RE: [asa] paradigm shifts/Theological Naturalism - 'The Nature of God' = Naturalism

Unfortunately I don't have time to engage in a lengthy discussion now as I
have guests coming in from out of town, deadlines and a zillion things to
do. I was planning on unsubscribing from the list. Sorry!!

I don't really have the answers. I think that yes science in its hypothesis
testing does differentiate science from all other fields. Math well you have
proofs, but in science nothing is ever proven. It's just falsified. And
really only hypotheses are falsified, and theories change or modify but
rarely get completely rejected (an exception being the geocentric theory).
I'm not familiar with what you mean by physics. I don't have time to read
the book but if you can boil down the point you're trying to convey I can
try to quickly reply.

Theology can test hypotheses but unless they use statistics and peer review,
they're still just engaging in #2 Developing Ideas and Drawing Implications.

Gordon, I'm not sure what you mean by saying "I don't follow your reasoning
when you see mathematics as having more in common with history and
philosophy than with science" what did I say/write specifically to make you
think this?

PS The piece is meant to address a layperson audience, to give a tear out to
people going before SBOEs and similar entities. It's not intended to the end
all and be-all answer to what science is. It boils it down and simplifies,
accurately I believe, so that your average Jo(e) can both understand and
have some talking points for debating the powers that would reject evolution
etc.

Wendee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wendee Holtcamp * Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian

                http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com
<http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com/>
Bohemian Adventures Blog * http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com
<http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com/>

The Fish Wars: A Christian Evolutionist http://thefishwars.blogspot.com
<http://thefishwars.blogspot.com/>
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From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of David Opderbeck
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 3:24 PM
To: WENDEE HOLTCAMP
Cc: Gregory Arago; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] paradigm shifts/Theological Naturalism - 'The Nature of
God' = Naturalism

Wendee, as someone who's moderately sympathetic to social perspectives on
science (though skeptical about ID), I'd push back a bit on your very narrow
and (it seems to me) reductionistic definition. You say, for example:
"Despite the fact that #2 significantly moves science forward, hypothesis
testing is where science differs from all other fields of study."

Really? Is that always true? Is it true in every branch of what we call
science? How about in theoretical physics and string theory? Read Lee
Smolin's "The Trouble With Physics" if you really think so. What do you
mean by "testing" anyway? Is falsifiability the same as "testing?" If so,
in what sense is "testing" a meaningful idea, given that most meta-theories
(including Darwinism) can't really be conclusively falsified, but rather
tend to get replaced with equally provisional meta-theories? Is it really
true that all other fields of knowledge -- say, theology -- don't engage in
any sort of "hypothesis testing" at all?

Dave O. (ASA member)

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Received on Thu Jul 26 17:13:32 2007