Coincidence or Guardian Angel?
And for the record, personal anecdotes do not count as empirical evidence in science. You can't use empiricism and empirical method interchangeably, in the same vein that you can't use "democratic" and "election" interchangeably.
You stil don't get my argument do you.
A better question, for me, is to wonder why ontological naturalism tries so hard to make those apparently 'non-physical' subjects such as thought, and mind, and social behaviours, for example, be physical, or correspond to physical entitites, in the first place? Has methodological naturalism been so successful in providing explanations that correlate so well to what we observe that the non-physicalists have had no choice but to try to accomodate it? To try to own it and change it to accomodate their theories?
Why do some theists try so hard to redefine methdological naturalism to be more about a natural methodology than an application of a naturalistic philosophy? Once again, they're trying to retain and shoehorn in their own beliefs, beliefs that can't be proven to be true, against a philosophy and method that has been devastatingly effective in providing explanations and has replaced many of theirs.
It's my strong opinon that there is an ongoing battle going on between these two paradigms and that eventually, given it's already monumental successes, methodological naturalism (purely as an application of philosophical naturalism) will 'win' out and become the only method by which we can claim knowledge that we term 'scientific' and the two paradigms will be openly, mutually exclusive. No further efforts will be made to subsume it into a more generous paradigm that allows for the supernatural to exist.
A better question, for me, is to wonder why ontological naturalism tries so hard to make those apparently 'non-physical' subjects such as thought, and mind, and social behaviours, for example, be physical, or correspond to physical entitites, in the first place? Has methodological naturalism been so successful in providing explanations that correlate so well to what we observe that the non-physicalists have had no choice but to try to accomodate it? To try to own it and change it to accomodate their theories?
Why do some theists try so hard to redefine methdological naturalism to be more about a natural methodology than an application of a naturalistic philosophy? Once again, they're trying to retain and shoehorn in their own beliefs, beliefs that can't be proven to be true, against a philosophy and method that has been devastatingly effective in providing explanations and has replaced many of theirs.
It's my strong opinon that there is an ongoing battle going on between these two paradigms and that eventually, given it's already monumental successes, methodological naturalism (purely as an application of philosophical naturalism) will 'win' out and become the only method by which we can claim knowledge that we term 'scientific' and the two paradigms will be openly, mutually exclusive. No further efforts will be made to subsume it into a more generous paradigm that allows for the supernatural to exist.
Do a google search for methodological naturalism and what you'll find plastered over your search results is theological blogs, rationalwiki and religious websites. Do a google scholar search and what you'll find is philosophical and theological essays.
Do a google search for empirical method on the other hand and you'll find encyclopedias, reputable science websites and wikipedia links. Do a google scholar search for empirical method and you'll find actual scientific articles.
MN in the layman world is a buzzword for theological quarrels, MN in the academic word is a philosophical and theological subject of very little consequence for the practical application of science.
MN is dead because it isn't needed. All MN does is wrap your hypothesis in the statement "for the purposes of this model, we will assume no supernatural force influences experiment or observation". There is no need to do that, any more than you need to say "for the purposes of this experiment we will assume invisible gnomes didn't rig the result".
Well, it's ironic in the same sense that driving to work while wearing shoes is ironic. I.e. not at all.
And for the record, personal anecdotes do not count as empirical evidence in science. You can't use empiricism and empirical method interchangeably, in the same vein that you can't use "democratic" and "election" interchangeably.
And for the record, personal anecdotes do not count as empirical evidence in science. You can't use empiricism and empirical method interchangeably, in the same vein that you can't use "democratic" and "election" interchangeably.
Successful? The leading empiricist thinkers of the 20th century argued that methodological naturalism was not defensible in testing scientific hypotheses and scrapped it.
Do a google search for methodological naturalism and what you'll find plastered over your search results is theological blogs, rationalwiki and religious websites. Do a google scholar search and what you'll find is philosophical and theological essays.
Do a google search for empirical method on the other hand and you'll find encyclopedias, reputable science websites and wikipedia links. Do a google scholar search for empirical method and you'll find actual scientific articles.
MN in the layman world is a buzzword for theological quarrels, MN in the academic word is a philosophical and theological subject of very little consequence for the practical application of science.
MN is dead because it isn't needed. All MN does is wrap your hypothesis in the statement "for the purposes of this model, we will assume no supernatural force influences experiment or observation". There is no need to do that, any more than you need to say "for the purposes of this experiment we will assume invisible gnomes didn't rig the result".
