Then why is it so difficult and contradictory to define?The standard theist claim is that God is ultimately simple -- not that He is complex — Dfpolis
Then why is it so difficult and contradictory to define? — Harry Hindu
A non-explanation is not a solution. It is a cop out. — Dfpolis
You seem not to understand how deduction works. — Dfpolis
We can see rainbows, but we cannot see the law of conservation of mass-energy. — Dfpolis
For science to work, everything must have an adequate explanation, even if we do not know it. — Dfpolis
The distinguishing things about God is that, as the end of the line of explanation, God cannot be explained by something else (or he would not be the end of the line). So, God must be self-explaining. — Dfpolis
Existence is not the ability to act in this way or that way, but the unspecified ability to act. — Dfpolis
The universe cannot do any logically possible act. — Dfpolis
If there is a god and I ever meet him, I will ask why he exists. If he does not know, I will throw my hands up in disgust at the meaningless nature of existence. — Devans99
I could also contend that this is only a problem if we understand the universe as something created. The Big Bang implies a beginning, not a creation. And to put on my (very inadequate) speculative astrophysicist hat, perhaps the Big Bang is not even a beginning, but simply the start of a form that we recognize. We do not know what came before. — Brillig
Thank you for sharing your faith. Now, do you have an argument a rational person could consider?"Creator", "ruler of the universe", and "unlimited" are terms that imply complexity, not simplicity. — Harry Hindu
That may be true but one needs information to conclude, I don't believe we have enough to dis/prove a god. — Grey Vs Gray
Deduction may be the wrong word. Does belief, perception or answer work? — Grey Vs Gray
there is no emperical evidence of a god — Grey Vs Gray
One can "see" the conversation of mass-energy. Otherwise it wouldn't be a scientifically proven phenomenon. — Grey Vs Gray
For science to work, everything must have an adequate explanation, even if we do not know it. — Dfpolis
Yes and no, science is the process of discovering reality not the collection of ultimate conclusions. — Grey Vs Gray
The distinguishing things about God is that, as the end of the line of explanation, God cannot be explained by something else (or he would not be the end of the line). So, God must be self-explaining. — Dfpolis
Or non-existant. — Grey Vs Gray
A bit nitpicks but I believe "interact" would be a more accurate expression. "Act" implies intent or intelegence. Rocks exist but don't act. — Grey Vs Gray
The universe cannot do any logically possible act. — Dfpolis
I disagree, they occur in and thus by the universe, all of your actions and thoughts are included within that. If one goes by the multiverse theory even more so. — Grey Vs Gray
One had to first conclude there is a god, without evidence, to go by your concept. — Grey Vs Gray
If there is a god and I ever meet him, I will ask why he exists. If he does not know, I will throw my hands up in disgust at the meaningless nature of existence. — Devans99
This discussion is in reaction to Robin Collins' 1998 essay "The Fine-Tuning Design Argument: A Scientific Argument for the Existence of God," but I do not think you need to have read it to engage with the ideas (any quotations below come from that essay). I'd like to take issue with the notion that the argument from design has changed much since Paley and Hume wrote about it, simply because we have new information about how the universe began. Collins seems to think that careful analysis of the initial conditions of the universe will reveal ample support for an intelligent designer. His argument goes something like this:
1) "Whenever we are considering two competing hypotheses, an observation counts as evidence in favor of the hypothesis under which the observation has the highest probability." If two hypotheses compete, and we observe something, that observation is evidence of the hypothesis that says it is more likely to happen.
2) The conditions of the beginning of the universe must either count as evidence for theism or atheism (competing hypotheses).
3) "Almost everything about the basic structure of the universe--for example, the fundamental laws and parameters of physics and the initial distribution of matter and energy--is balanced on a razor's edge for life to occur." Many elements of physics need to occur just so in order for human life to exist (observation).
4) It is more likely that an intelligent entity willed physics to behave like this than that it occurred spontaneously or by some other unknown means.
5) Fine-tuning provides strong evidence for preferring theism to atheism.
Saying that the conditions of the Big Bang were just precise enough for life to occur seems backwards. The Big Bang came first. We should not think in terms of our existence requiring the Big Bang to occur in a certain fashion. We should instead consider that the way the Big Bang did occur simply caused life to develop as it did. Collins uses the principle of indifference to calculate the probability of human life existing. I think he neglects to consider that we should be indifferent to these statistics at all. I am not saying that the principle of indifference does not apply when calculating probability; I am saying that, for the purposes of this argument, there is little use in calculating probabilities.
