RE: Why do Athiests require 'proof' that God exists?
May 10, 2012 at 3:15 am
(This post was last modified: May 10, 2012 at 3:17 am by Ryft.)
(May 9, 2012 at 9:03 pm)teaearlgreyhot Wrote: What I don't understand, though, is why one cannot say that the cosmos has intrinsic ... objective laws of logic [which] exist by being a reflection of the nature of the objective universe.
Because physical laws are descriptive, whereas logical laws are normative. In order to derive the one from the other you would need to overcome the deductive gap that exists between the descriptive and the normative; that is, how do you derive normative propositions from descriptive ones? There is also the deductive gap between contingent truth and necessary truth, physical laws constituting the former and logical laws constituting the latter (e.g., the law of non-contradiction is necessarily true); that is, how do you derive necessary truth from contingent truth?
(May 9, 2012 at 9:03 pm)teaearlgreyhot Wrote: Why does it seem to you that only in God one can have an absolute standard of truth from which logic reflects? What does God provide that the universe by itself doesn't, in other words?
The metaphysically necessary preconditions for the existence and intelligibility of normative and necessarily true propositions.
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
