John Templeton Foundation :: Milestones [December 2006]

In the last month or so visitors to the John Templeton Foundation’s redesigned website have been greeted by a new dictum: “Supporting Science. Investing in the Big Questions.”

This phrase takes its inspiration from the mission statement, which states that the purpose of the John Templeton Foundation is to “serve as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life’s biggest questions. These questions range from explorations into the laws of nature and the universe to questions on the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness, and creativity. ”

In a scientific culture that thrives on reducing large problems to their most essential elements there is something refreshingly contrarian about the Templeton Foundation’s continued focus on the “Big Questions.” Thanks to the relentless power of scientific reductionism we now know more about quantum physics, genetics, and the inner workings of the brain than ever before. By breaking big problems into ever smaller chunks science has made breathtaking progress.

Even as we burrow down, each fresh discovery revealing another corner to turn, a real challenge remains: what do all of these advancements tell us about the big questions? Properly defined a “Big Question” is one that defies easy answer and often includes queries that have been with us, in one form or another, since the invention of the question mark: Do we have free will? What does it mean to be human? Was there a beginning of time? Does the universe have a purpose?

In recent months, trustees, advisors and senior staff developed a list of 30 “Big Questions” that could be used to describe the research, sponsored by the Foundation, being conducted by scientists, scholars and thinkers around the world.

In the course of these many conversations an interesting corollary revealed itself: as soon as a “Big Question” was formulated another question—sometimes two—popped up behind it. Take for instance the question, “Is there a formula for happiness?” This happens to be a topic JTF grantee, Dr. Martin Seligman, can address based on his current research. But as soon as that question is formulated, it leads to a question posed by Aristotle: “What does it mean to lead a good life?” and from there, like tracing lines on a spider web, to the subject of Dr. Stephen Post’s forthcoming book, “do good things happen to good people?”

Upon closer inspection, this spider web of “Big Questions,” like the universe itself, expands at the edges. As famed designer and architect Charles Eames once observed, “Eventually, everything connects.” Try it yourself. Take a moment to think of the biggest possible question you can imagine. Then think about the questions that support your original concept. See what happens?

But why is the Foundation describing itself in the context of “Big Questions” in the first place? Why focus on questions, inquiry in fact, in this fashion? Two reasons. One, by drawing a circle around the “Big Questions,” the Foundation can explain its work in a more visible way to the constituencies it cares about most: scientists, scholars, and other influential minds. As Charles Harper, senior vice president explains, “Sir John’s vision for the Foundation has always been for it to be a catalyst for great research. And great research requires great questions. In science it is often recognized that one of the most important secrets to creativity is to pose the right questions. Our mission is to fund research on deep questions that would not otherwise be pursued in specific scientific fields.”

Second, the John Templeton Foundation has been carrying out high-level inquiry into “Big Questions” for the past 20 years –in 2007 the Foundation will celebrate its 20th anniversary—but until now never called it out in such succinct fashion. The intention is for the “Big Questions” to highlight to others in the field of philanthropy, members of the media, and the wider culture the Templeton Foundation’s commitment to open minded inquiry using rigorous scientific research and related scholarship, as embodied by Sir John’s motto “How little we know, how eager to learn.”

Whether a question is labeled “Big,” “Really Big,” or even “Intergalactic” in scale is beside the point. The compelling opportunity here is that the ancient act of asking a question instantly delivers us to the edge of human knowledge, while gently taunting us to step into the unknown. This is a worthy task for any thinking person, but an especially fascinating one for a philanthropic institution at the start of a new century that is demanding our very best questions, matched, as ever, like spoke to wheel, with our brightest thinkers.

Rodes Fishburne is a writer and Templeton Fellow. He is the former editor of Forbes ASAP’s “Big Issue.”

Asking The Big Questions

Frequently, asking big questions, leads to the publication of important findings, for example:

Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?
Neuropsychologist Warren Brown and philosopher Nancey Murphy tackle this question in a book, by the same title, to be published next year by Oxford University Press. Applying scientific and philosophical tools, they address core questions around mind/body distinctions, human freedom and morality.
www.templeton.org/funding_areas/core_themes/freedom_and_free_will/10775.html

What Makes Us Human?
Building on a series of conferences at Stanford University, William Hurlbut, a current member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, is editing a collection of essays from the life sciences, social sciences and humanities focused on the question of becoming human for publication in 2008.
www.templeton.org/funding_areas/core_themes/emergence/10649.html

What is infinity?
Mathematicians, scientists, philosophers and theologians from Europe and North America grappled with this question over the summer in the Republic of San Marino. Their preliminary answers are in preparation for publication.
www.ctns.org/infinity/

If you have an idea for a “Big Question” please send it to:
bigquestions@templeton.org

To subscribe to any of the Foundation’s various free e-mail newsletters, including Milestones, go to our JTF Newsletter Subscriptions page.

What is a “Big Question”?

Advancing visibility for the Foundation’s philanthropy

Asking The Big Questions