Imagine that a different kind of big bang occurred in a different kind of universe that currently does not exist. In this big bang, the laws of physics as we know them are different, such that there is a nearly 100% chance that human life (or something like it) will develop. We can remember all the forces that Collins considers, and imagine them like this: If the initial explosion had differed in strength by 500%, it wouldn't have affected the end result. Differences in the strong nuclear force, or gravity, or the mass of a proton or neutron would also not have impacted the existence of humans.
Under these conditions, humans spring up. They begin to question the purposes for their existence, as humans seem fond of doing. Some say there is a God, and some say there was no reason. They do research, and understand the information I laid out above as their observation and evidence in this argument. It's at this point that, with completely different evidence, we can easily construct similar arguments that already surround this debate (ex. 3). Theists could claim that the universe seemed tailor made for humans, which must have required forethought and will. Atheists could claim that one designer would require another designer, so it's more probable that the universe is simply what we see.
What's important here is not so much the math, but the idea that numbers and probabilities concerning very theoretical problems can always be interpreted in a variety of ways. When we stop considering these numbers, we are left with the same old regress of explanation and faulty analogy. Collins' biosphere on Mars sounds very like a watch to me. So despite all this new information from astrophysics, the argument for a creative designer (or a "fine tuner") has not changed much since the 18th century.
In the interest of full amnesty, I am not an astrophysicist, and do not fully understand the concepts that support many of these theories. Perhaps this argument comes out of some critical ignorance of mine, but currently, these are my thoughts. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let's talk about it.
The idea that there is some limitless number of universes and we just happen to have struck lucky, is adding a completely new and totally unverified dimension to reality - beyond what we already know. What we already know is that the situation looks very much like design. That is the simplest and most parsimonious solution. That this goes against the prevailing naturalism/physicalism of our times is neither here nor there. — Antony Latham
True, but it's even more simple than this, they just have no clue. — chiknsld
Well, if you consider the 10exp500 pissible solutions to string theory no clue... I don't, but there are ideas. Problem seems to be how is chosen between them. And even then, 10jexp500 is nothing in the face of infinity.
The basic free parameters to be settled are the coupling strengths of three charges and the value of the gravity strength. Vary one of them and the universe collapses. Is there maybe a hidden relation between them, I don't know, if this has been looked at. I'm not even sure now what I said about varying them couplings. Would it all be very different? Not sure. It seems pretty obvious though that space gotta have 3 dimensions.
What about the speed of light and Planck's constant? The speed of light gotta be finite in order for mass to exist and events to be spatiotemporally separated. Are that speed and the coupling strengths connected? They all have to do with space, time, and mass. They gotta have a connection somehow.
So, are the parameters contemplated? Yes. Probably. — Haglund
The standard theist claim is that God is ultimately simple -- not that He is complex
— Dfpolis
Then why is it so difficult and contradictory to define? — Harry Hindu
All definitions end with what the definitions point to in the world. You may look up a word in a dictionary and get more words, but eventually those scribbles on the page refer to something that is not just more scribbles, or else what do the scribbles mean? What makes a scribble a word and not just a scribble? If you wanted a definition of "circle", would you look in the dictionary, or would it be better if I just pointed at several examples of actual circles in the world? It seems like the latter is more direct while the former is indirect. It seems like the former would only be useful if there were no circles around for me to point to to show you what a circle is.I remember watching a video lessons on geometry back a decade or so ago. The speaker, a lady, goes to great lenghts to point out that geometric definitions must end at some point (pun unintended). Either this must be because the simplest geometric idea (like a point) can't be defined for there's nothing simpler in terms of which a definition could be constructed or because the problem of an infinite regress rears its ugly head. The only viable option seems to be use circular definitions, despite the rules of good definitions forbidding such tomfoolery.
What sayest thou, sir? — Agent Smith
All definitions end with what the definitions point to in the world. You may look up a word in a dictionary and get more words, but eventually those scribbles on the page refer to something that is not just more scribbles, or else what do the scribbles mean? What makes a scribble a word and not just a scribble? If you wanted a definition of "circle", would you look in the dictionary, or would it be better if I just pointed at several examples of actual circles in the world? It seems like the latter is more direct while the former is indirect. It seems like the former would only be useful if there were no circles around for me to point to to show you what a circle is — Harry Hindu
Then the precise definition only refers to imaginary objects in the mind. There is no such thing in the world in which the set of all points are equidistant from one other point (the center). If what we are talking about only exists in our minds, then that is something that I cannot show you and can only describe to you, hence my explanation that we use words to describe something to someone else that they cannot actually see. You can try to draw one based on the precise definition, but you will fail utterly. Depending on what measurement we are using, one point will not be equidistant as all the other points. There will be a point that is a micrometer more or less distant from the center than other points.A circle is a (geometric) shape, true, but its precise definition - the set of all points equidistant from one other point (the center) - is more precise and is in words.
