An Agnostic Manifesto (Agnosticism)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Thursday, August 12, 2010, 18:02 (5216 days ago) @ dhw

There are and have been many cases in science where the exact mechanisms for some phenomenon have been unknown, and where it has not been reproducible in the laboratory, but it does not require faith to think that a material explanation was there to be found. An example might be the chemistry of photosynthesis. The chemistry of life is a similar question.-Rosenbaum wants to know how or whether something can come from nothing. If the question was one of physics I could refer him to Stenger, who explains how material particles like fermions and bosons can emerge from "quantum fluctuations in the void". But this physical void is not I suspect what Rosenbaum means by "nothing". He is referring to a philosophical nothingness. What does he mean in saying that "something" exists? To me existence is shown by something being detectable by the human senses. It follows that "nothing", being undetectable, cannot exist.
 
dhw claimed "that reasonable certainty cannot be attained as regards the existence or non-existence of God, since there is no consensus". It would help of course if he defined what he means by "God" here. I pointed out that in the case of specific named gods, "There is pretty general consensus that Thor and Eros don't exist except as personifications of natural forces. So why can we not also come to the same conclusions about Jehovah and Vishnu?". dhw responds that Jehovah and Vishnu exist because Jews and Hindus believe that they do. I'm afraid this is woefully insufficient to prove "existence", other than as ideas that people have.

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GPJ