{"id":33236,"date":"2016-05-05T14:33:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T20:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=33236"},"modified":"2016-05-05T14:33:50","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T20:33:50","slug":"a-curiously-lawful-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/05\/a-curiously-lawful-universe.html","title":{"rendered":"A curiously lawful universe"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_33238\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33238\" style=\"width: 399px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/05\/399px-Paul_Davies_2016.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-33238\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33238\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/05\/399px-Paul_Davies_2016.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Paul Davies, astrophysicist\" width=\"399\" height=\"599\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33238\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The English physicist Paul Davies, winner of the 2001 Kelvin Medal from the Institute of Physics and the 2002 Faraday Award from the Royal Society \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPeople take it for granted that the physical world is both ordered and intelligible. The underlying order in nature-the laws of physics-are simply accepted as given, as brute facts. Nobody asks where they came from; at least they do not do so in polite company. However, even the most atheistic scientist accepts as an act of faith that the universe is not absurd, that there is a rational basis to physical existence manifested as law-like order in nature that is at least partly comprehensible to us. So science can proceed only if the scientist adopts an essentially theological worldview.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Paul Davies<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Posted from Tel Aviv, Israel<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cPeople take it for granted that the physical world is both ordered and intelligible. The underlying order in nature-the laws of physics-are simply accepted as given, as brute facts. Nobody asks where they came from; at least they do not do so in polite company. However, even the most atheistic scientist accepts as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A curiously lawful universe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; \u201cPeople take it for granted that the physical world is both ordered and intelligible. The underlying order in nature-the laws of physics-are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/05\/a-curiously-lawful-universe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A curiously lawful universe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; \u201cPeople take it for granted that the physical world is both ordered and intelligible. The underlying order in nature-the laws of physics-are\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/05\/a-curiously-lawful-universe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-05T20:33:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-05T20:33:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/05\/399px-Paul_Davies_2016.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/05\/a-curiously-lawful-universe.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/05\/a-curiously-lawful-universe.html\",\"name\":\"A curiously lawful universe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-05T20:33:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-05T20:33:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"&nbsp; &nbsp; \u201cPeople take it for granted that the physical world is both ordered and intelligible. 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