Why We Matter: The Science Behind What Makes Life Meaningful

Our society has achieved extraordinary scientific insight, yet many feel that our lives don’t matter. Our scientific worldview confirms this belief, telling us we’re accidents in a meaningless universe. But as Tracy shows, this view is based on an overly materialist and reductionist view of science known as scientism, and it’s wrong. She offers a scientifically accurate and more hopeful vision, based on general systems theory — an approach to understanding the universe as an evolving and dynamic set of processes and relationships, rather than as a big box of material stuff. Delving into research insights from cognitive and ecological science, quantum physics, psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy, Tracy shows how systems theory addresses the failures of scientism and, at the same time, provides a way of seeing our place in the cosmos as filled with meaning. Human lives matter, she argues, because our existence allows the universe to awaken with consciousness.

Look for Why We Matter in winter 2027, everywhere books are sold (published by Beacon Press / Harper Collins Canada).