The Baha'i Studies Listserv On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 8:21 PM, Don Calkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > On Nov 19, 2008, at 9:13 AM, Gilberto Simpson wrote: > >> I would agree in the sense that the classic philosophical "proofs" for >> the existence of God are insufficient. But I don't believe that what >> you wrote above is a genderally valid principle. (e.g. It is possible >> for women to prove the existence of men. It is possible for people to >> prove the existence of polar bears. Mathematicians can prove the >> existence of fixed points. > > > Only if you add in experience.
Ok but then you didn't exclude it either. Or another way to think about it is that religious experiences are also another way to confirm the existence of God (at least for the individual who has it). > If women had no experience of men, i.e., if there was no set in which > contained both, ;;;how could they prove the others existance? > I guess we are just using language differently. Being a member of a set is (to me) not the same as sharing experiences. > > As to fixed points, are they ever proven? or just defined? > Regarding fixed points, there are a number of nice theorems which give certain situations when fixed points exists. They are associated with some rather interesting results. e.g. 1. "you can't comb a hairy ball" (without leaving a cowlick somewhere) 2. At any given time on earth there are two antipodal points with the "same weather" (identical temperature and identical air pressure). You can replace temperature and pressure with any other continuously changing real-valued quantity. 3. Take two identical standard maps of some part of the world.. Lay one of them flat on a table. Take the second and crumple/fold it however you wish. (just don't rip or puncture it). If you take the second map and place it on top of the first map then *some* point on the second map will lie directly on top of the corresponding location on the first map. (e.g. Chicago will be on top of Chicago, Springfield will be on top of Springfield, .. *somewhere*) -G __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
