Archive for ‘Science’

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June 12th, 2013

Recommended Resources

by Max Andrews

The following is a list of ministries and organizations that I would recommend in helping your pursuit of truth in manners of theology, philosophy, science, ministry, and practical living.

  • Alexander Pruss’s Blog:  Alexander Pruss is a Christian philosopher at Baylor University who updates his blog with pressing questions and critiques of many ideas.
  • Alpha and Omega Ministries: James White’s ministry, which focuses on presuppositional apologetics, reformed theology, Islam, Mormonism, and Roman Catholicism.
  • Bio-Complexity:  Bio-Complexity is a peer review journal with a specific goal of testing the scientific merit of intelligent design.
  • BioLogos Forum:  An organization reconciling science with religion.  BioLogos is a key proponent of evolution in the TE-ID debate.
  • Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute:  The Discovery Institute is the leading organization on intelligent design pressing issues with the natural sciences and social sciences.
  • Christian Classics Ethereal Library:  The CCEL is a resource that makes classical writings from early Christian philosophers and theologians available for use.
  • Closer to Truth:  A website/show devoted to the pursuit of truth asking questions of science, philosophy, and theology presenting views from multiple sides.  Here you will find hours of audio/visual resources.
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Posted in Apologetics, Biblical Studies, Christianity, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics, Science | 5 Comments »

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June 9th, 2013

The Philosophy of Science Directory

by Max Andrews

This is a compilation of posts, which focus on the philosophy of science. These posts will cover a broad spectrum within the philosophy of science ranging from multiverse scenarios, scientific theory, epistemology, and metaphysics.

  1. MA Philosophy Thesis: “The Fine-Tuning of Nomic Behavior in Multiverse Scenarios”
  2. Natural Law and Scientific Explanation
  3. Science and Efficient Causation
  4. Which Comes First, Philosophy or Science?
  5. The Postulates of Special Relativity
  6. There’s No Such Thing as Creation Science–There’s Just Science
  7. Time Travel and Bilking Arguments
  8. “It’s Just a Theory”–What’s a Scientific Theory?
  9. Exceptions to a Finite Universe
  10. Teleology in Science
  11. Duhemian Science
  12. The Relationship Between Philosophy and Science
  13. The History of the Multiverse and the Philosophy of Science
  14. Where’s the Line of Demarcation Between Science and Pseudoscience?
  15. Miracles and the Modern Worldview
  16. Mass-Density Link Simpliciter
  17. Scientific Nihilism
  18. Q&A 10: The Problem of Defining Science
  19. Q&A 6: Scientism and Inference to the Best Explanation
  20. The Quantum Universe and the Universal Wave Function
  21. The History and Macro-Ontology of the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Physics
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Posted in Mathematics, Metaphysics, Multiverse, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Science, Science and Religion | 4 Comments »

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May 27th, 2013

Q&A 24: Induction, Deduction, and Falsifiability

by Max Andrews

Question:

Hello Max,

I did have a few questions in regards to the nature of scientific explanation and furthering (or ‘advancing’, if you prefer) scientific knowledge. Hume had recognized that the problem of induction can not be justified by an inductive rule (that would be circular) or a deductive rule (or else the principle wouldn’t be inductive – we cannot deduce the truth of induction from the axioms of logic). This of course being Hume’s fork.

However, does Karl Popper’s interpretation of scientific methods being deductive (or falsifiable) solve this problem more so than science on the inductive interpretation? In short, Im just curious if we are reasonable in rejecting Hume’s skepticism, but sound in still adhering to science hinging off of induction.

Answer:

Hi Steven!

I did a lot of work on this question in my MA thesis. My full answer is a bit long but I hope it’s easy to follow. For the Reader’s Digest version, I’d say that I’m not a fan of deductive arguments and I prefer inductive arguments. (Actually, I love abductive arguments much more but that’s another issue!) I’m very sympathetic to Popper’s criterion of falsifiability but it’s not a necessary condition for science–it’s just preferable. I’ll try to contextualize and elaborate on some of the hidden talking points in your question so some of the readers can follow along.

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Posted in Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Science | 2 Comments »

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April 29th, 2013

WAP, SAP, FAP, and… CRAP?

by Max Andrews

The anthropic principle takes two primary forms: the weak (WAP) and the strong (SAP).  The WAP is a reflective and happenstantial inquiry: The observed values of all physical and cosmological quantities are not equally probable but they take on values restricted by the requirement that there exist sites where carbon-based life can evolve and by the requirement that the universe be old enough for it to have already done so.[1]  The SAP is much more problematic: rather than considering just one universe we envisage an ensemble of possible universes—among which the fundamental constants of nature vary. Sentient beings must find themselves to be located in a universe where the constants of nature (in addition to the spatiotemporal location) are congenial.[2]

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Posted in Philosophy of Science, Science | No Comments »

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April 28th, 2013

What Does it Mean for Physics to Have Symmetry?

by Max Andrews

For every particle there is a corresponding symmetric particle.  Physics has a translational symmetry, which means that the laws and values of physics are the same at every location in the universe.  If an observer were to travel from one point to a much farther distant point the observer we see no change in the physics.  A broken symmetry introduces change—a non-absolute uniformity.  The breaking of symmetries creates complexity in the laws of nature in the outcome of laws.  There’s a symmetry and uniformity between the strong and weak nuclear forces, which have been unified as electromagnetism by James Clerk Maxwell.  A typical example of vital symmetry breaking is that which gives rise to the balance between matter and antimatter in the early universe.  However, there is an asymmetry between the quantum and the large (a la gravity). String theory is the attempt to unify all of physics.

