philosophers of science

Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. The phrase "up to ourselves" is vague, and, just like free will itself, admits of a variety of interpretations. Because of this ambiguity, the utility of the concept of free will is questioned by some. Several logically independent questions can be asked about free will. Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism. Determinism holds that each state of affairs is necessitated (determined) by the states of aff ...

Including:

• Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism
• Free will - Moral responsibility
• Free will - Compatibilist theories and the could-have-done-otherwise principle
• Free will - The science of free will
• Free will - Neurology and psychiatry
• Free will - Determinism and emergent behaviour
• Free will - In theology
• Free will - In Christian thought
• Free will - In Jewish thought

Read more here: » Free will: Encyclopedia - Free will

Purpose is deliberately thought-through goal-directedness. According to some philosophies, purpose is central to a good human life. Helen Keller wrote that happiness comes from "fidelity to a worthy purpose", and Ayn Rand wrote that purpose must be one of the three ruling values of human life (the others are reason and self-esteem). Some people think that God assigns purposes to people and that it is their mission to fulfill them. Others say that purpose is not inherent, but instead freely chosen (or not chosen) by individuals. ...

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Schumacher was very much in favour of the scientific spirit; but felt that the dominant methodology within science, which he called materialistic scientism was flawed; and stood in the way of achieving knowledge in any other arena than inanimate nature. Schumacher believed that this flaw originated in the writings of Descartes and Francis Bacon, when modern science was first established. Schumacher makes a distinction between the descriptive and instructional sciences. According to Schumacher the descriptive sciences are primarily con ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism

Morris grew up in Texas in the 1920s and 1930s and was a religiously indifferent youth. Morris graduated from Rice University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1939. Shortly afterwards he became a Christian and adopted Biblical inerrancy. On January 24, 1940 he married Mary Louise ..?.. and they later had six children. From his graduation to 1942 he was a hydraulic engineer working with the International Boundary and Water Commission, El Paso, Texas. He then returned to Rice University to teach civil engineering from 19 ...

See also:

Henry M. Morris, Henry M. Morris - Biography, Henry M. Morris - Beliefs, Henry M. Morris - Bibliography, Henry M. Morris - Morris' Writings, Henry M. Morris - Historical Background and Assessments

Read more here: » Henry M. Morris: Encyclopedia II - Henry M. Morris - Biography

Morris grew up in Texas in the 1920s and 1930s and was a religiously indifferent youth. Morris graduated from Rice University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1939. Shortly afterwards he became a Christian and adopted Biblical inerrancy. On January 24, 1940 he married Mary Louise ..?.. and they later had six children. From his graduation to 1942 he was a a hydraulic engineer working with the International Boundary and Water Commission, El Paso, Texas. He then returned to Rice University to teach civil engineering from ...

See also:

Henry M. Morris, Henry M. Morris - Biography, Henry M. Morris - Beliefs, Henry M. Morris - Bibliography, Henry M. Morris - Morris' Writings, Henry M. Morris - Historical Background and Assessments

Read more here: » Henry M. Morris: Encyclopedia II - Henry M. Morris - Biography

David Bloor has contrasted the so-called weak programme (or 'program' — either spelling is used) which merely gives social explanations for erroneous beliefs, with what he called the strong programme, which considers sociological factors as influencing all beliefs. The weak programme is more of a description of an approach than an organised movement. The term is applied to historians, sociologists and philosophers of science who merely cite sociological factors as being responsible for those beliefs that went wrong. Karl Popper, ...

See also:

Sociology of scientific knowledge, Sociology of scientific knowledge - Programmes and schools, Sociology of scientific knowledge - Sokal affair, Sociology of scientific knowledge - Criticism, Sociology of scientific knowledge - Reference, Sociology of scientific knowledge - For a recent sourcebook see:

Read more here: » Sociology of scientific knowledge: Encyclopedia II - Sociology of scientific knowledge - Programmes and schools

The theological doctrine of divine foreknowledge is often alleged to be in conflict with free will. After all, if God knows exactly what will happen, right down to every choice one makes, how can one's choices be free? God's already true or timelessly true knowledge about one's choices seems to constrain one's freedom. This problem is related to the Aristotelian problem of the sea-battle: tomorrow there will or will not be a sea-battle. If there will be one, then it was true yesterday that there would be one. Then it would be necessary that ...