So I started what I'd hoped would be a fun thread but it turns out that I happened to pick a forum where only one person mentioned an interesting coincidence and I'd bet good money that there'd be plenty if I'd only picked a different forum out of all of these. What a coincidence!
Tell me there is no God.
Tell me there is no God.
The bolded is false. Your view seems to be something like this:
1) The scientific paradigm says that there is no supernatural objects or causation.
2) The theistic paradigm says that there is supernatural objects or causation.
These claims are mutually exclusive. However, (1) is false, as you yourself acknowledged when you said that science doesn't disprove the existence of God. If it doesn't disprove God, then it doesn't say that God doesn't exist.
1) The scientific paradigm says that there is no supernatural objects or causation.
2) The theistic paradigm says that there is supernatural objects or causation.
These claims are mutually exclusive. However, (1) is false, as you yourself acknowledged when you said that science doesn't disprove the existence of God. If it doesn't disprove God, then it doesn't say that God doesn't exist.
Let me give you an illustration. Lawyers use explicit rules of evidence in the courtroom. Some forms of evidence are barred. However, lawyers do not use these same rules of evidence when, for instance, deciding whether to punish their children for misbehaving. Does that mean these rules are in conflict? No. It just means that the legal rules have a specific provenance and do not cover every aspect of life. Similarly, the rules of evidence in science are not assumed to apply to all aspects of life either. Perhaps some people do make this assumption. Fine, good for them. But it is not an implication or requirement of accepting the scientific method as the best way to investigate the natural world that you have to also accept it as the best or only way to investigate moral or spiritual aspects of life as well.
And I will continue to argue that we can't apply both paradigms simultaneously, our belief system wouldn't be coherent. Just as that parent/lawyer can't apply both sets of rules simultaneously with their child.
I dont think YOU understand what the word law is doing. There is no law floating around making atoms behave the way they do. We observe the behaviour, and deduce rules, or laws about how they behave.
Again, laws of physics dont exist as a thing, or a force, or a phenomena or whatever, for matter to follow. What we call laws are simply patterns we have observed.
Again, laws of physics dont exist as a thing, or a force, or a phenomena or whatever, for matter to follow. What we call laws are simply patterns we have observed.
This doesnt hold together logically, but I cant work out why.
1) the laws of physics exist ( which I dispute, depending on your definition of law)
2) the laws of physics only speak of the natural world
3) if the supernatural world exists, the laws of physics are incomplete, because they wouldnt define the supernatural world(??? doesnt follow as far as I can see, especially as you have specifically stated (2))
therefore
C) the supernatural world(god) cant exist if the laws of physics exist.
Theres something very dodgy going on here, but I cant work out what.
Would it be possible for a god to set up a universe such that it behaved exactly as ours does? If so, would it be possible for scientists to deduce the laws of physics in that universe?
1) the laws of physics exist ( which I dispute, depending on your definition of law)
2) the laws of physics only speak of the natural world
3) if the supernatural world exists, the laws of physics are incomplete, because they wouldnt define the supernatural world(??? doesnt follow as far as I can see, especially as you have specifically stated (2))
therefore
C) the supernatural world(god) cant exist if the laws of physics exist.
Theres something very dodgy going on here, but I cant work out what.
Would it be possible for a god to set up a universe such that it behaved exactly as ours does? If so, would it be possible for scientists to deduce the laws of physics in that universe?
Since god is by definition supernatural (backed up by references in the bible to his spirit, non-physical nature), then he is simply ruled out by Physics and the laws of physics can only apply if you rule him out. But, that doesn't mean that he doesn't exist.
I believe in the importance of using empirical evidence to support scientific claims, but that does not necessarily make me an empiricist.
Also, show me a car that doesn't have doors. That proves that the definition of a car is that it has doors.
Note that I'm using the word 'valid' now, in the sceintific context, to rule out string 'theory' et al, since we dont know yet whether or not they actually explain anything.
But... this issue of the criteria is seperate from the issue of which version of MN we apply
whether or not we try to include supernatural or non-physical elements.
The naturalistic paradigm, used by the majority of scientists, makes claim 1).
But naturalistic science can't disprove the existence of something that it discounts in order to be applicable in the first place, it's why naturalistic science can't and never will be able to make any kind of claim about a spiritual god. If science could prove naturalistic god exists, it would only be because he exists in the physical, material universe, detectable with our senses, and would therefore not be the spirit, non-physical god described in the bible. So proving his existence would simultaneously disprove his existence as it's generally understood...
