Knowing

epistemology, science, kinds of knowledge, methodology

Distinctions of Genesis 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The merism “the heavens and and the earth” indicates the totality of what God created. It also indicates the first distinction, which is between the heavens and the earth. The subsequent focus on the earth indicates that the earth is the marked state (cf. post […]

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Occam’s razor

Occam’s Razor (also called Ockham’s Razor) refers to a principle of parsimony or simplicity in modern science associated with the medieval monk William of Ockham. His principle states: “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” The word “entities” is ambiguous here: what should be minimized, the total number of entities of any kind or the number of kinds

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Falsification or limitation?

Karl Popper made falsification the key to scientific legitimacy. But as others have pointed out, scientists do not spend much time trying to falsify theories. Instead, they work to confirm and extend theories. Moreover, an observation that goes against a theory doesn’t falsify the whole theory; it creates an anomaly that can be dealt with

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Approval voting

When Benjamin Netanyahu “won” a recent Israeli election, his Likud party actually won 30 of 120 seats in Parliament. Because this was a plurality, they would have the first shot at forming a “government” (called an administration in the U.S.) by forming a coalition with other parties. So it was really a coalition that won

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Intensional science

The word intension is not as well-known as its homophone intention. The word intension denotes the intrinsic meaning of a word, also called the comprehension or connotation. It contrasts with the extension, which denotes the range of applicability or objects to which the word refers, also known as the denotation. For example, the intension of “boat” is “a

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Creation and paradigm

Creation is a fact. Creation is the oldest fact but creation as a paradigm is relatively new. Let me explain. The word “paradigm” was used by Thomas Kuhn for “universally recognized scientific achievements that, for a time, provide model problems and solutions for a community of practitioners.” I would characterize a paradigm as a theme or

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Science and theology

Much discussion continues on the topic of “science and religion” but the concept of religion is vague or arbitrary so it is better to focus on “science and theology.” Christian theology in particular does have some relation to science. Historians have documented the role that Christianity played in the rise of modern science. For example,

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Science is not universal

When Isaac Newton published his Principia with its laws of motion, he asserted their universal application. Since he had unified motion on the surface of the earth with the motion of the solar system, it was a powerful argument. Nevertheless, to claim universal application excessively extrapolated and interpolated far beyond any data available at the time. But you

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Science and terminology

Science is knowledge (scientia) that is systematically gained and/or organized. That entails that the terminology of science be systematic, i.e, a nomenclature rather than a hodgepodge of terms. This can make discussions about science hard since people have to learn a body of nomenclature before understanding a science. This applies to all sciences, whether natural sciences,

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Two kinds of negation

This is a follow-up to the introductory post on Laws of Form here. There are two kinds of negation: contraries and contradictories, and Laws of Form (LoF) represents both types. Furthermore both types apply to terms and propositions. Contraries are two complete opposites; the negation of one is the other. The poles of a magnet

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