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Information, etc

Matthew King · 18 Apr 2006, 19:32 · from 2006-April.txt.gz

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From: automatthew at gmail.com (Matthew King)
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 12:32:22 -0700
Subject: (urth) Information, etc
In-Reply-To: <14350612.1145379417645.JavaMail.root at elwamui-hound.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <14350612.1145379417645.JavaMail.root at elwamui-hound.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <68211BE0-5544-4E64-B3B8-8739B5FC5687 at gmail.com>


On Apr 18, 2006, at 9:56 AM, James Wynn wrote:

> This division was mapped (literally) by Evangelical apologist
> Frances Schaeffer in "The God Who Is There" and "Escape
>> From Reason". Quoting Alfred North Whitehead's assertion that
> *modern* science
> could not have arisen without the world-view established by
> Judeo-Christian theology, he predicted that science as-we-know-it
> will end when we all follow this tact to its logical conclusion
> that Reason itself (founded on the premise that human
> observation is valid) is itself unreasonable.
>

As Karl Popper tells it, David Hume had already reached this  
conclusion way back in the eighteenth century.  Hume, in trying to  
justify inductive reasoning, proved it to be logically invalid.  As  
Hume believed not only science, but everyday knowledge to be based on  
induction, he was forced to conclude that all knowledge is  
unjustifiable and logically invalid.

Epistemology since then has tended to either ignore this or glorify it.


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