philosophy of science: meaning and functions (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, September 05, 2018, 08:08 (2271 days ago) @ David Turell

Yesterday’s posts should have been my last before leaving, but of course I couldn’t resist seeing if you had replied, and now of course I can’t resist replying!

dhw: The material contains information which we humans analyse. Analysis requires a mental source. We can perhaps agree that the first cause is energy turning into materials, but it requires faith to believe that the energy knew what it was doing.

DAVID: The information is not just here for analysis. The information runs the universe and life and must have a source.

Either your God, or natural laws. See below.

DAVID: Ah, there is the difference in views. The presence of an organized universe with humans is highly suggestive that the energy was a mind that knew what it was doing.

dhw: I shan’t oppose that argument, except to say it is equally suggestive that materials follow natural laws of self-organization, and faith in the laws of nature is no less reasonable or unreasonable than faith in an unknown, unknowable, sourceless mastermind.

DAVID: And the natural laws appeared by magic in the analysis by the Agnostic mind?

And a universal conscious mind appeared by magic in the analysis by the theist mind?