tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post115117439675752393..comments2024-03-26T12:23:29.784-04:00Comments on Philosoraptor: Winston Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151465156386404692006-06-27T23:25:00.000-04:002006-06-27T23:25:00.000-04:00Effect without cause seems to me against the laws ...Effect without cause seems to me against the laws of nature. A miracle?<BR/><BR/>That the carbon atom behaves so funkily, both macro- and sub-atomically is a cause for great pause, at least to me. Otherwise, we'd just be "stuff."<BR/><BR/>But I'm not much for science, especially quantum physics, as holding inherent meaning. They've been trying to tease something out of Heisenberg's UncertaintyTom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151443421492051232006-06-27T17:23:00.000-04:002006-06-27T17:23:00.000-04:00Indeed it is.Indeed it is.Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151428413705686912006-06-27T13:13:00.000-04:002006-06-27T13:13:00.000-04:00One example that is cited as an 'uncaused event' i...One example that is cited as an 'uncaused event' is the radioactive decay of a given element, like radium, U-238, etc..<BR/><BR/>If one takes the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, then the question of 'cause' becomes irrelevant, since Co states that we cannot know exactly what goes on at a quantum level, classifying the type of event that is taking place would be impossible as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151420987548761702006-06-27T11:09:00.000-04:002006-06-27T11:09:00.000-04:00Thing is, many, many, many events have occurred th...Thing is, many, many, many events have occurred that have been uncaused--not "statistically connected" with a predecessor event. The universe is, so far as we can tell, indeterministic. Some events are causally determined and some aren't.<BR/><BR/>That doesn't get us supernatural events, of course..Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151417204345432202006-06-27T10:06:00.000-04:002006-06-27T10:06:00.000-04:00Of course, nothing in this critique of Hume's argu...<B>Of course, nothing in this critique of Hume's argument should be taken to suggest, in any way, that miracles have ever occurred, or that we are justified in believing that any have occurred. But it would be most surprising if some people at some time and in certain circumstances have not been, and will not again be, justified in believing in the occurrence of a miracle. However, nothing I haveAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151405687654030962006-06-27T06:54:00.000-04:002006-06-27T06:54:00.000-04:00The Enlightenment...as I've only really, truly com...The Enlightenment...as I've only really, truly come to realize in the last couple of years...was a mixed bag. Romanticism realized this, and I've got a kind of soft spot for their partial revolt. Faith in human reason: good. Seeing reason as purely instrumental: bad. And sentiment...egad, my so-called thinking about that is very, very up in the air...<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, Peirce--no Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151397584937230192006-06-27T04:39:00.000-04:002006-06-27T04:39:00.000-04:00Having no knowledge of the Kososphere, you will pa...Having no knowledge of the Kososphere, you will pardon me if I can in all intellectual honesty tell you I don't know why they are more deserving of that characterization than Free Republic, LGF, newswacx.com or WorldNutDaily, which last 4 I have some knowledge of, and this definition seems to fit them very well:<BR/><BR/><I>Because Manichaeism is a faith that teaches dualism, in modern English Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151392824219796382006-06-27T03:20:00.000-04:002006-06-27T03:20:00.000-04:00Keep in mind that the great Jewish medieval Maimon...Keep in mind that the great Jewish medieval Maimonides also rejected miracles, and it was he who Thomas followed in the Aristotelian tradition. <BR/><BR/>That Hume rejects miracles is a no-brainer; a radical empiricist could do nowt else. But Thomas does not depend on them at all or even voices in the sky for natural law or "general" revelation, which is why I wrote what I wrote.<BR/><BR/>Yes,Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151382049527648262006-06-27T00:20:00.000-04:002006-06-27T00:20:00.000-04:00"(It)fell dead-born from the press, without reachi..."(It)fell dead-born from the press, without reaching such distinction as even to excite a murmur among the zealots. But being naturally of a <B>cheerful and sanguine temper</B>, I soon recovered from the blow and prosecuted with great ardour my studies in the country"<BR/><BR/>David Hume on the reception of his <I>Treatise of Human Nature</I> after its' publication in 1739-1740<BR/><BR/>Looks Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151374443142349802006-06-26T22:14:00.000-04:002006-06-26T22:14:00.000-04:00Hey, you OK, pal. Sweet. Perhaps we misjudged ea...Hey, you OK, pal. Sweet. Perhaps we misjudged each other.<BR/><BR/>The entire quote (so the internet tells us) is<BR/><BR/>"Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature." <BR/><BR/>Now, the Young Earth Creationist is crestfallen at the addendum, but the Thomist takes an even deeper pleasure at its arrival, in harmony with reason and nature.<BR/><BR/>(BTW, my Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151371022718313192006-06-26T21:17:00.000-04:002006-06-26T21:17:00.000-04:00Hume was part of the Enlightenment, so quoting som...Hume was part of the Enlightenment, so quoting something against him seems to make my point better than I could.<BR/><BR/>Let the record show that according to the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Samuel_Johnson" REL="nofollow">Wikipedia</A>:<BR/><BR/><B>Johnson was a a devout, conservative Anglican, a staunch Tory and a compassionate man, supporting a number of poor friends under his Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151349978261486582006-06-26T15:26:00.000-04:002006-06-26T15:26:00.000-04:00Why, thank you, DA. I'm quite good with the Enlig...Why, thank you, DA. I'm quite good with the Enlightenment, not so good with what came in its wake.<BR/><BR/>“Hume and other skeptical innovators are vain men and will gratify themselves at any expense. Truth will not afford sufficient food to their vanity, so they have betaken themselves to error: Truth, Sir, is a cow which will yield such people no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151336446066201572006-06-26T11:40:00.000-04:002006-06-26T11:40:00.000-04:00"When fascism comes to these shores, it will be wa..."When fascism comes to these shores, it will be waving an American flag."<BR/><BR/><B>Huey Long</B><BR/><BR/>One couldn't accuse you of waving an American flag here, TVD. In fact, your skepticism about the benefits of the Enlightentment, to which some folks is the basis of measuring the success of the "American Experiment" is refreshing at times.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151321515298668422006-06-26T07:31:00.000-04:002006-06-26T07:31:00.000-04:00heh heh heh...heh heh heh...Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151262654086785142006-06-25T15:10:00.000-04:002006-06-25T15:10:00.000-04:00Once you start calling people fascists, it's so ha...Once you start calling people fascists, it's so hard to stop.<BR/><BR/>Me, I just call myself a fascist now in advance, to save my friends on the left the trouble.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151236049511572332006-06-25T07:47:00.000-04:002006-06-25T07:47:00.000-04:00Well, that's the part that's baffling *me*, anyway...Well, that's the part that's baffling *me*, anyway. Seems like we jumped to 'fascist' pretty quickly here, doesn't it? There's shady dealings going on here, and dogmatic, uncivil and even hostile responses to legitimate questions...partisanship...tribalism....but using the 'F' word under these circumstances seems to me to be (a) hyperbolic and (b) destined to make a bad situation worse.Winston Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08780746334199630779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264937.post-1151204718108060112006-06-24T23:05:00.000-04:002006-06-24T23:05:00.000-04:00I'm not quite locating the nexus of outrage at Si...I'm not quite locating the nexus of outrage at Siegel, perhaps because I have no horse in the race.<BR/><BR/>He called Kos a fascist, is that it?<BR/><BR/>Please advise. Thx.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.com