DOCSLIB.ORG

A New Metaphysics for Christian Demonology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

A NEW METAPHYSICS FOR CHRISTIAN DEMONOLOGY: PSYCHODYNAMIC IMMATERIALISM BY Shandon Lou Guthrie A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, POLITICS & PHILOSOPHY, MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2015 ABSTRACT Many philosophers throughout Christianity’s history have asserted the existence of intermediary beings or, in more familiar terms, angels and demons. According to Christianity, God, angels, demons, and human souls are all thought to share a common nature, namely ‘spirit.’ This ‘spirit’ is thought to signify immateriality. Yet each is said to interact with the physical world. God, who is conceived of as omnipotent, can interact with the world simply at will. Human souls are paired with bodies which provides them the equipment to interact with the world. Angels receive special assistance from God by which they interact with the world. But demons, unlike angels, are not likely to benefit from any special assistance from God (unlike angels), nor are they themselves omnipotent (unlike God), nor are they paired with bodies (unlike humans). However, demons are believed to interact occasionally with this physical world. But how can an immaterial demon interact with a material world? Any appeals to the same explanations for how other immaterial beings (viz. humans, angels, or God) interact with the physical world will not do. I propose a solution that is consonant with their being purely immaterial creatures and yet does not rely on such an ad hoc manoeuvre. I argue that they actually never do interact with the physical world apart from their exploitation of human beings as proxies. I propose to explain their interaction in terms of their basic ability to cognitively interact with embodied souls. I call this sustaining affirmation of their immateriality along with this particular relationship they have with the world through human beings psychodynamic immaterialism. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have been fortunate to have had a great deal of support from family, friends, scholars, and clergy who not only believed in this work but actively shaped it. Though I could easily mention a number of names, I shall limit myself to those who impacted me the most in bringing this thesis into fruition. I would like to first thank my supervisor, Dr. Lloyd Strickland, for his continual guidance, challenging criticisms, and support. Without his input, along with his friendship, the final result of this work would not have been achievable. I would also like to thank Jordan Fishel for our many hours of stimulating conversation over the seminal ideas that led to the commencement of this work. Likewise, I must acknowledge my friend, Alan Rhoda, for some additional thoughts on the subject while we occasionally indulged in the cuisine of a local Mexican grill. Olé! In addition, I must also thank Jason Valentine for his warm friendship over the years. It was his thoughtfulness and humour that allowed me to find joy in this research. When there’s something strange in your demonology, who you gonna call? Perhaps no greater support has been offered to me than that of my wife, Shelli, who loved and supported me during the entire development of this thesis. She has been my conscience and my anchor during times when I did not believe in myself. She is indeed the love of my life and I am forever grateful for her. I have also benefited in unexpected ways from my children, Alexander, KatieAnn, and Rebekah. They made it possible for me to disengage from the stress of daily research in order to enjoy the moment. CONTENTS Chapter 1. Introduction . 1 2. Metaphysical Interpretations of Demonology in Christian History . 21 3. Psychodynamic Immaterialism: Pure Immaterialism and Cognitive Interactionism . 60 4. The Coherence of the Notion of Pure Immaterialism . 91 5. The Case for the Pure Immateriality of Demons . 134 6. Objections to the Pure Immateriality of Demons . 160 7. The Coherence of the Notion of Soul‐Soul Interaction . 192 8. The Case for the Exclusivity of Demonic Cognitive Interaction . 217 9. Objections to the Exclusivity of Demonic Cognitive Interaction . 247 10. Concluding Summary and the Future of the Philosophy of Demonology . 284 Bibliography . 305 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Setting the Stage The ontic category of intermediary beings, or angels, has long been considered a topic on the fringe of intellectual investigation. Perhaps this is due to its subject matter being relegated to the specialised discipline of theology. The old question, ‘How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?’ is often a clichéd reminder that metaphysical discussions about angels can never be, so we are told, resolved from the standpoint of discursive reasoning. However, belief in such beings along with their alleged characteristics may be apprehended through the medium of what is called ‘revealed theology.’1 In an attempt to overturn this perception for the analytic philosopher, I shall be exploring one of the greatest intellectual mysteries and challenges to an overtly Christian philosophy: Demonology.2 Demonology has long been a subject often considered too toxic for academics to entertain – toxic for both theologians and philosophers alike. As such it is not hard to appreciate how the metaphysics of demonology remains underdeveloped as it has been quietly relocated to the background of the Christian Weltanschauung. 1 Revealed theology refers to the view that ‘we can know about God only through God’s own self‐ disclosure, that is through revelation […] a divine self‐disclosure through such means as visions, dreams, oracles, or, as was the case with the faith of Israel, through God’s mighty actions within human history’. David Stewart, Exploring the Philosophy of Religion, 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007), p. 118. 2 I recognise that demonology simpliciter is not the sole province of a Christian world‐view. For an extended survey of its intimation outside of Christianity, see Edward Langton, Essentials of Demonology (London: Epworth, 1949). 1 Despite the paucity of philosophical investigation into demonology, as a religious practise it figures quite prominently in populations around the world.3 Typically, philosophers will engage subjects that command the attention and assent of the masses. We can see this in religious practices in general where certain doctrines and praxes that receive widespread attention tend to be investigated by philosophers. Their goals may vary in engaging such beliefs, but they share in common attempts to elucidate those beliefs and their accompanying doctrines by applying the tools of critical examination to them. Demonology is no exception. It is an under‐researched area amongst philosophers, perhaps for those reasons noted above. Therefore, one of the goals of this thesis is to take a step toward remedying this – a step that helps to relieve this lack of work in what we might refer to as a philosophy of demonology. For millennia, religious thought has sought to articulate an aetiology of evil and suffering. Typically, as in monotheism, this has taken the form of a belief in demons personal agents that have intercourse with human beings. In Christianity’s principal source of doctrinal authority, the Bible, these intercourses are clearly felt by participants. But since such intercourses appear not to be felt by the majority in recent history, it has left the modern sceptic in a safe and easy position to deny the existence of such creatures. Yet belief in demons, even among academics, continues into the modern and post‐modern worlds thriving primarily as a belief based on scripture.4 While believers in the existence of demons have to 3 Christopher Partridge and Eric Christianson track the notable increase in such belief in America by pointing out that in 1968 ‘60 percent believed in the literal existence of Satan. In 1994 it had risen to 65.5 percent and in 2001 a Gallup poll found that it had again risen to 68 percent […]. During the last decade, it has grown from 65.5 percent in 1994 to 70 percent in 2004’. The Lure of the Dark Side: Satan & Western Demonology in Popular Culture (London: Routledge, 2014), p. 11. 4 According to a North American study by the Barna Group, at least 26% of Christians believe that Satan is a real being (‘Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist’, The Barna Group (2009), <http://www.barna.org/barna‐update/article/12‐faithspirituality/260‐most‐american‐christians‐do‐not‐believe‐ 2 make their case to a modern world, they must also satisfactorily offer a coherent understanding of what they are.5 The third‐century Christian philosopher Origen once made the following observation that applies equally to the modern situation as it did when he wrote these words: Regarding the devil and his angels, and the opposing influences, the teachings of the Church has laid down that these beings exist indeed; but what they are, or how they exist, it has not explained with sufficient clearness.6 Attempts to formulate such a philosophy of demonology have been confounded by the lack of any explicit biblical teachings that clarify such matters. But as with other doctrines with similar deficits of biblical material, Christian philosophers and theologians had gone to work in clarifying, and in some cases ‘creedalising’, their results. As will be demonstrated, Christian philosophers are far from offering even a coherent metaphysical portrait of demons much less a creedal one on which Christianity’s followers may sign off. The goal of this thesis is to offer up a philosophical thought experiment. I do not intend to defend or offer an appraisal of any particular kind of demonology. Instead, my arguments that‐śāṭān‐or‐the‐holy‐spirit‐exis> [accessed 21 April 2015].); Alvin Plantinga, in commenting on academia, writes that '[t]here are large numbers of educated contemporaries (including even some with Ph.D's!) who believe [...] that there are both demons and spirits who are active in the contemporary world.
Recommended publications
  • The Storyworld Dynamics of Supernatural

