05 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Disproving Miracles
A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined. Why is it more than probable, that all men must die; that lead cannot, of itself, remain suspended in the air; that fire consumes wood, and is extinguished by water; unless it be, that these events are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and t...Folksonomies: natural law miracle
Folksonomies: natural law miracle
1 
notes
notesBy definition, it is a violation of the laws of nature. Where do we see this happen ever?
27 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The Unexplainable
Given the universe, even a universe devoide of matter as such but provided with the actual laws of nature, everything that exists could, and I firmly believe did, develop from and in this without outside, divine, supernatural interference. But that universe, with its laws! For one thing there is nothing inevitable about the laws. It is a fact that masses attract each other, that gravity exists, but a universe in which masses repelled each other is also conceivable, and in it nothing could pos...
1 The Universe is ultimately unexplainable, and to call it "god" does nothing to counter this fact.
28 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Laws of Physics as God's Laws
The subsequent course of nature, teaches, that God, indeed, gave motion to matter; but that, in the beginning, he so guided the various motion of the parts of it, as to contrive them into the world he design'd they should compose; and establish'd those rules of motion, and that order amongst things corporeal, which we call the laws of nature. Thus, the universe being once fram'd by God, and the laws of motion settled, and all upheld by his perpetual concourse, and general providence; the same...Folksonomies: physics natural law
Folksonomies: physics natural law
1 notes
notesBoyle describes an atomic philosophy of nature.
12 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
What is a "Law of Nature"?
Our modern understanding of the term "law of nature" is an issue philosophers argue at length, and it is a more subde question than one may at first think. For example, the philosopher John W. Carroll compared the statement "All gold spheres are less than a mile in diameter" to a statement like "All uranium-23 spheres are less than a mile in diameter." Our observations of the world tell us that there are no gold spheres larger than a mile wide, and we can be pretty confident there never will ... 1 notes
notesMany laws of nature are conclusions drawn from the larger "interconnected system of laws."
03 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Science Laws are Intrinsic, Not Heirarchical
In science, law is not a rule imposed from without, but an expression of an intrinsic process. The laws of the lawgiver are impotent beside the laws of human nature, as to his disillusion many a lawgiver has discovered. A quote from Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt about the emergent nature of scientific laws, which are not imposed from an authority, but come from within nature.
17 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Terrors Flee Reason
As soon as your reasoning, sprung from that godlike mind, lifts up its voice to proclaim the nature of the universe, then the terrors of the mind take flight, the ramparts of the world roll apart, and I see the march of events throughout the whole of space. The majesty of the gods [4] is revealed and those quiet habitations, never shaken by storms or drenched by rain-clouds or defaced by white drifts of snow which a harsh frost congeals. A cloudless ether roofs them and laughs with radiance l... 1 notes
notesWhen you recognize the natural laws of the universe, superstitious fears leave you.
20 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
The Fact of Our Own Existence
The fact of our own existence is almost too surprising to bear. So is the fact that we are
surrounded by a rich ecosystem of animals that more or less closely resemble us, by plants that
resemble us a little less and on which we ultimately depend for our nourishment, and by bacteria
that resemble our remoter ancestors and to which we shall all return in decay when our time is past.
Darwin was way ahead of his time in understanding the magnitude of the problem of our existence,
as well as in t... 1 notes
notesAn eloquent rebuttal to the Anthropogenic principle.
03 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Text of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
An Act for establishing religious Freedom.
Whereas, Almighty God hath created the mind free;
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and therefore are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being Lord, both of body and mind yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do,
that the impious presumption of legislator...Written in 1777.
23 MAR 2011 by ideonexus
Summary of Schopenhauer's Philosophy
[Schopenhauer] was also an atheist. He did not believe in a personal, omnipotent God.
Instead, Schopenhauer believed that the essence of the universe is Being: a blind, irrational, unquenchable thirst to exist he called Wille zum Leben, and that everything we perceive is a representation of this Will to Live.
Because we ourselves are products of Will, we spend most of our lives trapped in a cycle of striving and boredom.
We're constantly willing ourselves to attain our goals, and when we d... 1 notes
notesA brief explanation that sounds familiar to atheism/secularism.
