User:Fkt1/Jean Staune

Jean Staune is a Philosopher of Science, Researcher and Lecturer at Ecole polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He also teaches in the MBA program of HEC in Paris. He is the co. founder of the Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris (Interdisciplinary University of Paris - IUP) which over the years organized international conferences with the participation of numerous science Nobel Prize recipients. Specialist of the philosophical and sometimes metaphysical implications of some of Science's major discoveries, he also played an important role in the dialogue between Science and Religion. He is a member of the Board of the Templeton Foundation 3. His book "Notre existence a-t-elle un sens?" (Does our existence have meaning?) is a best seller while in his last book he rejects both Darwinism as the only mechanism of evolution at work and Intelligent Design, in favour of a structuralist approach of evolution 5. This position has brought him at the center of many heated debates. In parallel to his research and publications, he also gives numerous conferences, acts as a consultant and has been invited to present his work at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome and at Shandong University in China. His background includes degrees in computing, management and human paleontology. His subjects of research center on science, management, philosophy and religion.

Content
1 Philosophy of Science 2 Management teaching and consulting 3 Criticism of ultra-liberalism 4 Dialogue between science and spirituality 5 Involvement in Christianity 6 Dialogue between religions 7 Criticism of Darwinism as the only explanation of evolution 8 Interdisciplinary University of Paris 9 Publications 10 Debates and controversies 11 Notes

Philosophy of Science
The heart of Jean Staune's research is found in an analysis of the philosophical implications of the principal XXth century scientific discoveries (Big Bang theory, Quantum Physics, Gödel's Theorem, Chaos theory). According to him, such discoveries represent a fundamental change of the understanding of the world, such as occurred in the passage from the Middle Ages to Modernity; both have philosophical and metaphysical consequences, but also economical and societal.

Management teaching and consulting
Following the path of Margaret Wheatley in the United States and Ervin László in Hungary, Jean Staune developed bridges between science and management where he demonstrates that the principles of classical management (the scientific organization of work) are based on the reductionist, mechanistic and deterministic principles of classical physics. Science having since evolved and stated the limits of the validity of its core concepts, organisations must also apply new concepts which integrate uncertainty, promote networks, creativity and individual initiative. Treating management through the mediation of latest scientific discoveries, Jean Staune is a pioneer of the implications of latest scientific disoveries and the Philosophy of Science as applied to management. He has regularly lectured and been a consultant to French groups such as PSA, Thalès, L’Oreal, Auchan, EDF, GDF and for the association “The Progress of Management” (l’Association Progrès du Management).

Criticism of ultra-liberalism
Although Jean Staune rejects the alterglobalism movement as illusionary, he critizises ultra-liberalism at all cost. As an alternative, he proposes practices which come from within capitalism itself but allowed to evolve towards concepts such as fair trade, sustainable development, micro-credit, ethical investments and the ethical notation of companies.

Dialogue between Science and Spirituality
For Jean Staune numerous scientific discoveries have in themselves profound philosophical and metaphysical implications, regardless of any theological or religious presupposition. Relying on the work of scientists such as Bernard d'Espagnat (he postulates for a “non physical realism”, as consequence of experiences such as Quantum Physics's Nonlocality), Trinh Xuan Thuan (highlighting the “fine adjustment of the universe” which asks –without any answer- the question of a creative principle), Roger Penrose (who asserts that human spirit has a direct access to a platonic world of mathematical truths) and Benjamin Libet (on non-identity between neuronal and mental states), Jean Staune maintains that scientific progress provides a new credibility to  non-strictly materialistic views of the world and of mankind, which converge with some insights given by all the great religious traditions, monotheists or not. This view is at the heart of many heated debates and controversies, especially among scientists and philosophers who consider that science cannot be thought of as a materialistic epistemology (see “Intrusions spiritualistes en sciences" and "Les matérialistes et leurs détracteurs", under the direction of Jean Debussy and Guillaume Lecointre).