    The Storyworld Dynamics of Supernatural

    PRODUCTIONS / MARKETS / STRATEGIES ANGELS, DEMONS AND WHATEVER COMES NEXT: THE STORYWORLD DYNAMICS OF SUPERNATURAL FLORENT FAVARD Name Florent Favard the series with an analysis of its writing, production and Academic centre IECA, Université de Lorraine reception contexts, and divides the long-running series into E-mail address [email protected] four eras, each defined by a specific showrunner. It starts by exploring the context of the series’ creation, before KEYWORDS cataloguing the shifting dynamics of the storyworld during Storyworld; narratology; writing; ethos; showrunner. the four eras: the ‘stealth teleological’ approach of series creator Eric Kripke; the complex reconfigurations of the Sera Gamble era; the ‘mythology reboot’ of the Jeremy ABSTRACT Carver era; and the ever-increasing stakes and expansionist This paper explores the narrative dynamics of the fantasy dynamics of the Andrew Dabb era. The aim of this paper television series Supernatural (2005-) in order to better is to show how ‘periodising’ a long-running series by using understand how this particular program has become a close-reading and studying the dynamics of a storyworld backbone of The CW network. Combining formal and can expand and complete analysis focused on audiences contextual narratologies, it blends a close-reading of and the genesis of the text. 19 SERIES VOLUME IV, Nº 2, WINTER 2018: 19-26 DOI https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454X/8164 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TV SERIAL NARRATIVES ISSN 2421-454X INVESTIGATING THE CW PRODUCTIONS / MARKETS / STRATEGIES > FLORENT FAVARD ANGELS, DEMONS AND WHATEVER COMES NEXT: THE STORYWORLD DYNAMICS OF SUPERNATURAL The Apocalypse has just been averted.
  • Magicians, Sorcerers and Witches: Considering Pretantric, Non-Sectarian Sources of Tantric Practices

    Magicians, Sorcerers and Witches: Considering Pretantric, Non-Sectarian Sources of Tantric Practices

    Article Magicians, Sorcerers and Witches: Considering Pretantric, Non-sectarian Sources of Tantric Practices Ronald M. Davidson Department of Religious Studies, Farifield University, Fairfield, CT 06824, USA; [email protected] Received: 27 June 2017; Accepted: 23 August 2017; Published: 13 September 2017 Abstract: Most models on the origins of tantrism have been either inattentive to or dismissive of non-literate, non-sectarian ritual systems. Groups of magicians, sorcerers or witches operated in India since before the advent of tantrism and continued to perform ritual, entertainment and curative functions down to the present. There is no evidence that they were tantric in any significant way, and it is not clear that they were concerned with any of the liberation ideologies that are a hallmark of the sectarian systems, even while they had their own separate identities and specific divinities. This paper provides evidence for the durability of these systems and their continuation as sources for some of the ritual and nomenclature of the sectarian tantric traditions, including the predisposition to ritual creativity and bricolage. Keywords: tantra; mantra; ritual; magician; sorcerer; seeress; vidyādhara; māyākāra; aindrajālika; non-literate 1. Introduction1 In the emergence of alternative religious systems such as tantrism, a number of factors have historically been seen at play. Among these are elements that might be called ‘pre-existing’. That is, they themselves are not representative of the eventual emergent system, but they provide some of the raw material—ritual, ideological, terminological, functional, or other—for its development. Indology, and in particular the study of Indian ritual, has been less than adroit at discussing such phenomena, especially when it may be designated or classified as ‘magical’ in some sense.
  • SOURCES of MEDIEVAL DEMONOLOGY by Diana Lynn Walzel When Most of Us Think of Demons Today, If We Do Think of Them, Some Medieval Imp Undoubtedly Comes to Mind

    SOURCES of MEDIEVAL DEMONOLOGY by Diana Lynn Walzel When Most of Us Think of Demons Today, If We Do Think of Them, Some Medieval Imp Undoubtedly Comes to Mind

    SOURCES OF MEDIEVAL DEMONOLOGY by Diana Lynn Walzel When most of us think of demons today, if we do think of them, some medieval imp undoubtedly comes to mind. The lineage of the medieval demon, and the modern conception thereof, can be traced to four main sources, all of which have links to the earliest human civilizations. Greek philosophy, Jewish apocryphal literature, Biblical doctrine, and pagan Germanic folklore all contribute elements to the demons which flourished in men's minds at the close of the medieval period. It is my purpose briefly to delineate the demonology of each of these sources and to indicate their relationship to each other. Homer had equated demons with gods and used daimon and theos as synonyms. Later writers gave a different nuance and even definition to the word daimon, but the close relationship between demons and the gods was never completely lost from sight. In the thinkers of Middle Platonism the identification of demons with the gods was revived, and this equation is ever-present in Christian authors. Hesiod had been the first to view demons as other than gods, consider- ing them the departed souls of men living in the golden age. Going a step further, Pythagoras believed the soul of any man became a demon when separated from the body. A demon, then, was simply a bodiless soul. In Platonic thought there was great confusion between demons and human souls. There seems to have been an actual distinction between the two for Plato, but what the distinction was is impossible now to discern.
  • De-Demonising the Old Testament

