23Nov 2022 by Post

“Poor Design”? Actually, the Human Body Is Amazing; Here’s Why

architecture, bicycling, biology, blood, Chemistry, colors, darkness, death, ears, Engineering, equilibrium, Evolution, eyes, heart, human body, information, Intelligent Design, internal temperature, James Dobson, life, light, lungs, Medicine, oxygen, photons, physicians, physics, piano, reproduction, Richard Dawkins, running, Steve Laufmann, swimming, systems, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, triathlon, Walt Whitman
If someone suggests that a coherent, interdependent system of systems arose by chance, they’ll need to back that up with a detailed engineering analysis. Source
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11Oct 2022 by Post

Theory in Crisis? Redefining Science

American Astronomical Society, Biophysical Society, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, Dark Ages, Enlightenment, Evolution, gravity, Harvey Lodish, Intelligent Design, Is Darwinism a Theory in Crisis? (series), Isaac Newton, materialism, Modern Age, Nature (journal), Philosophy of Science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, Walther Nernst
Scientific revolutions are often marked by disputes over the “standard that distinguishes a real scientific solution from a mere metaphysical speculation.” Source
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27May 2022 by Post

Troubles with the Tree of Life

Acta Biotheoretica, Amadeo Estrada, DNA, Evolution, evolutionary theory, Intelligent Design, Last Universal Common Ancestor, Latin America, LUCA, molecular sequences, molecular studies, National Autonomous University of Mexico, origin of life, Philosophy of Science, reconstructions, Research, RNA, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn, Tree of Life, W. Ford Doolittle
Sixty years ago, philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn listed what he described as the “symptoms” of a research field undergoing destabilizing change. Source
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17Jun 2020 by Post

Trapped in the Naturalistic Parabola

abiogenesis, American Federation of Teachers, cell phone, Chemistry, Evolution, evolutionists, Faraday cage, federal courts, geometry, hydrolysis, Intelligent Design, Ludwick Fleck, Luke, methodological naturalism, National Academy of Sciences, Naturalistic Parabola, Oparin-Haldane model, origin of life, Origin of Species, parabola, paradigm, Prado Museum, proteins, reducing atmosphere, San Francisco, Sisyphus, smoked herring, strange loop, Thomas Kuhn, Titian
The principles of an alien [thought] collective are, if noticed at all, felt to be arbitrary and their possible legitimacy as begging the question. The alien way of thought seems like mysticism. The questions it rejects will often be regarded as the most important ones, its explanations as proving nothing or as missing the point, its problems as often unimportant or meaningless trivialities.Ludwik Fleck, 1935  When paradigms enter, as they must, into a debate about paradigm choice, their role is necessarily circular. Each group uses its own paradigm to argue in that paradigm’s defense.T.S. Kuhn, 1970 …a wide chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross from this side to you cannot do so, nor can they cross from your side to us.Luke 16:26 Don’t…
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06Apr 2020 by Post

Opposition Is True Friendship: A Remembrance of Adolf Grünbaum (1923-2018)

Adolf Grünbaum, Alec Stewart, art school, Arthur Schopenhauer, atheists, Bas van Fraassen, Bertrand Russell, Brahma, Carl (“Peter”) Hempel, Carnegie Mellon University, Catholics, Cologne, depression, Education, Faith & Science, Forbes Avenue, German, Germany, Intelligent Design, Jews, Joseph Stalin, Kristallnacht, National Academy of Sciences, Nazis, Nicholas Rescher, Notre Dame University, Philip Quinn, Phillip Kitcher, Philosophy of Science, Protestants, Richard Feynman, Robert Griffiths, Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, Thomas Kuhn, U.S. Army, University of Pittsburgh, Vishnu, Wesleyan University, Yale University
“Opposition is true friendship.” —William Blake (1793) Art School Dropout Becomes Wannabe Philosopher of Science In September 1980, as an art school dropout, I wandered into the University of Pittsburgh and the best philosophy of science program in the world. At the time, I had no clue about Pittsburgh’s high standing in this particular academic field. I had no clue about much of anything, actually, except that I was keenly interested in questions about the foundations of science. Pitt was local, affordable, and by some inexplicable kindness, they had admitted me. (Years earlier, to show the world how unhappy I was with my art school, I stopped attending classes there, but for inscrutable reasons, still registered and continued to make the tuition payments. Understandably, this persuaded the art school that,…
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