See also:

Free will, Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism, Free will - Moral responsibility, Free will - Compatibilist theories and the could-have-done-otherwise principle, Free will - The science of free will, Free will - Neurology and psychiatry, Free will - Determinism and emergent behaviour, Free will - In theology, Free will - In Christian thought, Free will - In Jewish thought

Read more here: » Free will: Encyclopedia II - Free will - In theology

Schumacher in a digression from his main argument discusses the nature and importance of art. He notes that there is considerable confusion about the nature and meaning of art; but argues that this confusion dissipates when one considers art with relation to its affect on human beings. Most art fits into two categories. If art is designed to primarily affect our feelings then it is entertainment; while if art is primarily d ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - Art

Schumacher argues that there are two types of problems in the world: convergent divergent For Schumacher recognising which type a problem is is one of the arts of living. Convergent problems are ones in which attempted solutions gradually converge on one solution or answer. An example of this has been the development of the bicycle. Early attempts at developing man powered vehicle included three and four wheelers; and involved wheel ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem

Schumacher notes that within philosophy there is no field in more disarray than ethics. He argues that this is because most ethical debate sidesteps any "prior clarification of the purpose of human life on the earth."[19] Schumacher believes that ethics is the study of divergent problems; which require transcendence by ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man

Schumacher's treatise is as relevant today as when it first written. It is a book that is highly popular among the religious and spiritual community, because it provides a powerful defence for the religious and spiritual spheres that is grounded solely in scientific argument. Schumacher's argument stands or falls on his view that there are levels of being, that there are ontological differences between mineral, life, animal and human. The dominant scientific view still remains that there is no such differentiation of being, and so from that perspec ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections

Schumacher identifies four fields of knowledge for the individual: I → inner I → other persons other persons → I I → the world Schumacher notes that humans only have direct access to fields one and four. Field one is being aware of your feelings and thoughts and most closely correlates to self awareness. Schumacher argues this is fundamentally the study of attention. He differentiates between when your attention is captured by the item it focuses upon, which is when a human ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge

For Schumacher one of sciences major mistakes has been rejecting the traditional philosophical and religious view that the universe is a hierarchy of being. Schumacher makes an elegant restatement of the traditional chain of being. Schumacher agrees with the traditional view that there are four kingdoms: Mineral Plant Animal Man Schumacher argues that there are critical differences of kind between each level of being. Between mineral and plant is the phenomenon of life, As Schumach ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being

Throughout the history of science, attempts have been made to answer the question of free will using scientific principles. Early scientific thought often pictured the universe as deterministic, and some thinkers believed that it was simply a matter of gathering sufficient information to be able to predict future events with perfect accuracy. While not mechanistic in the same sense as classical physics, most current scientific theories are also deterministic, by necessity — it is a basic assumption of all scientific endeavours that the future can be predicted. It is also difficult, if not impossible, ...

See also:

Free will, Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism, Free will - Moral responsibility, Free will - Compatibilist theories and the could-have-done-otherwise principle, Free will - The science of free will, Free will - Neurology and psychiatry, Free will - Determinism and emergent behaviour, Free will - In theology, Free will - In Christian thought, Free will - In Jewish thought

Read more here: » Free will: Encyclopedia II - Free will - The science of free will

Morris believes that science cannot be used to study God's creative act. Instead, he believes that any evidence of past events must be interpreted through a non-scientific framework. For example, in his book Scientific Creationism he states: . . . it must also be emphasized that it is impossible to prove scientifically any particular concept of origins to be true. This is obvious from the fact that the essence of the scientific method is experimental observation and repeatability. A scientific investigator, be he e ...

