Science + Religion Final

What was Popper’s goal in his philosophy of science?

to find the demarcation between genuine science and pseudo science

What is the key demarcation criterion that Popper uses to separate science from pseudo science?

Falsifiability

According to Popper, a hypothesis if falsifiable if it can be

proven wrong

What is a problem with Popper’s demarcation criterion also associated with Duhem?

One can always construct ad hoc hypotheses to save a theory from falsification

How did Aristotle’s scientific view differ from Popper’s?

He believed that a scientific view needed to be demonstrated in an iron-clad way, while Popper focused on falsifiability (certainty vs. uncertainty)

What is Lauden’s criticism of using falsifiability as a demarcation line for science?

Many debunked theories were falsifiable - showed that falsifiability doesn’t separate good science from bad science

What is normal science according to Kuhn?

Activity of science operating within an established paradigm

What is a paradigm according to Kuhn?

Universally recognized scientific achievement that for a time provides model problems and solutions

What are anomalies according to Kuhn?

puzzles that resist solution within the paradigm that can accumulate and lead to crisis

What is the sequence of events in Kuhn’s narrative of scientific change

normal science, anomalies, crisis, revolution, new paradigm

Kuhn compares the shift from one paradigm to another to a

Gestalt switch

What factors do Kuhn suggest influence a scientist’s shift to a new paradigm?

Faith, gestalt switches and individual differences among scientists

How do Kuhn and Popper differ in their handling of anomalies?

Kuhn observes scientists protect their theories from anomalies with ad hoc hypotheses while Popper suggests that the theory should be dismissed upon falsification

What does Kuhn mean when he tells Priestly (phlogiston theory) that he was ration but no longer a scientist?

He was excluded from the new scientific community and couldn’t work with the new oxygen-based paradigm

What is a key theme in Kuhn

That scientific theory is not cumulative - new theories destroy and replace old ones and don’t build upon them

What is Malebranche’s view of Occasionalism?

God is the one and only true cause of all events in the world - finite things are merely the occasion for God to act and cause a subsequent event

What is a problem with occasionalism?

It seems to eliminate free will (human freedoms) as God is the direct cause of all actions

What is a theological problem with occasionalism?

Evil - God is the direct cause of evil, not just passively permitting evil

How does the story of Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa’s daughter relate to occasionalism?

Just as God can will oil to burn, so too, He can will vinegar to burn (oil doesn’t just burn, God wills oil to burn and therefore anything can burn)

According to R’ Dessler why does God make it seem like there are natural laws?

To serve as a nissayon to tempt people to believe they have power, testing their faith that only God has power

What is the role of hishtadlut according to R’ Dessler

The minimal human effort one puts in as a test of faith, before relying on God for the outcome

What interpersonal problem does R’ Dessler’s view of occasionalism confront?

If we have no power ourselves, why go out of our way to do chesed and give tzedukah? Answers this question by saying chesed is a separate mitzvah required in addition to bitachon

According to Rambam and Rabbi Slifkin, how does natural order demonstrate God’s wisdom?

God is viewed as more impressive if He deisgned a system of laws that function perfectly without constant intervention

What is the conceptual problem with defining a miracle as a violation of a law of nature?

A law of nature is supposed to be constant so a violation is a contradiction of the terms themselves

How can one reconcile a miracle violating a law of nature?

Violation can be caused by God, a cause outside the natural system that the law describes

What is coincidence in terms of miracles?

An event that doesn’t violate natural law but is considered miraculous due to extraordinary timing and/or personal significance

What is Hume’s method for assessing miracles?

Weigh evidence for the uniformity of nature against the evidence of the reliability of testimony

What does Hume compare as being a greater miracle?

The law of nature being violated vs. testimony being false

What is Broad’s objection to Hume?

Hume says that no amount of testimony can establish a miracle but Broad says that would then lead scientists to endlessly reject counter evidence of an established law (which is unscientific) (eg. four min mile)

What is the Mill-Dawkin’s rejection of Hume?

Hume questions if the event ever occurred, Mill-Dawkin’s. say it may have occurred and definitely has a natural (unknown) explanation

What does Dawkin’s claim regarding extremely improbable events?

No matter how improbable, an event can still occur within the existing laws of nature, making it not a miracle

What is Johnson’s objection to Mill-Dawkins?

Billiard table that spell out the digits of pi - would be irrational to say that the improbable can just happen and not infer an intelligent cause

What character does Cleanthes represent?

Design argument - believes that God’s existence can be proven a posteriori (from experience)

What character does Philo represent?

the skeptic/critique, Hume’s voice

What is the central analogy used in the design argument?

The world as a machine with an intelligent designer - therefore the world has an intelligent designer (Paley uses a watch in his example)

What is the basic principle of Cleanthes’ argument?

Like effects have like causes

What are Philo’s objections to the design argument?

We have experienced many machines, but only one universe that is not enough to draw a conclusion from

can’t draw universes from blackberries

What is infinite regress?

If the order of the world requires an ordered mind to explain it, then the order in the designer’s mind would require a designer and that would continue infinitely

“I know not, I care not” distinguishes between the need for

local and global explanations

What alternatives does Philo suggest for the account of the world’s order?

Generation, vegetation

How can Philo offer analogies for the world’s origin after disproving Cleanthes?

Because we have evidence of order arising from natural process, but not on a mind creating a universe

What is the central argument for fine tuning?

The fundamental constants and laws of nature are so precise for life existence that it points to an intelligent designer

How does the new fine tuning argument differ from the old?

Doesn’t focus on biological parts but on the underlying physical laws and constants of the universe

What is Davis’ anthropic principle?

The idea that the universe appears to have been made for the producing of human beings

What does Aviezer’s example illustrate?

Significance determines whether we chose to seek an explanation for an improbable event - if it effected us, we chose to seek reason for it