On Sat, Apr 13, 2013 at 5:56 PM, John Clark <johnkcl...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 6:54 PM, Stephen Paul King > <kingstephenp...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > It seems to me that the very idea of singular causes and singular >> > effects is deeply flawed. > > > Deeply flawed or not that reductionist philosophy has taught us everything > we know about science.
The theory of evolution as proposed by Darwin is non-reductionist. It relies on the concept of "natural selection", which is an holistic concept. Reductionism is more effective because of a selection bias. Problems that can be solved by reductionism are easier. Finding a cure for cancer or understanding exactly how the brain works resist the reductionist approach to this day. > If we believe in a holistic approach and assumed that > we can't know anything until we know everything then we'd be stuck in a rut > forever. You're creating a false dichotomy. It doesn't have to be single cause or know everything. There are many possibilities in between. >> > Can you point to a few examples of singular causes? > > > I can do better than that, I can give a example of a effect with no cause at > all, the creation of virtual particles. One could argue that they are the result of some condition created by the Big Bang. Causality is just a human concept anyway. >> > All examples that I can think of have a line of regress behind them... > > > So that means there is either a infinite regress of causes and effects like > the layers of a infinite onion with no fundamental layer, or there is a > effect without a cause. Neither of those possibilities is emotionally > satisfying to some people but one of them must be true. Unless we question causality itself. Which we should. This is why Science is not the only way to pursue knowledge and Philosophy is necessary. Telmo. > John K Clark > > > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
