{"id":69115,"date":"2019-01-11T13:33:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T20:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69115"},"modified":"2019-01-11T14:50:21","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T21:50:21","slug":"science-and-scientific-humanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/science-and-scientific-humanism.html","title":{"rendered":"Science and Scientific Humanism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
A NASA artist\u2019s conception of what our galaxy, the Milky Way, would look like if viewed from outside and \u201cabove\u201d it \u00a0\u00a0(Public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Michael Shermer\u2019s \u2018Case for Scientific Humanism\u2019 Fails\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I debated Michael Shermer in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12 July 2018, at that year\u2019s meeting of the annual libertarian gathering called FreedomFest<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Faith Compatible with Reason?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Interesting:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cScientists may have seen birth of a black hole for first time ever:\u00a0Stellar debris lit up the night sky with a bright light\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not infrequently, I come across rather smugly superior statements from atheists contrasting the success and verifiability of science \u2014 which, quite without justification, they like to claim for themselves, as if religious unbelievers have some sort of monopoly on it \u2014 with the supposed lack of verifiability and success associated with\u00a0theology, a field of discussion\u00a0that, they suggest, is entirely untethered to reality and completely whimsical. \u00a0(Those aspiring to wit will sometimes express their faith in the Flying Spaghetti Monster or, \u00a0if they\u2019re relatively literate, will bring up \u201cRussell\u2019s teapot,\u201d which hypothetically and unverifiably orbits the Sun between the Earth and Mars.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A believer\u00a0might justifiably respond that theology, when it\u2019s dealing with the very biggest of issues (e.g., the existence and nature of God, and the origin of the universe) is operating at or beyond the margins of rational and empirical human knowledge rather than with such relatively easily resolved questions as \u201cHow many caribou can be sustained by ten acres of alpine vegetation?\u201d or \u201cWhat is the molecular weight of water?\u201d or \u201cDoes that star have an orbiting planet?\u201d \u00a0It is, she might say, quite unfair to compare the two distinct areas of inquiry as if they ought to have\u00a0the same rules of evaluation or be able to achieve the same consensus agreement.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now, it seems, this debate over the definition of science gives some additional power to that believer\u2019s response: \u00a0For, when science goes to the very margins of what we can know and attempts to peer beyond them into the ultimate nature of empirical reality (with string theory) or into the ultimate character of the entire existent cosmos (as with the postulate of multiple universes or a multiverse), precisely the same lack of verifiability comes into play. \u00a0It\u2019s not the opposition of rational atheism to supposedly irrational theism that comes that\u2019s relevant\u00a0here, but the nature of the objects of inquiry.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy String Theory Is Not A Scientific Theory\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFeuding physicists turn to philosophy for help: String theory is at the heart of a debate over the integrity of the scientific method itself.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cWhy Michael Shermer\u2019s \u2018Case for Scientific Humanism\u2019 Fails\u201d \u00a0 I debated Michael Shermer in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12 July 2018, at that year\u2019s meeting of the annual libertarian gathering called FreedomFest: \u00a0 \u201cIs Faith Compatible with Reason?\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Interesting: \u00a0 \u201cScientists may have seen birth of a black hole for […]<\/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-69115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nScience and Scientific Humanism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    "Why Michael Shermer's 'Case for Scientific Humanism' Fails"   I debated Michael Shermer in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12 July 2018, at that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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