    De-Demonising the Old Testament

    De-Demonising the Old Testament An Investigation of Azazel , Lilith , Deber , Qeteb and Reshef in the Hebrew Bible Judit M. Blair Doctor of Philosophy University of Edinburgh 2008 Declaration I declare that the present thesis has been composed by me, that it represents my own research, and that it has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. ______________________ Judit M. Blair ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people to thank and acknowledge for their support and help over the past years. Firstly I would like to thank the School of Divinity for the scholarship and the opportunity they provided me in being able to do this PhD. I would like to thank my ‘numerous’ supervisors who have given of their time, energy and knowledge in making this thesis possible: To Professor Hans Barstad for his patience, advice and guiding hand, in particular for his ‘adopting’ me as his own. For his understanding and help with German I am most grateful. To Dr Peter Hayman for giving of his own time to help me in learning Hebrew, then accepting me to study for a PhD, and in particular for his attention to detail. To Professor Nick Wyatt who supervised my Masters and PhD before his retirement for his advice and support. I would also like to thank the staff at New College Library for their assistance at all times, and Dr Jessie Paterson and Bronwen Currie for computer support. My fellow colleagues have provided feedback and helpful criticism and I would especially like to thank all members of HOTS-lite I have known over the years.
  • ABSTRACT the Women of Supernatural: More Than

    ABSTRACT the Women of Supernatural: More Than

    ABSTRACT The Women of Supernatural: More than Stereotypes Miranda B. Leddy, M.A. Mentor: Mia Moody-Ramirez, Ph.D. This critical discourse analysis of the American horror television show, Supernatural, uses a gender perspective to assess the stereotypes and female characters in the popular series. As part of this study 34 episodes of Supernatural and 19 female characters were analyzed. Findings indicate that while the target audience for Supernatural is women, the show tends to portray them in traditional, feminine, and horror genre stereotypes. The purpose of this thesis is twofold: 1) to provide a description of the types of female characters prevalent in the early seasons of Supernatural including mother-figures, victims, and monsters, and 2) to describe the changes that take place in the later seasons when the female characters no longer fit into feminine or horror stereotypes. Findings indicate that female characters of Supernatural have evolved throughout the seasons of the show and are more than just background characters in need of rescue. These findings are important because they illustrate that representations of women in television are not always based on stereotypes, and that the horror genre is evolving and beginning to depict strong female characters that are brave, intellectual leaders instead of victims being rescued by men. The female audience will be exposed to a more accurate portrayal of women to which they can relate and be inspired. Copyright © 2014 by Miranda B. Leddy All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS Tables
  • A Coherentist Conception of Ad Hoc Hypotheses

    A Coherentist Conception of Ad Hoc Hypotheses

    A coherentist conception of ad hoc hypotheses Samuel Schindler [email protected] forthcoming in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Abstract What does it mean for a hypothesis to be ad hoc? One prominent account has it that ad hoc hypotheses have no independent empirical support. Others have viewed ad hoc judgements as subjective. Here I critically review both of these views and defend my own Coherentist Conception of Ad hocness by working out its conceptual and descriptive attractions. Keywords: ad hoc; confirmation; independent support; novel success; coherence 1 Introduction It is widely agreed—amongst scientists and philosophers alike—that a good hypothesis ought not to be ad hoc. Consequently, a theory that requires ad hoc hypotheses in order to overcome empirical tests ought to be less acceptable for a rational agent than a theory that does without (or with fewer) ad hoc amendments. But what precisely does it mean for a hypothesis to be ad hoc? This is what this paper is about. Concept clarification is one of the central tasks of philosophy. Usually, it involves an explicandum and an explicatum, viz. a pre-analytic concept that is to be explicated and a concept which explicates this concept, respectively (Carnap 1950). For example, the concept TEMPERATURE explicates our pre- analytic concepts of WARM and COLD, and allows us to be much more precise and clear in the way we communicate with each other. In the case of ad hocness, the pre-analytic concept is something along the lines of “was introduced for the sole purpose of ‘saving’ a theory which faces observational anomalies”.
  • Theology of Supernatural