Ironic.
And I will continue to argue that we can't apply both paradigms simultaneously, our belief system wouldn't be coherent. Just as that parent/lawyer can't apply both sets of rules simultaneously with their child.
There's no need to apologize. I took a flyer thinking that this forum might like a fun thread, that's all. And, besides, it's a hit anyway!
This is what passes for fun for us! Serious is the new fun.
Have at it, then! May this thread last forever.
Sure, I agree, and I haven't said otherwise. I have in fact said that science makes no claim to absolute knowledge. I've also said that it's not the only way to acquire and understand knowledge. I think I'm being mistaken for someone who thinsk science is the only way to do this and thinks it's infallibale. I don't, but I do think it's highly effective.
No, in fact I struggle to find one single credible source that contains all the criteria conveniently listed for me in one place. I do find them partially (but overall comprehensively) listed repeatedly in multiple places though. But... this issue of the criteria is seperate from the issue of which version of MN we apply, whether or not we try to include supernatural or non-physical elements. Interestingly, if you apply the criteria, you soon realise that you can't include the supernatural, because it meets none of them.
The naturalistic paradigm, used by the majority of scientists, makes claim 1). Others try to do it differently. But naturalistic science can't disprove the existence of something that it discounts in order to be applicable in the first place, it's why naturalistic science can't and never will be able to make any kind of claim about a spiritual god. If science could prove naturalistic god exists, it would only be because he exists in the physical, material universe, detectable with our senses, and would therefore not be the spirit, non-physical god described in the bible. So proving his existence would simultaneously disprove his existence as it's generally understood... Ironic.
Yes, it means that they're in conflict if you tried to use them in a court of law, the court wouldn't accept that, it rules out certain types of evidence in exactly the same way that the naturalistic paradigm rules out non-natural types of evidence/explanations. But again, you don't seem to understand that I understand that naturalistic science is very specific context, just as a court of law is, where rules are applied that may not be applied, and may not be relevant, in other arenas. It's simply one of many paradigms used for for the acquisition and understanding of knowledge (as I said before). But, it has been highly effective, has it not? I might not go so far as to claim it as 'the best', but I'm certainly a huge fan....
And I will continue to argue that we can't apply both paradigms simultaneously, our belief system wouldn't be coherent. Just as that parent/lawyer can't apply both sets of rules simultaneously with their child.
And I will continue to argue that we can't apply both paradigms simultaneously, our belief system wouldn't be coherent. Just as that parent/lawyer can't apply both sets of rules simultaneously with their child.
Conflating empiricism with empirical science like you continue to do is bad form and shows a poor understanding of the underlying matter. Science is mostly about method, the practical application of underlying epistemology. This doesn't necessitate personal acceptance of the underlying philosophy, only that you for the purpose of given research assume it. You won't be fired from your research job in a bio-lab because you are a rationalist. I suspect you'd merely be the most popular person to debate with over lunch.
As I've repeatedly said before, something scientific must be empirical, but something can be empirical without being scientific, you're proving nothing here. Name a current major scientifically valid theory that doesn't meet the criteria I've listed, name just one that includes some supernatural element and you'll have disproved my argument. Note that I'm using the word 'valid' now, in the sceintific context, to rule out string 'theory' et al, since we dont know yet whether or not they actually explain anything.
When I was about 14 we went to my grandparents' house. My grandfather had a pellet gun in a little alcove at the top of the stairs. He'd sit in a chair at the window and shoot squirrels that came to eat the squash -or some other grandparenty vegetable - he'd planted. (We went there often, but the pellet gun sniper blind was a new development, so I was unfamiliar with it and we were super pacifist religious so I'd never touched any kind of gun before.)
I picked up the gun and started blasting pretend varmints through the window. My little sister came into the alcove and stood maybe 8 feet away, smiling with her hands up in a "don't shoot" posture. Assuming the gun was unloaded, I aimed it at her forehead and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Then I set the gun down, and as I did, it shot a pellet into the ceiling. I was religious at the time and attributed it to Divine Intervention.
I picked up the gun and started blasting pretend varmints through the window. My little sister came into the alcove and stood maybe 8 feet away, smiling with her hands up in a "don't shoot" posture. Assuming the gun was unloaded, I aimed it at her forehead and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Then I set the gun down, and as I did, it shot a pellet into the ceiling. I was religious at the time and attributed it to Divine Intervention.
