| Elements of Epistemology |
Cosmology and epistemology
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Launch
of the Galileo probe |
Ipse Dixit Galileo Galilei's (1564-1642)
nickname was 'the wrangler,' because of his caustic wit, nonconformity, and
argumentativeness. This, together with him being a brilliant teacher with
students flocking to his lectures (in academe, nothing else will infuriate
colleagues more) made him many enemies. Galileo's contribution to epistemology
is that he called attention to Aristotle's erroneous assertion that objects
fall at accelerations proportional to their weights, i.e., the intuitively
obvious argument that a heavier stone falls faster than a lighter stone. For
centuries, the scientific reputation of Aristotle was such that statements were
asserted without proof by the 'ipse dixit,' he himself (Aristotle) said
it argument. Galileo used his timed (he counted his pulse to measure time)
experiment - throwing objects from the (tilted)
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Argument of Cardinal
Bellarmine |
The primary reason behind Galileo's trial by Inquisition was his epistemology and not his cosmology. As most of the religion is based on proving assertions by references to the Bible, Galileo's prosecutor Cardinal Bellarmine was well aware that Galileo's epistemology is a greater threat to religion than his cosmology. He used the Galileo's cosmology (asserting the implausibility of the heliocentric system) as the pretext for his prosecution, as Galileo's cosmology was a lesser threat to religion than his epistemology. In hindsight, Bellarmine was correct. Religion was able to survive the prima facie evidence, provided by satellites, that the Biblical geocentric arguments are erroneous and recently, Pope John Paul apologized for Galileo's persecution. As the assertion that Bible is the 'verbum Dei' is ipsative, whether religion could survive acceptance of Galileo's epistemological canon is an open question. Pope John Paul's Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), a summary of the principles of the Christian religion, has over 3,000 quotations. About 1200 quotes are from the New Testament, 800 from the Old Testament, 760 from encyclicals, canon laws, and ecumenical councils and 300 from church fathers. Pope John Paul's catechism relies not on evidence, but on the ipse dixit type of arguments.
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Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter
Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto |
Cosmological Argument
and the Solar System The cosmological proof of
God's existence revolved around the question of how the Earth came into being
and how it will end. In
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Galaxies as seen by the |
Galactic Stage of the Cosmological Argument The second stage of the cosmological proof of God's existence revolves around the questions of how the Universe came into being and how it will end. In 1902, Kapteyn who catalogued positions and brightness of almost a half-million stars and, using statistical methods, described their motions, observed that these motions were not random, but streamed in two opposite direction. Twenty-five years later, Jan Oort, using Kapteyns data, suggested that the two crossing streams of stars could be explained if our galaxy was spiral and rotating. This observation of galaxies also suggested that by looking at the Milky Way, we are looking toward the galactic center of where the stars are the densest.
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The Big-Bang Theory In 1927, Abbe Lemaitre suggested that our Universe is expanding and that it likely began with the 'big-bang,' i.e., with the explosive expansion of extremely condensed matter. The big bang theory was readily embraced since it tacitly implied that the universe could have been created. Subsequently, Albert Einstein postulated that the space-time universe is distorted due to gravitational effects.
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Spheroid |
Hyperboloid |
If this curvature is positive, then the Universe has a finite, closed volume, and properties analogous to that of a spheroid. Its expansion will eventually stop and the red shifts of stars, marking the expanding Universe will become the blue shifts, characteristics of the contracting Universe. After a long but finite time interval, the universe will return to the state of again being a singularity of infinite density. At this moment, it will vanish, and, possibly, again be created during the next big bang.
If this curvature is negative, then the Universe has an infinite, open volume, and properties analogous to that of a hyperboloid. Its expansion will go on and, eventually, all the energy of the stars will be used up and the universe will vanish in the total darkness. There are so far, no definite answers with respect to the curvature of the universe and its final destiny.
Although the Big-Bang theory is widely accepted, the recent Symmetric theory of cosmology, named for the underlying symmetries which form the basis of the general theory of relativity, provides a viable alternative.
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Devils Concubine When advances in astronomy made Biblical fables about the creation of the terracentric world untenable, Martin Luther (1483-1546) was not able to reconcile his incisive reasoning with his faith. Like many others he was unable to renounce his belief even
though his reason was telling him that he was wrong. In desperation, he called reason
the devils concubine
and developed his sotereologic (from Gr. soteri(a) salvation) teaching around the central theme that people believe in Gods existence sola gratia, sola fide, and sola scriptura. That is, through faith given to them as a favor by God, and revealed in the Bible. Luther, who was well educated, had to realize that at his time the classical proofs of Gods existence were no longer tenable. What remained, unassailable by evidence, was faith. And it was faith that Luther embraced.
Those who believe God can be known only by faith that is a response to the Biblical revelation tend to be skeptical of philosophical proofs of Gods existence and maintain that the proofs of Gods existence by faith or by direct personal experience are more transcendental than the rational proofs. The assertions of God's existence by faith are intangible and stand aloof as ultimately unverifiable, purely personal mental constructs.
Some
time ago there happened an alleged miracle in a southern
To those who believe, no proof is
necessary.
To those who do not, no proof is possible.
The onset of Protestantism coincides with the time when the advances in sciences, especially astronomy, made the rational proofs of God's existence untenable and they thus had to be replaced by experiential (based on exaltation) and fiducial (based on trust) arguments that God exists.