See also:

Henry M. Morris, Henry M. Morris - Biography, Henry M. Morris - Beliefs, Henry M. Morris - Bibliography, Henry M. Morris - Morris' Writings, Henry M. Morris - Historical Background and Assessments

Read more here: » Henry M. Morris: Encyclopedia II - Henry M. Morris - Beliefs

Determinism holds that each state of affairs is necessitated (determined) by the states of affairs that preceded it, an extension of cause and effect. Indeterminism holds this proposition to be incorrect, and that there are events which are not entirely determined by previous states of affairs. The idea of determinism is sometimes illustrated by the story of Laplace's demon, who knows all the facts about the past and present and all the natural laws that govern our world, and us ...

See also:

Free will, Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism, Free will - Moral responsibility, Free will - Compatibilist theories and the could-have-done-otherwise principle, Free will - The science of free will, Free will - Neurology and psychiatry, Free will - Determinism and emergent behaviour, Free will - In theology, Free will - In Christian thought, Free will - In Jewish thought

Read more here: » Free will: Encyclopedia II - Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism

Many claim that, in order for a choice to be free in any sense that matters, it must be true that the agent could have done otherwise. They take this principle — van Inwagen calls it the "principle of alternate possibilities" — to be a necessary condition for freedom. The literary critic Isaiah Berlin made much the same point. The claim is that, for example, if a criminal puts a machine in Bob's brain that makes him kill a stranger, his action was not free, for Bob couldn't have done otherwise. Incompatibilists often appeal to thi ...

See also:

Free will, Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism, Free will - Moral responsibility, Free will - Compatibilist theories and the could-have-done-otherwise principle, Free will - The science of free will, Free will - Neurology and psychiatry, Free will - Determinism and emergent behaviour, Free will - In theology, Free will - In Christian thought, Free will - In Jewish thought

Read more here: » Free will: Encyclopedia II - Free will - Compatibilist theories and the could-have-done-otherwise principle

We generally hold people responsible for their actions, and will say that they deserve praise or blame for what they do. However, many believe moral responsibility to require free will, in other words, the ability to do otherwise. Thus, another important issue is whether we are ever morally responsible, and if so, in what sense. Incompatibilists tend to think that determinism is at odds with moral responsibility. After all, how can one hold someone responsible for an action that could be predicted from the beginning of time? Hard dete ...

See also:

Free will, Free will - Determinism versus indeterminism, Free will - Moral responsibility, Free will - Compatibilist theories and the could-have-done-otherwise principle, Free will - The science of free will, Free will - Neurology and psychiatry, Free will - Determinism and emergent behaviour, Free will - In theology, Free will - In Christian thought, Free will - In Jewish thought

Read more here: » Free will: Encyclopedia II - Free will - Moral responsibility

For Schumacher, the great truth of adequateness is that nothing can be known without an appropriate instrument in the make up of the knower. Everything around us must be matched with some faculty within us, otherwise we remain unaware of its existence. He quotes Plotinus "Knowing demands the organ fitted to the object."[10] Schumacher explains that the bodily senses are adequate for perceiving inanimate matter; but we need 'intellectual' senses f ...

See also:

A Guide for the Perplexed, A Guide for the Perplexed - Critique of materialistic scientism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Evolutionism, A Guide for the Perplexed - Levels of being, A Guide for the Perplexed - Progressions, A Guide for the Perplexed - Implications, A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness, A Guide for the Perplexed - Four fields of knowledge, A Guide for the Perplexed - Two types of problem, A Guide for the Perplexed - Art, A Guide for the Perplexed - The tasks of man, A Guide for the Perplexed - Reflections, A Guide for the Perplexed - Footnotes

Read more here: » A Guide for the Perplexed: Encyclopedia II - A Guide for the Perplexed - Adequateness