It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Originally posted by Spoodily
I love science but it should maintain an agnostic viewpoint and not an atheistic one. When it starts becoming atheistic and beliefs come into play, it is not science but a religion trying to prove certain points and not trying to find an overall truth, no matter what that truth may be.
Nonsense. Science works best because it stays away from the supernatural entirely.
Science is never a religion. Only people who try to dismiss it say such.
Science is about observation of natural law. Religion deals with the supernatural. Therefore science cannot deal with religious and supernatural topics.
If you want a topic that remains "agnostic" stick with metaphysics.
Main Entry: re·li·gion
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈli-jən\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English religioun, from Anglo-French religiun, Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back — more at rely
Date: 13th century
1 a: the state of a religious b (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness
4: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
Originally posted by Spoodily
I love science
Atheism is a belief...
...system
The definition of atheism is a disbelief in the existence of deity...
...and the doctrine that there is no deity.
Main Entry: re·li·gion
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈli-jən\
Function: noun
4: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.
Science and religion don't mix
Originally posted by Astyanax
...and the doctrine that there is no deity.
Wrong.
A doctrinaire atheist is a contradiction in terms. For such a person non-belief in a deity or deities would be an article of faith. If this person doesn't believe in any god or gods, what then is his or her faith (in anything) based on?
Scientific atheism is a conclusion from the evidence (or, if you prefer, the howling lack of it) that any deity exists. It is based on experiment and deduction, not on faith. Without faith there can be no religion.
Main Entry: re·li·gion
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈli-jən\
Function: noun
4: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.
Your quote. My emphasis.
Science and religion don't mix
Well said. So why are you trying to mix them?
atheism
One entry found for atheism.
Main Entry: athe·ism
Pronunciation: 'A-thE-"i-z&m
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French athéisme, from athée atheist, from Greek atheos godless, from a- + theos god
1 archaic : UNGODLINESS, WICKEDNESS
2 a : a disbelief in the existence of deity b : the doctrine that there is no deity
Originally posted by Paul_Richard
Metaphysics explains that which physics cannot.
If one goes by the basic principles of physics, then yes, death doesn't make sense.
But the truth is that we are not meat sacks but souls who are temporarily incarnate in bodies.
Souls cannot be directly detected by electronic devices because the instruments are composed of matter and we do not come from the physical realm. The woe of all parapsychologists.
In other words, unlike electricity and gravity, souls consist of an energy that transcends the physical spectrum when free of matter. That is why our personalities survive the death of our bodies.
Traditional science will always fail to explain that which is beyond their instrumentation to detect, much less measure or replicate.
Originally posted by Marked One
Originally posted by Paul_Richard
Metaphysics explains that which physics cannot.
If one goes by the basic principles of physics, then yes, death doesn't make sense.
But the truth is that we are not meat sacks but souls who are temporarily incarnate in bodies.
Souls cannot be directly detected by electronic devices because the instruments are composed of matter and we do not come from the physical realm. The woe of all parapsychologists.
In other words, unlike electricity and gravity, souls consist of an energy that transcends the physical spectrum when free of matter. That is why our personalities survive the death of our bodies.
Traditional science will always fail to explain that which is beyond their instrumentation to detect, much less measure or replicate.
The light spectrum. Use this as a model.
Dualism flatters us, for it suggests that our minds, our selves, are not merely the result of rambunctious chemistry, and we are thus free to talk about souls and spirits and essences that are unfettered by the physical body.
Dualism is pretty much dead to serious researchers, though an echo of it can be found among philosophers who are sometimes called the Mysterians.
(snip)
But here's the most radical idea of all: The reason why the mind is hard to define is not because it has some mysterious, ethereal, spooky qualities but because it doesn't really exist. We just imagine it. You might say it's all in our heads.
Originally posted by Johnmike
Originally posted by Marked One
Originally posted by Paul_Richard
Metaphysics explains that which physics cannot.
If one goes by the basic principles of physics, then yes, death doesn't make sense.
But the truth is that we are not meat sacks but souls who are temporarily incarnate in bodies.
Souls cannot be directly detected by electronic devices because the instruments are composed of matter and we do not come from the physical realm. The woe of all parapsychologists.
In other words, unlike electricity and gravity, souls consist of an energy that transcends the physical spectrum when free of matter. That is why our personalities survive the death of our bodies.
Traditional science will always fail to explain that which is beyond their instrumentation to detect, much less measure or replicate.
The light spectrum. Use this as a model.
The failure here is that you can't actually prove the existence of these things. So, as you say, they can't be measured in a way that's even remotely reliable, so we can't make any conclusions.
Basically, you're pulling information from your rear, and you indirectly admitted it. No offense, of course, but that's a fatal flaw in your logic.
Originally posted by Marked One
That which today is considered pseudoscience may become physical science tomorrow.
Space travel for instance. Before it was possible, many people thought it was impossible. And everybody thought the world was flat. Now everyone knows the world is round and space travel is possible.
Then again. I'm not insisting on anything as being fact.
Originally posted by Paul_Richard
But the truth is that we are not meat sacks but souls who are temporarily incarnate in bodies.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
The absence of evidence is evidence of absence.
Originally posted by Johnmike
Originally posted by Marked One
That which today is considered pseudoscience may become physical science tomorrow.
Space travel for instance. Before it was possible, many people thought it was impossible. And everybody thought the world was flat. Now everyone knows the world is round and space travel is possible.
Then again. I'm not insisting on anything as being fact.
You can speculate, but you can't be that specific. There's no reason to think that could be possible.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
The absence of evidence is evidence of absence.
Until there is evidence for any of this "supernatural" stuff, it doesn't exist.