RE: Gaps in theistic arguments. Secular theism vs religious theism
February 26, 2015 at 6:59 pm
(This post was last modified: February 26, 2015 at 7:02 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
(February 26, 2015 at 5:50 pm)rasetsu Wrote: It would seem that you are burying the problem of induction underneath a metaphysical assumption here. The alleged fact isn't empirically verifiable because the problem of induction greets you at its root.I think that is a fair critique. My approach is based on the idea that all knowledge comes from reason applied to experience. Absent experience, such as the universal constancy of causal relationships, people would have no content on which to apply reason.
(February 26, 2015 at 5:50 pm)rasetsu Wrote: What's left seems little more than metaphysical uniformitarianism, which could equally as well be lifted from this context to undermine the whole basis of belief in final causes.The presumption that I actually do make is that we occupy an intelligible reality. I suppose you could deny, or at least question, the universal applicability of natural laws. That position comes at high cost: an absurd universe. Acceptance of final cause seems like a relatively small price to pay for a rational universe in which real knowledge is possible.
