Theos-Talk Archives (March 2002 Message tt00384)

Steve [writing to Leon]:

> Actually, what is being taughy in universities todday
> is that not everything can be demonstrated and tested
> using empirical methods and that some objects of
> intellectual interest are therefore outside the domain
> of science. Science has therefore usurped some, but
> not all, of the obsessions of the philosopher. That
> is a bit different from what you said. It is a fact
> and not a prejudice.
"Taughy" and "todday?" I detect a subtle allusion to
recent comments on the list regarding the humor found
in misspellings by people whose first language is not
English.

Science used to be Natural Philosophy, until it dropped
metaphysics and philosophy and became physical
empiricism. Over time, it's been broadening its scope.

It still may have trouble with things that are real
but at the same time are unprovable and non-reproducible.
With such, it may turn a blind eye or limit itself to
after-the-fact observations.

A system in a chaotic state, under the influence of
a strange attractor, may be deterministic, but not
predictable. All possible states may be known and could
be graphed. But given a particular state, it may not
be possible to say which one would come next. This
may frustrate traditional experimenters if they expect
for a given input that they'll get a predictable output.
They may struggle with the idea that there could be
a deterministic system that does not yield predictable
results.

Metaphysics deals with issues of life, spirit, soul,
the intangible something that is behind outward
appearances and can only be known by its effects.
These subtle causes of outward things are, I'd say,
immaterial, and originate from some higher form of
existence.

Different religions and philosophies try to
describe the details of what happens in this world,
each drawing upon analogies from life and society and
extrapolating them. We have a father and mother, so
the ruler and parent of the universe must be "God
the Father" in patriarchal societies. We have a code
of justice in society, so we have karma as justice in
the universe. We are born into the world, so when we
get initiated into the spiritual path, we are "born
again."

Care must be taken when using analogies from
everyday life to describe the cosmic order of things.
A closer approximation may be reached by using
several analogies that apparently contradict each
other. Then we can point at something otherwise
intangible and not take any one description too
literally.

-- Eldon