    Theology of Supernatural

    religions Article Theology of Supernatural Pavel Nosachev School of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, HSE University, 101000 Moscow, Russia; [email protected] Received: 15 October 2020; Accepted: 1 December 2020; Published: 4 December 2020 Abstract: The main research issues of the article are the determination of the genesis of theology created in Supernatural and the understanding of ways in which this show transforms a traditional Christian theological narrative. The methodological framework of the article, on the one hand, is the theory of the occulture (C. Partridge), and on the other, the narrative theory proposed in U. Eco’s semiotic model. C. Partridge successfully described modern religious popular culture as a coexistence of abstract Eastern good (the idea of the transcendent Absolute, self-spirituality) and Western personified evil. The ideal confirmation of this thesis is Supernatural, since it was the bricolage game with images of Christian evil that became the cornerstone of its popularity. In the 15 seasons of its existence, Supernatural, conceived as a story of two evil-hunting brothers wrapped in a collection of urban legends, has turned into a global panorama of world demonology while touching on the nature of evil, the world order, theodicy, the image of God, etc. In fact, this show creates a new demonology, angelology, and eschatology. The article states that the narrative topics of Supernatural are based on two themes, i.e., the theology of the spiritual war of the third wave of charismatic Protestantism and the occult outlooks derived from Emmanuel Swedenborg’s system. The main topic of this article is the role of monotheistic mythology in Supernatural.
  • Supernatural' Fandom As a Religion

    Supernatural' Fandom As a Religion

    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont CMC Senior Theses CMC Student Scholarship 2019 The Winchester Gospel: The 'Supernatural' Fandom as a Religion Hannah Grobisen Claremont McKenna College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Grobisen, Hannah, "The Winchester Gospel: The 'Supernatural' Fandom as a Religion" (2019). CMC Senior Theses. 2010. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2010 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you by Scholarship@Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in this collection by an authorized administrator. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Claremont McKenna College The Winchester Gospel The Supernatural Fandom as a Religion submitted to Professor Elizabeth Affuso and Professor Thomas Connelly by Hannah Grobisen for Senior Thesis Fall 2018 December 10, 2018 Table of Contents Dad’s on a Hunting Trip and He Hasn’t Been Home in a Few Days: My Introduction to Supernatural and the SPN Family………………………………………………………1 Saving People, Hunting Things. The Family Business: Messages, Values and Character Relationships that Foster a Community……………………………………………........9 There is No Singing in Supernatural: Fanfic, Fan Art and Fan Interpretation….......... 20 Gay Love Can Pierce Through the Veil of Death: The Importance of Slash Fiction….25 There’s Nothing More Dangerous than Some A-hole Who Thinks He’s on a Holy Mission: Toxic Misrepresentations of Fandom……………………………………......34 This is the End of All Things: Final Thoughts………………………………………...38 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………39 Important Characters List……………………………………………………………...41 Popular Ships…………………………………………………………………………..44 1 Dad’s on a Hunting Trip and He Hasn’t Been Home in a Few Days: My Introduction to Supernatural and the SPN Family Supernatural (WB/CW Network, 2005-) is the longest running continuous science fiction television show in America.
  • Dark Mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology

    Dark Mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology

    Orlov Dark Mirrors RELIGIOUS STUDIES Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology Dark Mirrors is a wide-ranging study of two central figures in early Jewish demonology—the fallen angels Azazel and Satanael. Andrei A. Orlov explores the mediating role of these paradigmatic celestial rebels in the development of Jewish demonological traditions from Second Temple apocalypticism to later Jewish mysticism, such as that of the Hekhalot and Shi ur Qomah materials. Throughout, Orlov makes use of Jewish pseudepigraphical materials in Slavonic that are not widely known. Dark Mirrors Orlov traces the origins of Azazel and Satanael to different and competing mythologies of evil, one to the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the other to the revolt of angels in the antediluvian period. Although Azazel and Satanael are initially representatives of rival etiologies of corruption, in later Jewish and Christian demonological lore each is able to enter the other’s stories in new conceptual capacities. Dark Mirrors also examines the symmetrical patterns of early Jewish demonology that are often manifested in these fallen angels’ imitation of the attributes of various heavenly beings, including principal angels and even God himself. Andrei A. Orlov is Associate Professor of Theology at Marquette University. He is the author of several books, including Selected Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha. State University of New York Press www.sunypress.edu Andrei A. Orlov Dark Mirrors Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology Andrei A. Orlov Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2011 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.
  • Doctoraat FINAAL .Pdf