Oh, oh! I just remembered this one which is straight out of the movies:
Since I was re-habbing/managing low income housing in the West Bronx I got visited by every law enforcement agency there is. Even the FBI got boring and I eventually threw their business cards away but kept the one from the only visit by the Secret Service.
Anyway, one day a detective shows up and I asked him if he wanted a drink to which he replied 'I'm on duty and, besides, I only drink Hennessy.' Guess what was the only alcohol I had on the premises. So I whipped open my desk drawer, pulled out the bottle of Hennessy, and we both had a drink.
Tell me there is no God.
Since I was re-habbing/managing low income housing in the West Bronx I got visited by every law enforcement agency there is. Even the FBI got boring and I eventually threw their business cards away but kept the one from the only visit by the Secret Service.
Anyway, one day a detective shows up and I asked him if he wanted a drink to which he replied 'I'm on duty and, besides, I only drink Hennessy.' Guess what was the only alcohol I had on the premises. So I whipped open my desk drawer, pulled out the bottle of Hennessy, and we both had a drink.
Tell me there is no God.
I'm confused. You said, "a scientist adhering to methodological naturalism as philosophical method can rule out magic." I disputed this claim, saying that while scientists can point out that magic explanations aren't testable, they can't really rule them out. Are you now agreeing with me that scientists can't rule them out? If so, then on what basis are you claiming that the scientific method is mutually exclusive with a belief in magic?
You are introducing a new term here, the "naturalistic paradigm." Maybe you are right that the majority of scientists use this, but my interest was in what you were calling the "scientific paradigm." My claim is that this paradigm doesn't say that there is no supernatural objects or causation. Instead, it is agnostic about the supernatural since supernatural claims are usually not testable.
I would disgree that "supernatural claims are usually not testable", they're never testable nor do they meet any of the other criteria.
(Assuming that by 'testable' we mean that by testing it must be possible to prove that the hypothesis is true, it must be possible to prove that the hypothesis is false, it must be possible to reproduce the results of the hypothesis.)
You claimed that the scientific method was mutually exclusive with theism. I took this to mean that you thought that they were in conflict or contradictory. But maybe you just mean that scientists can't test supernatural claims when they are doing science. Is that all you mean? I don't say that parental rules are "mutually exclusive" with being a lawyer just because I wouldn't use them in a courtroom. But maybe you do?
So, a scientist that applies some verion of MN that includes the supernatural isn't living with contradictory rules, but the theistic paradigm and the version of MN that rules out the supernatural are mutually exclusive.
Conflating empiricism with empirical science like you continue to do is bad form and shows a poor understanding of the underlying matter. Science is mostly about method, the practical application of underlying epistemology. This doesn't necessitate personal acceptance of the underlying philosophy, only that you for the purpose of given research assume it. You won't be fired from your research job in a bio-lab because you are a rationalist. I suspect you'd merely be the most popular person to debate with over lunch.
You just agreed with me.
Empirical science is not methodological naturalism. As has been pointed out to you about a dozen times, Karl Popper rejected methodological naturalism. And he is the chief architect who refined modern day empirical method. His name and work is is taught in pretty much any entry level textbook worth its salt on empirical method in universities worldwide. That alone is should be more than adequate to explain why methodological naturalism is not a necessary component of neither science nor empirical science. MN is a sidenote, perhaps an interesting 5-minute debate in the hallway, but completely uninteresting in a scientific paper. Empirical method on the other hand, is what an empirical scientist actually employs in his work.
That's not a good example. The question is one of why those electrons are moving, is god doing it? In the naturalistic paradigm, that's not a relevant question because no supernatural explanations are considered. Whatever is causing those electrons to move has a natural explanation.
I'm trying to be more specific and clear in my terminology by differentiating the scientific paradigm that I consider to be scientific (that is based on the strict application of the naturalistic paradigm), from forms of science that try to include non-natural phenomena. A form of science using methodological naturalism that accepts supernatural explanations is in my view not scientific in the truest, and it's completely useless, we might as well stick to trying to figure out god's 'mysterious ways' and use him to fill the gaps. But yes, you could label what I'm describing as an 'agnostic' method.
I don't agree, because this would imply that there could actually be other explanations for things and science has just chosen not to consider them. It would be biased and incomplete. In that case, how could we ever have any confidence in scientific explanations? Gravity has been explained using entirely natural concepts (i.e. Physical, non-supernatural) but how do you agree with, or accept that explanation if you also believe in the supernatural and think that science simply didn't consider a supernatural explanation for Gravity?