Involvement in Christianity
Baptised Orthodox, Jean Staune since converted himself to Catholicism. He contributed to the creation and development of the “Science, Technology and Ontological Quest” project, in association with the Pontifical Council of Culture and various pontifical universities. He also contributed to the development of the scientific aspect of the «Projet Nouveau Regard» created by Dom Gérard Lafond, 4th priest of the Benedictine Abbay of Wisques. He also spoke on the subject of «Science and faith» for the benedictine communities at the Monastery of Ganagobie, Kergonan, “Sainte Marie des 2 montagnes” and “Saint Benoît du Lac” (Canada), as well as for teenagers in classes of catchism. He is a member of the «Réseau Blaise Pascal» (Blaise Pascal Network), a group of French-speaking christians interested by the field of science and religion.

Dialogue between religions
Avoiding the «shock of civilisations» is for Jean Staune an essential goal; he involved himself deeply in programs about Islam (directed by Bruno Guiderdoni, astrophysicist at the CNRS), Orthodoxy (directed by Basarab Nicolescu, physicist at CNRS and Magda Stavinschi, Astronomist), while also organised some meetings in Buddhism. His present involvement is broading to Hinduism and Taoism by studying and lecturing in countries such as India and China.

Criticism of Darwinism as the only mechanism of Evolution
Jean Staune, proclaiming himself the heir of a French tradition of scepticism, extends it towards Darwin's theory of evolution as being the pinnacle of evolution's explanation. He questions darwinian mechanisms (initiated among others by the zoologist Pierre-Paul Grassé)and argues in writings and lectures for alternative or complementary theories to darwinism, inspired from a teleological or finalist vision, in some aspects close to the ideas of Teilhard de Chardin, zoologist Remy Chauvin or of the mathematician and geneticist Marcel-Paul Schützenberger of whom he was a close friend. He is particularly interested in Structuralism and mounting evidence for "pre-set" forms which are not, as stated by the Darwinian theory, expressed due to the principle of environmental pressure. The theories of Evolution he popularizes reject the darwinian idea of the adaptation to the environment, by way of natural selection, as being the principal mechanism of Evolution. He upholds the research of the paleontologist Anne Dambricourt-Malassé ("La Légende Maudite du Vingtième Siècle: L'Erreur darwinienne", "Homo sapiens. Une nouvelle histoire de l’homme"), of biologists Rosine Chandebois ("Pour en finir avec le Darwinisme. Une nouvelle logique du vivant") and Michael Denton ("L’Évolution a-t-elle un Sens?"). This militancy against darwinism as the final word on the important question of evolution, has brought him several critics coming from strong advocates of darwinism and scientific materialism, even causing some opponents to unjustifyingly call him a creationist (the idea according to which beings would have been created separately) or proponent of Intelligent Design. His numerous articles and books uphold with great strength the theory of Evolution (the fact that all beings have a common ancestor) and denounce creationnism.

Interdisciplinary University of Paris
Jean Staune is the co. founder and General Secretary of the interdisciplinary University of Paris (Université interdisciplinaire de Paris), which is a French Association de loi 1901 organizing conferences and international symposiums on scientific subjects (one of its major events was the organisation in 1999 of the celebration of the 100 year birthday of the Nobel Prize, in co.organisation with UNESCO and the French presidency, titled "Science and Humanism") while providing cycles of evening courses on various scientific subjects.

Books
• Jean Staune, Notre existence a-t-elle un sens ? Une enquête scientifique et philosophique, Presse de la Renaissance, 2007 • Jean Staune (dir.), Science et quête de sens, Presse de la Renaissance, 2005 Texts of Christian de Duve, Trinh Xuan Thuan, Bernard d'Espagnat, Charles Townes, Ahmed Zewail, William Phillips, Jean Kovalevsky and others. • Jean Staune (dir.), L'Homme face à la science, Criterion, 1992 . Texts of Hubert Reeves, Ilya Prigogine, René Lenoir, Jacques Arsac and others.

Débates and controversies
•André Comte-Sponville – Jean Staune : is science going to refute atheism ? [archive] • [http://www.automatesintelligents.com/echanges/2007/juin/staune.html About the book : « Notre existence a-t-elle un sens ? » a philosophical and scientific inquiry] [archive] • Guillaume Lecointre answers to UIP's accusations