Transzendenz in der Wissenschaft

Transcendence and science – in everyday speech the two terms signify a clear contradiction. In this book, however, they are set in a new relation. From a historical perspective, transcendence has not only been applied to theological, but also to epistemological questions. Transcendence refers to boundaries between everything that lies within the realm of actual experience, actual availability, and everything that lies
outside of this realm. Meanwhile, scientific work can be studied as a practice that is trying to shift these boundaries. The question then is, what remains outside human availability even in this process of scientific work. The book analyzes this question by looking at two stem cell research laboratories, one located in Germany and one in the United States. The results imply that even in this highly dynamic field, there are boundaries of making things available. For content-related technical or for moral-ethical reasons, specific cosmological concepts remain outside of human availability in both laboratories. The book opens up new perspectives far beyond the debates about the relationship between science and religion.