Agnostics...Immobile?

[walton]

Starboy,

Parthenogenisis is another construct from mythology that science has found useful.

The platinum rule would apply in the example that I provided. The angel states what is desirable. John insists on doing what he wants to do. You may be right that John is doing to the angel what he would like done to him (as with the golden rule). Maybe John wants to be worshipped. Nevertheless the core value of the prayer John was taught buy Jesus is violated by him in heaven after he has been told by the angel that it is a violation of the core value.

So there is reason to doubt that moustache's belief group really has a principle that it upholds. If the core value is expressed in the Lord's Prayer, then the moustache group fails to uphold any part of it. Moustache has to move on now. No time to ask why it might be that God had forsaken Jesus. Moustache has to move on now. Why doubt when someone else's suffering is paying the way? Just pick up that ticket for eternal life and look at the bright side. You don't even have to respect God to cash in. Moustache got the gimmick. Gotta move on.

[Starboy]

sorry, got you confused with another poster. It is late and I need to get some rest.

[BaldEagle]

To say that being agnostic is somehow flawed is to say that science is somehow flawed. Science deals in proof and that which is unproven cannot be accepted or discarded. Hey...I guess in a way I'm a scientist. Kool!

BaldEagle

[Starboy]

Quote by: BaldEagle To say that being agnostic is somehow flawed is to say that science is somehow flawed. Science deals in proof and that which is unproven cannot be accepted or discarded. Hey...I guess in a way I'm a scientist. Kool! BaldEagle

Where do you get that science deals in proof? Please show me a recent scientific paper where the author claimed to "prove" something? But before you think of yourself as a scientist perhaps you should at least have a vauge understanding of what science is and how it goes about its business.

Starboy

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Starboy Where do you get that science deals in proof? Please show me a recent scientific paper where the author claimed to "prove" something? But before you think of yourself as a scientist perhaps you should at least have a vauge understanding of what science is and how it goes about its business. Starboy

Science proves the truth.

[Morgan_Freeman]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Science proves the truth.

It does no such thing.

[Pooeypants]

Truth is subjective, science deals with facts.

[Ken Carman]

Quote by: moustache A quote from "Life of Pi".... "To choose doubt as a philosophy of life, is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation." Do you view this as proper representation of agnostics? Explain.

No. I believe this is agnosticism from a certain fundamentalistically skewed view where they think those who believe, even if it's being agnostic about belief, don't change, shift or adopt beliefs even if ever so briefly.

An agnostic is the "man who built his house upon the sand" and every time it washes away he attempts to learn from it and build again. A fundamentalist will stand on what he thinks is a rock, even if it's actually sand, or a rock that winds up far below sea level while they continue to stand on it.

Either position, like all positions, has its extremes, but the agnostic is free to float around and find another location that he may eventually identify as a rock and abandon agnosticism. The fundamentalist, by definition, would rather be a corpse than allow themselves to have that amount of freedom.

BTW, I'm not an agnostic. I'm a theist with some agnostic tendencies. I believe there is a God, don't know who he, she, it is, don't think anyone really knows...but love to postulate and ponder. I am willing to admit, I might be wrong, maybe God is just fiction or even something that was actually misidentified as "God." As the cliche' says, "Any superior technology (or ability) might be view as magic."

[Starboy]

Quote by: Ken Carman BTW, I'm not an agnostic. I'm a theist with some agnostic tendencies. I believe there is a God, don't know who he, she, it is, don't think anyone really knows...but love to postulate and ponder. I am willing to admit, I might be wrong, maybe God is just fiction or even something that was actually misidentified as "God." As the cliche' says, "Any superior technology (or ability) might be view as magic."

If you are going to quote, get it right.

Quote by: Arthur C. Clark Any sufficiently advanced technology is virtually indistinguishable from magic.

Starboy

[Ken Carman]

Quote by: Starboy If you are going to quote, get it right. Starboy

Yes, that is the exact, original, quote I believe. However it has been rephrased and paraphrased many times over the years. When I mentioned "cliche'' that's what I meant. My quote, a paraphrasing of the original, was simply one of the many that has been used by others over the years. Now if I had said, "Clarke said,......." that would be a different story.

[CJFreeman]

Quote by: Pooeypants Truth is subjective, science deals with facts.

No. Science interprets facts. Truth is necessarily that which is greater than our interpretations, and causes the facts to coalesce.

Christopher J. Freeman

[Starboy]

Quote by: CJFreeman No. Science interprets facts. Truth is necessarily that which is greater than our interpretations, and causes the facts to coalesce. Christopher J. Freeman

This makes sense if you think that truth doesn't have to have anything to do with reality.

Starboy

[CJFreeman]

Quote by: Starboy This makes sense if you think that truth doesn't have to have anything to do with reality. Starboy

You obviously didn't think about what I wrote. What it means is that faith is a necessity because our interpretations of facts don't determine what the actual truth is. Despite the level of one's erudition, there is always a calculated risk in thinking that one's thoughts have anything to do with reality at all. Hence your snide comment is entirely irrelevant and, ironically, proves my point.

Christopher J. Freeman

[Starboy]

Quote by: CJFreeman You obviously didn't think about what I wrote. What it means is that faith is a necessity because our interpretations of facts don't determine what the actual truth is. Despite the level of one's erudition, there is always a calculated risk in thinking that one's thoughts have anything to do with reality at all. Hence your snide comment is entirely irrelevant and, ironically, proves my point. Christopher J. Freeman

You presume to know what I mean when I use the term reality. And as far as I am concerned the term "truth" as it is used here is for theologians, philosophers and mathematicians but of little use in science.

Starboy