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Posted in Quantum Mechanics, Science | No Comments »

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April 27th, 2013

Lorentzian Transformations

by Max Andrews

The fundamental question raised by these postulates of special relativity is how different coordinate systems (reference frames) are related, i.e., how one transforms between them. (x, y, z, t) denotes the coordinates of some event in frame S, what are the coordinates (x’, y’, z’, t’) in the frame S’ moving at the velocity v relative to S? But first, a clarification on proper time and coordinate time:

Proper time is time measured between events by use of a single clock, where these events occur at the same place as the clock.  It depends not only on the events but also on the motion of the clock between the events.  An accelerated clock will measure a shorter proper  time between two events than a non-accelerated (inertial) clock between the same events.

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Posted in Physics, Science | No Comments »

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April 26th, 2013

So, How Did Einstein Come Up With That Famous Equation?

by Max Andrews

In 1865 James Clerk Maxwell had unified electricity and magnetism by developing his equations of electromagnetism. It was soon realized that these equations supported wave-like solutions in a region free of electrical charges or currents, otherwise known as vacuums.  Later experiments identified light as having electromagnetic properties and Maxwell’s equations predicted that light waves should propagate at a finite speed c (about 300,000 km/s).  With his Newtonian ideas of absolute space and time firmly entrenched, most physicists thought that this speed was correct only in one special frame, absolute rest, and it was thought that electromagnetic waves were supported by an unseen medium called the ether, which is at rest in this frame.

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April 26th, 2013

Natural Law and Scientific Explanation

by Max Andrews

In the eighteenth century David Hume held that the relation of cause and effect obtains only when one or more laws subsume the related events—that is, cover them as cases or instances of the operation of the law.[1]  This method and criticism of causality deprived science of any valid foundation in necessary connections obtaining between actual events and of leaving it with nothing more reliable than habits of mind rooted in association.  Hume’s mode of inquiry was one in which questions yield results that are not entirely new, giving rise to knowledge that can only be derived by an inferential process from what was already known.  Humean regularities and constant connections cannot be reduced to scientific explanations. If scientific explanation is causal explanation, and causation is law-governed sequence, then it follows that scientific explanations require laws.  However, a problem with this (i.e. the ideal gas law: PV=nRT) is that instead of making things clearer, it threatens to involve the analysis of scientific explanation in a thicket of “metaphysical” issues that several philosophers and positivists sought to avoid.[2]   Scientific explanation requires a causal explanation, which requires a law-governed explanation.

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Posted in Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Science | 1 Comment »

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March 20th, 2013

The Discovery Institute’s Summer Seminars on Intelligent Design

by Max Andrews

I attended the Discovery Institute’s Summer Seminar on Intelligent Design (Social Science) in 2010.  My thoughts and comments will be general since we were asked not release specifics concerning information being shared (some of it was yet-to-be published and I don’t know if it has been published yet so I’ll remain silent) and I do not want to “out” any other attendees in their academic endeavors.  Once you’re labeled as an ID proponent your academic career is potentially slowed down or halted.  I’ve already outed myself and I’m pretty vocal about my advocacy of design (I’m a philosopher so it’s not as academically persecuted).

I have no negative comments concerning the DI’s seminar.  In fact, I have more respect for the institute and fellows.  There were two concurrent seminars (natural and social sciences) that interacted with each other on a regular basis and combined on many occasions.  I participated in the social science seminar and being philosophy graduate student I’m not as adept in biology, chemistry, and physics as many others are.  I certainly received a welcoming abundance of science in presentations, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Some of the lecturers included Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, William Dembski, Doug Axe, Jay Richards, Jonathan Wells, Richard Sternberg, Ann Gauger, Bruce Gordon, Jonathan Witt, John West, and Casey Luskin.

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Posted in Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Philosophy of Science, Science | No Comments »

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March 18th, 2013

Q&A 15: What, Exactly, IS Gravity?

by Max Andrews

Question:

Hello Max,

My name is Chad Gross and I am the director of Truthbomb Apologetics.  Brian Auten of Apologetics315 recommended that I email you with a question that I have.

My question deals with gravity and whether or not it is immaterial.  It seems to me that gravity is not composed of matter and/or energy; therefore, it is immaterial.  However, when interacting with an unbeliever on the topic on this post and he said the following:

“Without mass there would be no gravity, right? It’s true that gravity itself isn’t made of atoms, but you must admit that the material world is more than just particles. Einstein showed that matter and energy are equivalent and can transform into each other. When I talk about something being material, therefore, I’m thinking of both matter and energy.

It’s true again that gravity might not be a form of energy, since it’s just a force. Maybe gravity arises due to the nature of space and time. But without matter, there would be no space and time. So I think it’s uncontroversial to consider the physical forces to be “material.”

When I think of things that are not material, I’m thinking of spirit, or soul. God isn’t made of matter or energy, and God would still exist even without any matter or energy, right?” 

Now, I realize gravity is not immaterial in the same way that moral judgments, mathematics, logic, etc.  Here is my reply to him:

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Posted in Cosmology, Philosophy of Science, Physics, Q & A, Science | 1 Comment »

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