Post 87  06/16/2019

Paradox of
FreeWill     

In his response to the original indeterminate question, Mr. Turner chose to focus on the almost universal belief in Human Freedom-to-Choose from among a menu of unforced options, despite the empirical, logical & theological evidence against it. Modern Science is based on the assumption of an unbroken chain of Cause & Effect, . . . .

Post 94  08/02/2019

The Unmoved
Mover     

The pre-socratic philosopher Parmenides, in his poem On Nature, attempted to answer the  perennial question : “what is real?” He concluded that ultimate reality must be ungenerated, imperishable, indivisible, perfect, and motionless. Summed-up in two words, he was talking about the Immutable Being . . . .

Post 91  07/24/2019

Idealism and
Eternity     

A major stumbling block for discussions on the philosophy of Idealism is the implicit necessity for Eternity as a corollary. Plato’s timeless Forms could not exist in ever-changing reality. So a dialogue on ideal topics inevitably requires perspective switching from our familiar vantage of space-time to the exotic optique outside . . . .

Post 88  06/19/2019

Reality is just a Theory   

In his astute defense of a modern scientifically respectable version of Platonic Idealism, The Idea of the World, Bernardo Kastrup quotes a presumably atheist materialist cosmologist’s admission that objective reality1 — as we know it — is only a model created in the human mind, hence an idea . . . .

Post 92  07/26/2019

Ultimate Enforming Principle    

 In the anthology noted on the sidebar, Dr. of Divinity Keith Ward’s essay is entitled : God as the ultimate informational principle. I was somewhat surprised to see a theologian advocating such a non-traditional view of deity. But then, he’s an Anglican, and they tend to be rather liberal in their interpretation of scripture . . . .

Post 86  06/12/2019

Designed
To
Evolve

This is one of several recent books that are intended to re-concile pragmatic Science and romantic Religion. Most of them present an interpretation of em-pirical evidence that is loosely compatible with liberal (non-fundamentalist) attitudes toward scriptural doctrines. Since the BothAnd philosophy also pre-sents a case for consilience . . .

Post 85  05/22/2019

The BothAnd Philosophy     

Philosophy is the study of ideas & beliefs. Not to determine which are right or wrong – that is the province of Religion and Politics – but which are closer to Universal Truth. Barring direct revelation, that ideal goal is un-reachable of course, and can only be approximated by careful Observation, Reason & Con-sensus, . . . .

Post 89  07/10/2019

Reality
    is
Ideality     

Kastrup’s scientific-philosophical opus is just one of several recent books criticizing the modern scientific paradigms of Darwinism and Materialism from within the methodology of science itself. It begins as an analysis of weak-points in the current paradigm of Physicalism, and concludes by making a . . .

Post 90  07/23/2019

Non-traditional God  Model   

 In a Quora Forum post, physicist Richard Muller, answered the question : “As a physicist, do you believe in God, or in any kind of higher being?” Normally, we assume that pragmatic scientists tend to be atheists. But theoretical science is more philosophical than empirical. . . . .

Post 93  07/30/2019

The Case For G*D     

 Karen Armstrong is a former Catholic nun, who rejected her former faith, and became a prominent writer on religious topics. She’s perhaps best known for A History of God, but this post is about some of her ideas in The Case for God. Although she left the Church, she didn’t become an atheist, but merely evolved from . . . .

Post 95  08/04/2019

Vital Force
Elan Vital     

The french philosopher Henri Bergson concluded that, other-wise random, biological evolution must be impelled and guided by some unknown force to eventually produce living and thinking beings. In his 1911 book, Creative Evolution, he called his hypothetical com-pulsion : Elan Vital (life force) . . .

Post 96  08/06/2019

Mysticsm

American philosopher & psych-ologist, William James, once “admitted that his own con-stitution shut him off almost entirely from the enjoyment of mystical states, thus his treat-ment was purely objective”. And that is also my own Character. Yet, I am also interested in seeing through other eyes how the world looks and feels to . . .

Post 97  08/19/2019

Panspiritualism  

 In Philosophy Now magazine (April/May 2019), Steve Taylor wrote an article describing an updated version of the ancient notion of universal conscious-ness. As he says, “Panpsychism1 answers the question of how mind could arise out of matter by claiming that mind was always in matter.”

Post 98  09/09/2019

Virtual
Reality

 In his Scientific American article, science writer George Musser is talking about truth-seeking via analytical science. He begins with a com-mon assertion of the superiority of science for revealing truths : “ Physics seems to be one of the only domains of human life where truth is clear-cut. The laws of physics describe reality..

Post 99  09/19/2019

LOGOS Makes Sense   

Raymond Tallis’ philosophical awakening was accompanied by “an overwhelming astonishment that . . . I could make everyday sense of myself and my world.” Non-philosophers may take that talent for understanding for granted, and may not be aware that their pinhole view is skewed. However, since the human mind is an integral part