Knowledge and Science Overview

Archetypal Knowledge

Complete, perfect, and exhaustive knowledge that God has of himself and his purposes

Ectypal Knowledge

Knowledge of God that creatures have, suitable to their creaturely state

Bible suggests that human knowledge is limited

Epistemology

Study of knowledge, what we can know, and how we know it

Critiques of Christian views: there is faith in science
- Confidence from evidence: Jerry Coyne
- Confidence from Bible or religious authority: Chsitian

Determinism

Newton's mechancistic universe- Newton's laws predict how matter behaves
Laplace's Demon: a being that knows the position and momentum of every particle
Hawking, Coyne

Naturalism

A theory denying that an event or object has a supernatural significance (The only thing that exists is matter and energy)

Where atheism meats science

Methodological Naturalism

Doing science as if you hold to naturalism
- If we didn't do science this way it would lead us unto hopeless speculation
- God doesn't leave residue in test tubes for us to find
- Doesn't restrict our study of nature but lays down what sort of study qualifies as scientific
- Inserting supernatural explanations has a bad track record

Scientism

Only certifiable knowledge counts as real knowledge
- Real science: natural science: epistemology, metaphysical doctrines, social and human sciences
- The arts must be brought under these to be considered a science
- Puts exaggerated confidence in science
- Requires naturalist and materalist
- Metaphysical orthodoxy might criticize this
- Scientific reasonings aren't complete thus scientism is false
- Science limits itself to natural things
- Christians disagree because we believe there are other things out there

Science

The state of knowing
Department of synthesized knowledge as an Object of study
System of knowledge covering general truths of laws obtained through the scientific method


Science has to do with knowledge
Often refers to natural sciences (bio, chem, physics)
Scientific method ( testing, experiment, emprirical)

Cogito ergo sum

Philosophical proposition by Descartes: 'I think, therefore I am'

The only thing we can be certain about is that we exist
- The limits of human certainty
- How can we know stuff 100%

Cultural Relativism

Belief that no culture is superior to another
thus no religions are right

Moral Relativism

Belief that morals are relative unless given by a higher power
- Christians believe there is a higher power which gives us rules
Moral truth

General Revelation

Romans 1, thru the creation
We can see God through His creation
Having knowledge of Him changes us so that we can live like he would want us to

Special Revelation

Inspired scriptures and direct communication with a higher power
the difference in thinking God's role
Revealed by the spirit

Bertrand Russell (LOOK OVER RUSSEL online thing)

Knowledge: Instinctive belief and reasoning about those beliefs which can't be contradictory to form a system
Says the Congito ero sum is trying to figure out how we can know stuff 100%
Knowing what is the case if difficult

Richard Dawkins

And belief in miracles is flat contradictory not just to the facts of science but to the spirit of science
People say the bombardier beetle is a reason why evolution isn't a thing
- He says it is false which is correct
- People use the argument falsely because they don't understand the argument

Geocentrism

Belief that the Earth is the center of the universe
Bible quoted to support this (the world will not move)

Positivism

Gradual evolution of human knowledge towards the truth
Father of positivic view of science
Stage 1: theological/ fictitious state
Stage 2: metaphysical/ abstract stage
Stage 3: positive stage- natural explanations
Revolutions/ paradigm shifts

Law of Human Progress

Theory stating human thinking passes through theological, philosophical, and scientific stages

Human thinking passes through 3 stages
Theological
- Assume observed phenomena are result of devine being
- Earthquake...
Philosophical (metaphysical)
- Things explained by abstract entities
- Nature is why things are the way they are
- A fruit tree bears fruit because that is its nature
scientific (positivistic)
- Stop looking for causes and content ourselves with describing the laws that govern phenomena
- Newton's laws of gravitation doesn't explain why gravity is a thing but gives a math representation

Paradigm Shift

Paradigms are overthrown ( Newton, Einstein, Darwin)
Don't wipe out slate and don't come out of nowhere
Now view thru natural selection and random mutation

Non-overlapping Magisteria (NOMA) (person)

Stephen Jay Gould (Evolutionary biologist)
Religion and science are both legitimate methods of inquiry, but they should be resptricted to separate spheres
2 regions (science= natural) (religion = theological)
You can't use the bible to correct scientists
Gould admits that there is conflicts and that they are inseparable and that they are utterly different

Star/ fusion

Massive ball of elements undergoing fusion, held together by gravity

They put atoms together which forms new elements ( where all heavier elements were origioanlly created)

Supernova

Explosion of a star, releasing massive energy

Saw a supernova that was found to be 170,000 ly away that happened in 1987
This can either be a movie that God played
Could be the old earth theory/ day age where the earth is older than 6K years

Exoplanet

Planet orbiting a star other than the Sun

Estimated that there are 300 million habitable in the Milky way
More stars have planets
But they are so far away we could never live on them
Makes us as the question if we are alone

Milky Way

Our galaxy, a massive system of stars held together by gravity

We can't say: nobody was there to see it, thus we can't know anything about it ( think of a crime scene)
Massive system of stars held together by gravity

Light Year

Distance light travels in a year, around 6 trillion miles

Distance light travels in a year
6000 billion miles
10M years at 65mph
18,000-330,000mph -> 2K-37K years
Closest thing to us is 4.2 ly

Thomas Kuhn

Wrote the the structure of scientific revolutions
Normal science is what most scientists do ( puzzle solving)
cautions
Normal science = useless science
Revolutions don't come out of nowhere
Revolutions don't wipre the slate
There are competing paradigms which can't be compared
The standards of comparison are themselves paradigms
This is why you can't involve philosophy in science

Aristotle

Obj fall to earth because the earth is the proper place for objects
Worked on natural philosophy
Art, nature, and chance

