RE: If there is a creator, so what?
November 17, 2016 at 12:19 pm
(This post was last modified: November 17, 2016 at 12:20 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
(November 17, 2016 at 12:16 pm)Ignorant Wrote:(November 17, 2016 at 11:55 am)Alasdair Ham Wrote: Ah right, so I take it you find prescriptive language less helpful than descriptive language.
Okay then how about this... how could I care about a god that exists? By having knowledge of it, yes, but that begs the question of how could I have knowledge of it? I couldn't care about god without knowledge.
So we could change the question from "If there is a creator, so what?" to "If there is a creator, how could I know it existed in order to even care?" [1]
Because in other words... if it exists but its truth is unknowable and therefore impossible to know about... then, indeed, so what if it does? Who cares, unknowable truth is experienced as little as, and is as impossible to care about as, non-truth. [2]
1) You can have knowledge about it only if it is currently related to the things we observe or related to us. Your knowledge is either mediated through other things, or, if it's the sort of god who can do so, your knowledge comes directly revealed by the god itself. Even while mediated through other things, the knowledge provided isn't, "a god exists", but rather, "being "is" subsistently" or some better formulation.
2) I agree entirely. Either you can know about god through the being of other things or you can't. If you can't care about an object when there is no known object about which to care.
I'm glad we agree on "2)"
As for "1)":
How can I have knowledge of it in the way that you describe in order to care? How is it possible? How would I know that what I had knowledge of was indeed "God"? What epistemology are you subscribing to?