Yet is the Enlightenment belief ''that entirely on our own we can know, and in knowing, understand, and in understanding, choose wisely,'' he insists. If life is truly ''a miracle,'' then our best efforts will come to naught. Rationality and will are powerless in the face of miracles. This much is certain. Without yet, science is impossible.
Science works on the border between the known and the unknown, pushing back the tide of mystery.
In all of this, Wilson is on indisputable ground. And yet, Berry is right, too. The greatest questions of art, literature and religion so far stand undiminished by the astonishing progress of science, and it's hard to imagine how and when it might be otherwise. Chet Raymo is a professor of physics at Stonehill College and the author of several books on science.