philosophy of science: meaning and functions (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Tuesday, September 18, 2018, 00:24 (2041 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: We have long left the issue of a proof of God just by looking at purpose. […]

TONY: As for purpose, DHW made it all about God's purpose for creating everything.

dhw: You have both either forgotten or deliberately ignored the starting point of this discussion on the subject of purpose:

TONY: Just a thought, but what seems to be missing in this thought process is 'purpose'. Evolution requires no purpose, and offers no meaning. I think something deep in humanity rejects this purposeless idea of existence. Yet we do not extend the idea of purpose beyond our own existence to say, what is the purpose of everything, not just our purpose. We can recognize the need for a designer to account for the complexity, but forget that designers do not design without purpose.

dhw: That is why I shifted the discussion to this thread. You wanted to talk about purpose, and now that we are talking about purpose, you want to talk about design!

DAVID: But that is the exact point you always miss. Design is always done with purpose of producing a meaningful result in individuality or in process. Design indicates a goal and must have a purposeful designer.

DHW: Yes indeed. Already agreed. And that is why at Tony's instigation we embarked on a discussion of what your God’s purpose might have been. But now you don’t want to discuss his purpose, you just want to discuss design.

Tony: Perhaps it was my own poor wording when I said purpose in everything. When I made that statement, I was trying to ask what is the purpose of everything, but at an individual level. What is the purpose of oil, wind, rain, earthquakes, hurricanes, plant uv signalling, the backward retina, shark's electrical sensitivity, etc, not the purpose of everything (all encompassing).

David; But those individual purposes are designed to create a homeostasis for Earth to accommodate
life. It all dovetails.

Indeed it does.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.