Subjective

Personal beliefs or opinions

Objective

Verifiable truth or facts

Theory

System of ideas or structure explaining a phenomenon

Atomic theory: nobody argues with the theory ( it has been proven)

Galileo

Scientist who supported heliocentrism, faced opposition from the Church

Was forced on threat of excommunicationn and possible exicution
Believed that the earth moved around the sun and turned on it's axis daily
Not as easy as it seems that the Church wanted to keep it's traditons and didn't believe science
Believed in heliocentrism
The sun is the center of the universe and later the center of the solar system
Wrote "Starry Messenger"
Tried to write long letters on the topic the Bible and science
Galileo was a scientist saying how to interpret the bible when that was the job of the church leaders

Independence

Science and religion have their own sphere of inquiry and can't conflcit
Science-> figuring out how the world works
Religion-> saving souls
If we let science do it's thing it benefits religion
Similar to double truth idea

Conflict

The conflict between sci and faith is unavoidable, faith comes at the expense of science- Sam Harris
Religion might be regarded as anti science
Irreconcilable differences in theory and opinions of the opposing camps of knowledge
Conflict model that all science contradicts faith is incorrect
Science or religion can victorious in their explination but not both

Complexity Thesis

The relationship between science and religion can't be described under one general heading
5 trends instead (Ronald Numbers)
naturalization
Privatisation
secularization
Loss of faith among scientists
Replacement of spiritual values with material ones
globalization
Radicalization

Cogito Ergo Sum

Philosophical proposition by Descartes: I think, therefore I am

Conflict Thesis (person)

John william draper and Andrew dickenson white (A. D. White)
Founded cornell
Continued the ideas of draper
"History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom"
There is a legit place for religion as long as it doesn't interfere with science
Christianity is cast in the role of the oppressive and stultifying stepmother who held back the young, reasonable, and progressive maden of science and kept her from flowering through the middle ages
Then science finally broke free of the church and finally added to our accumulated knowledge and quality of life
An example of this would be Galileo

Two Books

Concept of revelation through God's word and world

Rene Descartes

Assumed the heliocentric model but decided against publishing his book because he was catholic
mathematician
Meditations on First Philosophy
Thought he could appeal people to religion through natural reason
Rational justification for faith
Handmadien metaphor

Handmaiden Metaphor

- Philo created this in the first century
- Secular things shouldn't be studied for their own sakes but to better understand scripture and theology

- Science and religion not in conflict or independent
- Have some overlap, work together, and influence the other
Handmaiden
- Natural reason (science and philosophy)
"Embrace secular culture as a youthful handmaid; but they knowledge honor and reverence as a true wife"
- Your slave in your hands with her do whatever you think is best

Augustine

Gave classic formation of the handmaiden tradition in the west
- Said using secular leanring to advance out understanding of theology is "plundering the egyptians"
- Moses told the people to ask their egyptaisn neighbors for clothing and gold/silver

Metaphysical Naturalism

Belief that all existing things are natural entities ( no supernatural beings)

Alvin Plantinga

Christian philosopher (Augustian science)
Christian academics should pursue science in it's own way, starting from what we know as christians
We can evaluate science based on what we know to be true in the bible

Natural Theology

The practice of arguing theological conclusions from generally accepted premises from reason or experience
Argument of design (teleological argument)
- There is a difference between naturally occurring things and things that were designed
Ontological argument
- God is the greatest thing imaginable-> it is greater to exist thus He exists
- We can all make this idea formation
Cosmological argument
- Everything we see in nature has a cause thus there has to be an initial cause

William Paley

Advocate for the argument from design (argued heart and eyes needed a designer)

Big Bang

Placeholder for complete understanding of how the universe started

Albert Einstein

Theory of general relativity
Nature and matter to warp space itself
Didn't believe in God but wanted to protect the jewish people

Edwin Hubble

Observed red shift in light from distant galaxies (First prediction 1.8 billion years old)

Red Shift

Doppler effect for light indicating universe expansion

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

Since the universe is expanding, the photons should be cooling off
It was predicted to be around 5 degrees above abs 0
Was found to be 2.7 deg above abs 0

Fine Tuning

Design or teleological arguments
Designer fine tuned the features of the universe
Vacuum energy prediction being way off
- If it was any different stars wouldn't have formed
Conclusions
- We could have gotten lucky
- Life could have been different
- The science is wrong ( frameworks)
- God did it
- There is a multiverse where there would be better odds of something happening

Multiverse

Many worlds theory
- Many possible outcomes in quantum events
- Parallel worlds from the different events
String theory
- Time space can be different with different constants
- It is unlikely that we are alive in the universe
Observer bias

James Ussher

Determined the creation of the earth to be October 23 4004 BCE
Genealogies aren't supposed to be used for the age of the earth
Young earth version

Parallax

When the position of something seems different based on how you view it
Looking from right eye to left
Use the angle that it shifts between the 2 positions to find the overall distance
Max measurement is 10K ly away

Prokaryotes

Bacteria and archaea
First forms of life
Have a cell wall surrounding cell membrane
DNA in circular strand
Ate sulfer or used photosynthesis

Michael Behe

Advocate for ID
And irreducible complexity
Took part in a court case
Court decision banned required teaching of creation science and that they wanted to replace it with "ID"

Radiometric Dating

Rocks contain unstable elements that decay at known rates
Half life is the amount of time it takes for half of the unstable atoms to decay
Can determine the age of things
By counting the relative number of the larger atom and the atom it decayed into
Can use different atoms to measure to check answers

Watchmaker

Intricate components of a watch couldn't have assembled itself
Nature is similarly intricate and needs a designer

Light spectrum

We can tell what elements are what because of the color of light they emmit