One of the points that creationist Ken Ham made in his debate with Bill Nye, and presumably is still making on his site "Answers in Genesis," is that we have to distinguish between experimental and historical sciences. According to his argument, physics is an experimental science, evolution and geology are historical. Since the first type produces testable knowledge, and the Continue Reading …
Science, Technology & Society I: Francis Bacon
This post in the first in a new series on Science, Technology, and Society. The next post is here. All posts in the series have previously appeared on the Partially Examined Life group page on Facebook. INTRODUCTION What is science? In general, answers to this question fall between two poles. The first is the traditional view of science--that it is a process of discovery Continue Reading …
The Leap of Faith: The Creative Element of Science
[Editor's Note: Thanks to new contributor Rob Graumans for this one!] Scientific realists are known to have a positive epistemic attitude towards the content of our best scientific theories and models. The exact interpretation of this philosophical tenet can, however, differ dramatically between each of its proponents. Some of these base their idea of the truthfulness of Continue Reading …
Understanding It Doesn’t Make it Less Freaky
Dennis Overbye has a nice article this week in the NYTimes on the recently published explanation of the Pioneer Anomaly. As he explains, The story starts with the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes, which went past Jupiter and Saturn in the late 1970s and now are on their way out of the solar system. In the 1980s it became apparent that a mysterious force was slowing them down a Continue Reading …
More Voices on Buddhism and Science
If the dialogue between Buddhism and American intellectuals like Owen Flanagan is part of a fashionable trend, then it has to be one of the longest lasting fads in history. Henry David Thoreau published the Lotus Sutra in the first issue of The Dial in 1844. William James was absorbing Transcendentalist ideas at the family dinner table, where his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson Continue Reading …
Some Questions on Buddhism and Science
Check out this video: Buddhism and Science: A Brief History from The Berkley Center. Often reading Buddhism into science and vice-versa can be very misleading. This talk by Thupten Jinpa is in dialogue with David Lopez's excellent book, Buddhism and Science: A Guide For the Perplexed. Dr. Jinpa pretty much states the historical Tibetan relationship to science as it came late Continue Reading …
Dear Philosophers, Please Get Over Your Science Envy Now
Colin McGinn (a philosopher whose work on the philosophy of mind I have admired) has published an embarrassing piece in the Philosopher's Stone that is at the same time a plea for others to take philosophy seriously and a case in point as to why many don't. He proposes to rename the field of philosophy "ontics" and reclassify it as a science rather than part of the humanities. Continue Reading …