Tom Caylor wrote:
>
> On Dec 24, 3:49 am, Stathis Papaioannou
> <stathispapaioan....domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>> Tom Caylor writes:
>> > Bruno,
>>
>> > I have been doing a lot of reading/thinking on your former posts on the
>> > Hypostases, other reading on Plotinus and the neo-Platonist hypostases,
>> > and the Christian "interpretation" of the hypostases. There is a lot
>> > to say, but I'll start by just giving some responses to your last post
>> > on this.
>>
>> > On Dec 11, 8:46 am, Bruno Marchal
>> > > I agree that the problem of evil (and thus the equivalent problem of
>> > > Good) is interesting. Of course it is not well addressed by the two
>> > > current theories of everything: Loop gravity and String theory. With
>> > > that respect the comp hyp can at least shed some light on it, and of
>> > > course those "light" are of the platonic-plotinus type where the
>> notion
>> > > of goodness necessitates the notion of truth to begin with. I say
>> more
>> > > below.
>>
>> > The discussions over the last two weeks on Evil, and just how to define
>> > good and bad, underscore how puzzling this problem can be. I agree
>> > that at the base of this is the question, "What is Truth?" I am not
>> > satisfied with the Theaetetus definition, or Tarski's "trick". I
>> > believe the answer to the question, "What is Truth?" which Pilate asked
>> > Jesus, was standing right in front of Pilate: Jesus himself. The
>> > Christian definition of truth goes back to the core of everything, who
>> > is personal. As I've said before, without a personal core, the word
>> > "personal" has lost its meaning. In the context nowadays of
>> > impersonal-based philosophy, "personal" has come to "mean" something
>> > like "without rational basis". But when the personal IS the basis, not
>> > an impersonal concept of personal, but the ultimate Person, and with
>> > man being made in the image of that ultimate Person, we have a basis
>> > for truth, personality, rationality, good...
>
>> I'm not sure that this is what you meant, but there is in a sense an
>> objective
>> basis to the personal or subjective, which is simply that when I say I
>> feel or
>> desire something, this is an empirical statement: either I do feel it
>> or I am
>> lying.
>
> This looks like Tarski's trick to me. It is an act of faith any time
> we take what we say as truth.
When I take what I say to be true based on evidence it is not a matter of faith.
>This is unsupported without an ultimate
> Person who gives the ultimate source of bringing truth into existence
> through words.
This is pure magic mongering - as though some special "ultimate" person can bring something into existence by words.
>> Also, there is an objective explanation for why I have the feeling in
>> terms of neurophysiology, evolution and so on. But this is not enough
>> for some
>> people and they think, for example, that there must be more to "love"
>> than
>> just particular feelings and the scientific basis for these feelings.
>> But this
>> mysterious love-substance would appear to make no difference
>> whatsoever. The evidence is that if certain chemical reactions occur,
>> the love feeling also
>> occurs, and these chemical reactions occur because they have evolved that
>> way to assist bonding with family, community and so on. That explanation
>> covers everything, and the love-substance remains superfluous and
>> undetectable,
>> inviting Occam's Razor to cut it down.
>>
>> Stathis Papaioannou
>
> Reducing everything to particulars results in the loss of meaning.
A strawman. No one has tried to reduce everything to particulars. Stathis refers to generalities, like chemical reactions, families, and love.
> Schaeffer describes this process as nature "eating up" grace.
Which is apparently intended as a profound metaphor for something.
> Reductionism has resulted in "cutting out" the basis for knowledge.
> Knowledge has to be personal, as shown by the epistemologist Michael
> Polanyi, particularly in his book "Personal Knowledge". Of course
> Bruno maintains that after Godel we have gone beyond reductionism, but
> I don't think so. I will say more in response to his post.
Critics of reductionism ignore the contrary process of synthesis. Physics does not *just* reduce things to atoms, it also shows how things are synthesized from atoms and their relations.
>
> I don't have my notes with me, but a few examples of what happens with
> reductionism are: Jacques Monods (?) in his Chance and Necessity
> reducing everything basically to the roll of the dice -> B.F. Skinner,
> eliminating freedom and dignity of man, and saying farewell to man qua
> man. The result: the rule of the elite.
You mean like the divine right of kings?
>I had the privilege of
> hearing a guest lecture by Skinner at UCLA in the '80s, and the
> question & answer section was pretty lively, with agnostics defending
> freedom and dignity as if they really believed in it.
It's only theists who imagine that some god is necessary to give them freedom, dignity, and purpose in their lives.
Brent Meeker
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Received on Sun Dec 24 2006 - 21:46:27 PST