Welcome to ID the Future, a podcast about intelligent design and evolution.

For ID the future, I'm David Klinghoffer. I have with me Dr. Ann Gager,

who is the director of science communication

for the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute,

and a biologist, and a friend.

Anne recently made a transition to a new home in Iowa. She moved from the Seattle area to

Iowa. How is it out there, Ann? It's colder than in Seattle, but I find it quite friendly. The people here are very kind and welcoming and the weather is not intimidating. It's mild and compared to what some people led me to expect.

Okay, well we are going to talk about a really lovely essay that you wrote that appeared

at evolutionnews.org entitled, The Trans transcendental treasury of truth, beauty, and goodness.

And a Dr. Gager as I mentioned as a biologist, but I also like to think that she has the soul of an artist or perhaps a philosopher.

Oh, thank you, David.

Sure, and brings, I think, an unusual sensitivity to considerations of what might otherwise be dry science.

So we're going to talk about this article and you can find it at evolution news.org but you

discuss three what you call transcendentals truth beauty and goodness first

all what is a transcendental? It's a particular idea that is not material, but is a value that we hold pretty universally.

People around the world recognize beauty and truth

and goodness, although the particular versions they take may differ from culture to culture,

but they're abstract concepts that really don't derive from the material world per se.

It's hard to put into words but they are essential to our life in the sense that we all need to be surrounded by truth, beauty, and

goodness and we thrive best when they're in our lives.

And we feel impoverished strangely without them, don't we?

Yes, I say in the essay that they are the foundations on which a life worth living is built.

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