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How to Talk to Atheists

Caedmon

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Science is based on the same foundations as philosophy - it only works if you take, on faith, particular unprovable metaphysical propositions.
What are those?
You also have to be very careful not to make distinctions that are not accurate about how people believe in God or in any particular scientific idea.
No I don't, at least not based on that juxtaposition. I'm not meaning to be antagonistic. If you're going to place religion and science in the same realm of testability, I simply have to disagree.
Physics and metaphysics part ways from the start. One is testable, the other is not.
Just because someone believes something on faith doesn't change whether it's a testable phenomenon, or whether it was determined based on faith or intent. If a group of people plant their crops in certain locations based on what kinds of birds their shaman sees flying around, they may have a very successful crop year, not because they believe the shaman can read the birds to determine the deity's favorite planting ground, but because they've inadvertently hedged their bets against crop failure through a random distribution of crop locations.
Well, yes, marbles poured into a box are ordered, that is rather the point, isn't it? In a fundamentally ordered universe, that is what we would expect. I am not clear on why you think that contradicts the idea of an ordered universe.
Actually, they're only ordered because we say they are, because it fits what we have tested in the universe. But the fact that marbles in a box fall into a pattern doesn't really tell us anything about the universe.
The idea that all order comes from our perception is interesting, and leads to some interesting conclusions - but not ones that I would have expected from someone who seems to really like science. But maybe I am wong on that?
I would definitely say you're wrong about that. I don't like science. I love it. It helps me earn graduate degrees, get published in peer-reviewed journals, further my career, and, most importantly, pay my rent.
In any case, even if we impose order on things which are truly disordered (would that be even possible?), it means that WE are ordered, which means there is order.
Order and disorder are ideas that we define, not essential truths. So it's not a conflict of possibility vs. impossibility. And we are not ordered, unless we say we are. Finger. Moon.
 
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Crandaddy

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The real question is, is it faith that can be perceived by reason, or is it morality?

Goodness is perceptible by reason, and this encompasses morality. True religious faith must be seen to be good and trustworthy for one to be justified in following it.

That's not faith. Believing that your hypothesis is reasonable is different than assuming that you're right or wrong.

I don't think you see my point. I'm not talking about assuming that you're right or wrong. I'm talking about assuming that your cognitive faculties are configured to discover truth in the first place. You have to trust, or have faith, that they are. Otherwise, scientific knowledge is impossible.


Do definitions describe objects as they actually exist in the world, or are they pure fabrications of our own minds?
 
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Crandaddy

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What are those?

MKJ can speak for herself, but I'd say the propositions that the world outside our minds exists and that it is intelligible are a couple of biggies.

Physics and metaphysics part ways from the start. One is testable, the other is not.
Depends on how you define “testable.” No, metaphysical theses cannot be tested a la the modern scientific method, as physical theses can. But they can be tested for their internal coherence, and for their plausibility against competing metaphysical theses.

Actually, they're only ordered because we say they are, because it fits what we have tested in the universe. But the fact that marbles in a box fall into a pattern doesn't really tell us anything about the universe.
If the universe didn't exhibit rationally coherent patterns, then we couldn't learn anything about how it works. I don't even think we could linguistically refer to it, because the concepts required for forming propositional expressions about the universe depend upon a currency of universal abstractions, which we must derive from patterns actually exhibited by the universe itself.

If the universe didn't actually exhibit any patterns of itself, then it would at best be a chaotic mess of utter absurdity--and thus, wholly unintelligible.

Order and disorder are ideas that we define, not essential truths. So it's not a conflict of possibility vs. impossibility. And we are not ordered, unless we say we are. Finger. Moon.
Let's define order (and disorder), then, because I'm not entirely sure what you mean by these terms.
 
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