Abstract

This short article summarizes and extends the panel discussion that followed the Boyle Lecture 2021 by Tom McLeish. The panel largely accepted the central claims of the lecture and focused rather on its implications. That included the importance of teaching history and philosophy of science alongside science itself, and the importance of finding helpful and appropriate ways of engaging the public in the scientific process. There was considerable discussion of the place of meditative and contemplative practices in science. It seems that intuition and imagination play an important role in scientific discovery, if not in more formal theorizing, and are close to contemplative experience. Emphasizing that aspect of science might lead to a refocusing of natural theology, focusing more on scientific processes than on scientific findings.