Science answers to "how?", we need another system to answer the "why?" questions.
  • M777
    129
    Have listened to Dawkins rant that science can give an answer to how the mountains were formed, but asking why have they formed is a silly question.

    Am I the only one to understand that the "why?" question is invalid only when looking at it through a scientific framework. So it is not that the question is silly, rather the framework is inappropriate.

    Like trying to import a text file with a beautiful poem into a script as an integer. The script will give you a null, which you would interpret as 'there's nothing there', while in reality you are using an incorrect framework to evaluate it.

    What do you think?
    M777 Options
  • 180 Proof
    15.3k
    It's "silly" to ask a stone star or cosmos for its "motives" or "intentions". This is what why questions are: requests for subjective information; thus, it's silly – a category mistake – to address a nonsubjective entity with a why question (pace Aristotle re: teleology).
    180 Proof Options
  • L'éléphant
    1.6k
    Am I the only one to understand that the "why?" question is invalid only when looking at it through a scientific framework. So it is not that the question is silly, rather the framework is inappropriate. — M777
    Funny in science, the why overlaps the how and in an attempt to satisfy questions of the why, they would proceed to again explain a phenomenon in terms of how. Why does it rain? Because when water vapor collects in the clouds and precipitation....
    L'éléphant Options
  • jgill
    3.8k
    Funny in science, the why overlaps the how and in an attempt to satisfy questions of the why, they would proceed to again explain a phenomenon in terms of how. — L'éléphant

    Yes. Lines of demarcation are vague.
    jgill Options
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    Science

    1. Explains (causal): The Challenger space shuttle blew up. How (explanation)?

    2. Predicts: Such and such will happen and this is why (proof).

    The confusion between an explanation (how) & an argument (why) is a well-known issue, possibly because of the word "because" (ambiguous) used to introduce both the explanans & the premises.
    Agent Smith Options
  • 180 Proof
    15.3k
    ↪Agent Smith
    There's no "confusion" ...

    How A involuntarily happens (i.e. changes).

    Why B voluntarily decided and/or acted.
    180 Proof Options
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    There's no "confusion" ...

    How A involuntarily happens (i.e. changes).

    Why B voluntarily decided and/or acted.     — 180 Proof

    Not sure what ya mean but going by your track record, you're probably right! :cool:
    Agent Smith Options
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