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You have a category problem. Science's ability to seek causal explanation to phenomena is why it functions. You can't selectively reject theories just because t
by cpleppert 14y ago
You have a category problem. Science's ability to seek causal explanation to phenomena is why it functions. You can't selectively reject theories just because they conflict with religious belief.
By the way,Einstein's quote wasn't in the context of defending the intrusion of religious dogma into the scientific method. Einstein called his religion 'a cosmic religion' and described himself as agnostic.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- amalag 14y agoI think that the concept that reality can be explained by causality is itself an erroneous belief. How can we gain perfect knowledge though imperfect means?
- jlgreco 14y agoYour error is misunderstanding the premise of science. "Perfect knowledge" has nothing to do with it. Nobody but a fool would claim to have perfect knowledge, or have a system that gives it.
- amalag 14y agoAnother dogma in the name of 'science'.
- jlgreco 14y agoI would be fascinated to hear how you figure that. Literature on the scientific process is all quite clear that the process does not yield perfect knowledge, nor is it supposed to, nor can it. Also this is not a conclusion of science (the scientific process is not meant for such things) but rather epistemology and the philosophy of science.
- macspoofing 14y ago>I think that the concept that reality can be explained by causality is itself an erroneous belief. ... because why? And who says that we are trying to gain "perfect" knowledge (whatever that means?). We are trying to create the most accurate model of the universe we can. Thus far the scientific method has been wildly successful at doing just that, and we already answered several big questions, such as "Where did we come from" (a: evolution via natural selection), "What is the purpose of life" (a: there is none), not to mention that we discovered some fundamental facts about the Universe. We know the Earth is round, and orbits the Sun. We know roughly how and when the Earth and the Solar System formed. We know that every species on Earth shares an ancestor with every other one. We know the Universe has a Quantum nature (as described by QM) and that on large scales it follows principles laid out by Einstein. We can also trace the history of the Universe to within nanoseconds of its creation. And we've only been doing proper science for about 200 years, out of the 250,000 we as a species have been around. Not too shabby, wouldn't you say? And if the scientific method is too imperfect for you, pray tell, what is a better way of discovering the nature of reality? Thinking really really hard? Meditating on texts written by bronze age peoples?
- rosser 14y agoReally? It's been definitively demonstrated that there's no purpose to life? I must've missed a memo.
- amalag 14y agoOh yeah, didn't you must have missed Dawkins book. He 'proved' our existence is nothing more than chemicals and molecules trying to survive. This is the pinnacle of science and the search for truth apparently. And people wonder why tragedies like Newtown happen in such a nihilistic worldview preached by scientists, the modern priests.
- macspoofing 14y agoIf you try to link materialism or atheism to atrocities, you run into a major hurdle, in that, you have to admit that religious belief is no guarantee of morality either. And in fact, can sometimes directly cause great pain and suffering. So what are you left with?