followed by a discussion session. The series began with an introduction to his first book, Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science: An Investigation Into the Nature of Consciousness and Form (1981), by BIHS Director Brahmatirtha dasa. In this publication, Thompson discusses how the mechanistic theories dominating modern science have difficulty explaining phenomena like consciousness, complex biological form, and inspiration, and how these disparate phenomena could be unified through engaging the non-mechanistic analytical paradigms offered in the Bhagavad-gītā.

This work makes a sober, thorough, carefully reasoned, and well-documented case that the prevailing theories of physics and biology have grave shortcomings which can be traced to their reliance on an underlying mechanistic framework. Dr. Thompson shows how physics is incapable of dealing with the phenomenon of consciousness and how biology is unable to account for the existence of complex living forms. Arguing that valid scientific theory does not have to be mechanistic, Dr. Thompson outlines a nonmechanistic science that would complement mechanistic science and round out the human quest for understanding.

Schedule for Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science

All dates are 2023
February 4   MNS Introduction – Bob Cohen (Brahmatirtha)
February 18   Ch 1. Searching Past the Mechanics of Perception – Purushottam Goel (Parama Karuna)
March 18   Ch 2. Thinking Machines and Psychophysical Parallelism – Partha Biswas (Parama Rupa)
August 12   Ch 3. Dialogue on Consciousness and the Quantum – Vasyl Semenov (Dvija Govinda)
August 26   Ch 4. Karl Popper on the Mind-Body Problem: A Review – Prishni Suitton
September 9   Ch 5. Information Theory and the Self-organization of Matter – Vasyl Semenov (Dvija Govinda)
September 23   Ch 6. Chance and the Unity of Nature – Krishna Narasimhan (Narasimhadeva)
October 7   Ch 7. On Inspiration – Christopher Beetle (Krishna Kripa Das)
October 21   Ch 8. The Doctrine of Evolution – S. E. Kreitzer (Sthita-dhi-muni)
November 4   Ch 9. The Epistemology of Transcendental Consciousness – Christina & Tamra

 

Upcoming

Five more of Thompson’s books will be included in the Lecture Series, in chronological order:

  • Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy (1989)
  • Parallels [Alien Identities]: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena (1993)
  • Mysteries of the Sacred Universe: The Cosmology of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (2000)
  • Maya: The World As Virtual Reality (2003)
  • God & Science: Divine Causation and the Laws of Nature (2004)