Science works precisely because it assumes that the Natural world is all that there is.
Science works precisely because it assumes that the Natural world is all that there is.
scientific method that accepts the supernatural as a possible explanation is no more Useful any other method, including the theistic paradigm. What has made science so effective in providing explanations is that it operates from that different set of rules. All the major scientific theories are based on them.
That's not a good example. The question is one of why those electrons are moving, is god doing it? In the naturalistic paradigm, that's not a relevant question because no supernatural explanations are considered. Whatever is causing those electrons to move has a natural explanation.
Science cant answer the fundamental "why", either. It can say electricity is electrons moving, then it can say they are moving because of electric charge, then they can say things have electric charge because sub atomic particles have electric charge, then they can say that sub atomic particles have electric charge because quarks have different properties. But they cant say why quarks have different properties ( or if they can, it just pushes the question one level deeper, to where they cant answer why)
Religious scientists do not ask "is god doing it"
I justify it by what causes it to be different from non-naturalistic scientific thinking. A scientific method that accepts the supernatural as a possible explanation is no more Useful any other method, including the theistic paradigm. What has made science so effective in providing explanations is that it operates from that different set of rules. All the major scientific theories are based on them.
I'm trying to be more specific and clear in my terminology by differentiating the scientific paradigm that I consider to be scientific (that is based on the strict application of the naturalistic paradigm), from forms of science that try to include non-natural phenomena. A form of science using methodological naturalism that accepts supernatural explanations is in my view not scientific in the truest, and it's completely useless, we might as well stick to trying to figure out god's 'mysterious ways' and use him to fill the gaps. But yes, you could label what I'm describing as an 'agnostic' method.
I would disgree that "supernatural claims are usually not testable", they're never testable nor do they meet any of the other criteria.
(Assuming that by 'testable' we mean that by testing it must be possible to prove that the hypothesis is true, it must be possible to prove that the hypothesis is false, it must be possible to reproduce the results of the hypothesis.)
(Assuming that by 'testable' we mean that by testing it must be possible to prove that the hypothesis is true, it must be possible to prove that the hypothesis is false, it must be possible to reproduce the results of the hypothesis.)
So, a scientist that applies some verion of MN that includes the supernatural isn't living with contradictory rules, but the theistic paradigm and the version of MN that rules out the supernatural are mutually exclusive.
I never said that it implies "personal acceptance of the underlying philosophy" but by saying that you're implicitly accepting what I've been saying all along, that there can be a contradiction between a scientific method and the personal beliefs of the scientist and that the contradiction exists because those two things are mutually exclusive. A rationalist will never accept that certainty of knowledge can be gained from the application of a methodology based entirely on what knowledge can be gained solely through sense experience.
You just agreed with me.
You just agreed with me.
That there "can be a contradiction" is completely trivial, and if that is what you meant that is what you should have written it.
See above. You must write what you mean for it to be possible to understand.
Empirical methods certainly do represent the majority of science, but they do not represent all of it. Perhaps you feel that only empirical science is "properly scientific", you're certainly not the only one to press that point. But to state "I hold" or "I think" before these claims would make them very different.
I mean, I've literally sat in lectures by scientists who have worked with non-empirical methods and presented their work. They have research positions in faculties, they teach students and they publish in peer-reviewed journals. According to you, these people do not exist or are violating some sort of scientific decorum. Perhaps you think they are not doing "real science", but to argue that you have to as a bare minimum concede that there is a debate.
Actually what you have been saying is that it must be falsifiable, something doesn't need to be empirical to be falsifiable. You can use falsifiability in a simulation, but a simulation certainly isn't empirical. So this claim of yours is a recent development. Maybe you always meant it, but you didn't say it. Neither did you originally press empirical method as the qualifier for science, you used methodological naturalism.
Empirical methods certainly do represent the majority of science, but they do not represent all of it. Perhaps you feel that only empirical science is "properly scientific", you're certainly not the only one to press that point. But to state "I hold" or "I think" before these claims would make them very different.
I mean, I've literally sat in lectures by scientists who have worked with non-empirical methods and presented their work. They have research positions in faculties, they teach students and they publish in peer-reviewed journals. According to you, these people do not exist or are violating some sort of scientific decorum. Perhaps you think they are not doing "real science", but to argue that you have to as a bare minimum concede that there is a debate.
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