    Doctoraat FINAAL .Pdf

    Here be dragons Here Exploring the hinterland of science Maarten Boudry Here be dragons Exploring the hinterland of science Maarten Boudry ISBN978-90-7083-018-2 Proefschrift voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van Doctor in de Wijsbegeerte Promotor: Prof. dr. Johan Braeckman Supervisor Prof. dr. Johan Braeckman Wijsbegeerte en moraalwetenschap Dean Prof. dr. Freddy Mortier Rector Prof. dr. Paul Van Cauwenberghe Nederlandse vertaling: Hic sunt dracones. Een filosofische verkenning van pseudowetenschap en randwetenschap Cover: The image on the front cover is an excerpt of a map by the Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius, originally published in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570). ISBN: 978-90-7083-018-2 The author and the promoter give the authorisation to consult and to copy parts of this work for personal use only. Every other use is subject to the copyright laws. Permission to reproduce any material contained in this work should be obtained from the author. Faculty of Arts & Humanities Maarten Boudry Here be Dragons Exploring the Hinterland of Science Proefschrift voorgedragen tot het bekomen van de graad van Doctor in de Wijsbegeerte 2011 Acknowledgements This dissertation could not have been written without the invaluable help of a number of people (a philosopher cannot help but thinking of them as a set of individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions). Different parts of this work have greatly benefited from stimulating discussions with many colleagues and friends, among whom Barbara Forrest, John Teehan, Herman Philipse, Helen De Cruz, Taner Edis, Nicholas Humphrey, Geerdt Magiels, Bart Klink, Glenn Branch, Larry Moran, Jerry Coyne, Michael Ruse, Steve Zara, Amber Griffioen, Johan De Smedt, Lien Van Speybroeck, and Evan Fales.
  • Ad Hoc Hypotheses and the Monsters Within

    Ad Hoc Hypotheses and the Monsters Within

    Chapter 18 Ad Hoc Hypotheses and the Monsters Within Ioannis Votsis Abstract Science is increasingly becoming automated. Tasks yet to be fully automated include the conjecturing, modifying, extending and testing of hypotheses. At present scientists have an array of methods to help them carry out those tasks. These range from the well-articulated, formal and unexceptional rules to the semi- articulated and variously understood rules-of-thumb and intuitive hunches. If we are to hand over at least some of the aforementioned tasks to machines, we need to clarify, refine and make formal, not to mention computable, even the more obscure of the methods scientists successfully employ in their inquiries. The focus of this essay is one such less-than-transparent methodological rule. I am here referring to the rule that ad hoc hypotheses ought to be spurned. This essay begins with a brief examination of some notable conceptions of ad hoc-ness in the philosophical literature. It is pointed out that there is a general problem afflicting most such conceptions, namely the intuitive judgments that are supposed to motivate them are not universally shared. Instead of getting bogged down in what ad hoc-ness exactly means, I shift the focus of the analysis to one undesirable feature often present in alleged cases of ad hoc-ness. I call this feature the ‘monstrousness’ of a hypothesis. A fully articulated formal account of this feature is presented by specifying what it is about the internal constitution of a hypothesis that makes it monstrous. Using this account, a monstrousness measure is then proposed and somewhat sketchily compared with the minimum description length approach.
  • The Origin of Science by Louis Liebenberg

    The Origin of Science by Louis Liebenberg

    The Origin of Science The Evolutionary Roots of Scientific Reasoning and its Implications for Tracking Science Second Edition Louis Liebenberg Cape Town, South Africa www.cybertracker.org 2021 2 Endorsements “This is an extraordinary book. Louis Liebenberg, our intrepid and erudite guide, gives us a fascinating view of a people and a way of life that have much to say about who we are, but which soon will vanish forever. His data are precious, his stories are gripping, and his theory is a major insight into the nature and origins of scientific thinking, and thus of what makes us unique as a species.” Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works and Rationality. “Louis Liebenberg’s argument about the evolution of scientific thinking is highly original and deeply important.” Daniel E. Lieberman, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, and author of The Story of the Human Body and Exercised. “Although many theories of human brain evolution have been offered over the years, Louis Liebenberg’s is refreshingly straightforward.” David Ludden, review in PsycCRITIQUES. “The Origin of Science is a stunningly wide-ranging, original, and important book.” Peter Carruthers, Professor of Philosophy, University of Maryland, and author of The Architecture of the Mind. “Charles Darwin and Louis Liebenberg have a lot in common. Their early research was supported financially by their parents, and both studied origins... Both risked their lives for their work.” Ian Percival, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sussex and Queen Mary, University of London and the Dirac medal for theoretical physics.