{"id":660,"date":"2024-12-19T14:41:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T19:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/?page_id=660"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:29:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:29:03","slug":"the-first-incarnation-hope-in-reality","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/the-first-incarnation-hope-in-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Incarnation: Hope in Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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The First Incarnation: Hope in Reality<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The First Incarnation: Hope in Reality
\n<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert E. Ulanowicz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Xulon Press
\n2023\/149pp.
\nPaper $15.99\/ISBN 13: 978-1-66289-513-5<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In The First Incarnation, Ulanowicz is proposing that the very framework of theory in science is in need of adjustment. As an ecosystem theorist, he perceives the origins of causality as residing not only in the microscopic physical realm, but across all scales of reality. He cites reputable physicists as to how the fundamental laws of force, although never broken, can only constrain, but not always determine outcomes in variegated, complex systems. As an ecologist, he emphasizes the importance of processes, which constitute the web of relationships among ecosystem components.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Despite such a radical outlook, the author is no iconoclast. He expects continuing contributions to be made by physicists and geneticists, but stresses the need to import process thinking to supplement the prevailing image of \u201cobjects moving according to universal laws\u201d. As a pioneer in the practice of ecosystem network analysis, he guides the reader through a description of phenomena that characterize \u201chow systems are put together\u201d. Along the way he describes behaviors and characteristics of systems that fall beyond conventional physics. In so doing, he begins connecting science with the humanities; melding objective and subjective descriptions of the world; and crossing the trenches that often separate science from religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Paramount in his narrative is how configurations of mutual beneficence can facilitate the selection of contingent events that are able to improve the system that incorporates them. Such \u201cchoice\u201d, or filtering, constitutes the kernel of the process of \u201cagency\u201d, and he posits that precursors of such agency have been active throughout the evolution of the cosmos since its inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Important in Ulanowicz\u2019s treatment of ecological networks is the theory of information, which began by quantifying the absence of knowledge. This formalism allows system dynamics to be viewed as a dialectic between ordering constraints and the lack thereof. Such a Yin-Yan tension in fundamental dynamics has been called, by translators of an author\u2019s earlier book into Chinese, \u201ca bridge\u201d between Asian and Western worldviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Looser control of living systems by physical laws affects any number of philosophical and religious tenets. It bears upon contemporary issues, such as the existence of free will, the possibility of Divine intervention, the efficacy of intercessory prayer, and the necessity of theodicy for evolution. It even challenges some of what one theologian has described as an \u201contology of despair\u201d, like the purported meaningless \u201cheat death\u201d of the cosmos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

At its core, the thesis of this book rests upon the process of love. In addition to the eternal essences of Thomism, the author encourages a supplementary consideration of the Franciscan emphasis on love. In particular, he highlights St. Bonaventure\u2019s remarkable proposition that \u201cthe love shared among the Persons of the Holy Trinity is the origin of all events in the Universe.\u201d Seeing as how mutual beneficence lies at the kernel of the author\u2019s description of agency, it is not much of a reach to envision the agency of the Trinity (The Word) as the prototype of all action. It is as if God gifted God\u2019s own image at the inception of all Creation\u2014the First Incarnation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

To order The First Incarnation<\/i>, press here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1360,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-660","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":666,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/660\/revisions\/666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ulan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}