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Atheist VS Naturalist - the latter sounds more appealing to me...
#74
RE: Atheist VS Naturalist - the latter sounds more appealing to me...
(May 25, 2020 at 8:15 am)polymath257 Wrote: If a frog did that, we would start studying how and why it did that.

Science is limited to methodological naturalism. If scientists could discover why a frog sang Mozart, then the reason would not be supernatural. 

Quote:Attributing it to being 'supernatural' adds absolutely nothing to the discussion.

If no natural explanation is possible, then it wouldn't be natural.

Quote: For that matter, talking baout the 'nature' of a frog also adds nothing to the discussion.

Every summer there are thousands of frogs in the rice paddies down the mountain from where I live. They have characteristics and regularities. They are made of frog stuff, they do frog things. There are variations, within limits. That is their nature. They cannot be made of solid lead, be a million miles long, and live in the center of the sun -- that is not their nature. 

There's nothing odd or spooky about saying something has a nature. It's just the word to say that it is what it is. Science tells us what the nature of the frog is. That's science's job. If science tells us that it is impossible for a frog to sing the duet from Don Giovanni, then it isn't natural for a frog to do that.
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RE: Atheist VS Naturalist - the latter sounds more appealing to me... - by Belacqua - May 25, 2020 at 8:26 am

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