However, my point is if one faces difficulty with defining something, it might mean you're dealing with an undefinable (point, space, time, etc.) or that you've come to the realization that you're up against — Agent Smith
Then the precise definition only refers to imaginary objects in the mind. There is no such thing in the world in which the set of all points are equidistant from one other point (the center). If what we are talking about only exists in our minds, then that is something that I cannot show you and can only describe to you, hence my explanation that we use words to describe something to someone else that they cannot actually see. You can try to draw one based on the precise definition, but you will fail utterly. Depending on what measurement we are using, one point will not be equidistant as all the other points. There will be a point that is a micrometer more or less distant from the center than other points. — Harry Hindu
There is no reason why the world is imperfect. — Nickolasgaspar
Imperfection is an unnecessary qualifier. — Nickolasgaspar
Our ability to produce minimalistic concepts is evidence on how demanding for our brains is to hold complex details in concepts. — Nickolasgaspar
humans need their lives to have meaning in a cosmic scale — Nickolasgaspar
Philosophy is an exercise of frustration — Nickolasgaspar
But that's the point. Are we talking about defining objects in the world, or defining objects in the mind. We need to make that clear or else we end up talking past each other.Nirvana fallacy? There are certain margins of error we must be willing to accept, especially since the world is, for some reason, imperfect. The human mind, all life in fact, has been, for the most part of its earthly existence, has been a constant struggle against nature's imperfections, oui? I frankly find it odd that you would demand flawlessness in a world that is, well, flawed. Perhaps it's proof, as Plato believed, our minds are not of this world. How else could it have ever conceived of forms? — Agent Smith
But that's the point. Are we talking about defining objects in the world, or defining objects in the mind. We need to make that clear or else we end up talking past each other.
It's not that the world is not perfect. Perfect is just another model in the mind, and not a feature of the world outside of the mind. The world just is a certain way and the way we model it is another, but representative of the way it is. Life is not adapting to imperfections. It is adapting to the way things are, which is constantly changing. Using the terms, imperfection/perfection is implying that you have knowledge of what a perfect world would be like and that everyone would agree with you. — Harry Hindu
You missed the point then. — Agent Smith
-the existence of "circles" prove that we tend to simplify aspects of reality through idealistic concepts.Sometimes it'll do, sometimes it just won't. The trick is to know when it will and when it won't. — Agent Smith
However, most philosophers seem happy & content! — Agent Smith
The human mind, all life in fact, has been, for the most part of its earthly existence, has been a constant struggle against nature's imperfections, oui? — Agent Smith
No the point is fallacious. — Nickolasgaspar
-the existence of "circles" prove that we tend to simplify aspects of reality through idealistic concepts.
You are referring to an irrelevant aspect.(whether it is useful...while I address what our brain does) — Nickolasgaspar
Again you always seem to miss the aspect of the thing in question.....nice talking to you agent smith... — Nickolasgaspar
humans need their lives to have meaning in a cosmic scale
— Nickolasgaspar
Maybe some, not me! I've had my share of grandiose delusions! — Agent Smith
Mmmm...Non. Imperfections need to be embraced. Only where due, you should look for it. In the modern era, perfection seems to be attended to mostly in the physical domain of bodily appearances. The body is tried to be reshaped in an ideal resembling a horrible abstraction from the natural standard. Resulting in mental sickness and dissolvement from reality. And even the mental domain seems prone to the same abstractions, reshaping the mind into a logical process resembling the the so beloved computers and logical processes inside. Just listen to the CEO talk and (mainly) his (mainl) perfect wife accompanying (mainly) him in perfect silence. The perfect constructor of the perfect world to come "communicating" logically perfect ideals.
Only where it's due, perfection should be sought. — Haglund
I won't try to explain why you're wrong. — Agent Smith
"The brain is a simplifying apparatus. Telos? — Agent Smith
-Possibility needs to be demonstrated...not declared.Possible, very possible! Thanks for your comments. — Agent Smith
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