DOCSLIB.ORG

The Falsifiabtlity Criterion and the Cognitive Statws Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Falsifiabtlity Criterion and the Cognitive Statws Of The falsifiability criterion and the cognitive status of religious belief Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Gettman, Gary Lee, 1942- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 29/09/2021 14:06:51 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/317923 THE FALSIFIABTLITY CRITERION AND THE COGNITIVE STATWS OF RELIGIONS BELIEF by Gary Lo Gettmm A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements ■ ■ For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 6 6 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfill­ ment of requirements for an advanced degree at The Uni­ versity of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Libraryo Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknow­ ledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the inter­ ests of scholarship* In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author* SIGNEDs APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown belows ROBERT L* CALDWELL Date Associate Professor of Philosophy ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to Pro­ fessor Robert Lo Caldwell who served as my advisor during the final stages of preparation* TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTIONo 0000=00000= THE HEAD-ON RESPONSE TO FLEWo = = = Basil Mitohello <,0000000 I0 Ho Crombie 000000000 THE SHIFTED-GROUND TECHNIQUEo = 0 » R o Ho Rai*@ 00000000000 Alasdair Haelntyreo 0=0000 HITCHELL°S REPLY TO HACINTYRE , = « CONCLUSIONo 000000000000 REFERENCES 00000000000 = 0 ABSTBACT The falsiflability criterion states that if any utterance is cognitive or factual, it must be capable of verification or falsificationo Religious beliefs accord­ ing to the sceptics, will allow nothing to falsify their claims § therefore they are non-eognitive0 Responses to the sceptic in recent analytical philo­ sophy have followed two approaches^ One accepts the falsi- flability criterion but denies the sceptic’s premise that religious beliefs are held unconditionally0 Facts do count against their being true5 therefore they are cognitive0 The other response agrees with the sceptic that religious beliefs are held unconditionally, thus failing the falsi- flability test, but denies that this is the only criterion for cognitive status= I reject both responses0 The first only pays "lip- service" to the sceptic’s criterion and does not let facts count in the required sense0 The second fails because accepting the unconditionality of religious beliefs forces it to repeat the sceptic’s comclusiom0 Both responses, however, are rejected, not because they fail to meet the sceptic’s objections, but because they and the sceptic are v unaware that the mistaken philosophical framework surround­ ing the falsiflability criterion prevents them from command­ ing a clear view of the use of the words 6,belief11 and M justification,,88 INTRODUCTION Even though Logical Positivism as a philosophical movement may rightfully be said to be dead, its ghost still haunts traditional systematic theology0 With the advent of the recent analytical movement associated with the name of Wittgenstein, the inadequacy of the positivist8 s wholesale rejection of religious beliefs as nonsense is now generally recognized| beyond this, however, there is little agreement as to what sense religious beliefs do haveo For some this has only led to a more sophisticated, but essentially neo- positivistic position, and for still others, this latter renewal of scepticism has sparked new efforts, in the spirit of linguistic analysis, to search for the cognitive meaning of religious beliefs on their own terms and in contexts where they are foundo Such efforts have led to a recent and lively discussion of this subject among Oxford and other British philosophers, and although their activities have not necessarily been antithetical to religious dis­ course, as were their positivist forebears, the question of the cognitive status of religious beliefs has not seemed readily soluble, for upon examining such beliefs in con­ texts where they are expressed, they discovered that it is 1 the eogmitive use in these contexts that made them appear so paradox!calo They also found that, unlike many philo­ sophical problems 9 such as the private language argument v other minds9 or the sense-datum theory8 which have their origin and expression only among academic circles9 their problem is a dilemma that is of urgent concern for both the lay thinker and the professionals that it is not only a problem for philosophers but also for those who “play,68 as it were 9 the religious “language-game»M Historically9 the first significant work to appear in this tradition was John Wisdom's provocative essay entitled9 “Gods,“ published in 1944„ But by far the most controversial discussions which actually initiated today's analytical interest in religious beliefs and discourse, was the symposium, "Theology and Falsification," which appeared in New Essays in Philosophical Theology in 1955° This symposium consisted, among other things, of the now quite famous sceptical challenge presented by Antony Flew in which, using an adaptation of a parable originally con­ ceived by Wisdom, he revitalizes the positivist's position Once upon a time two explorers came upon a clear­ ing in the jungle» In the clearing were growing many flowers and many weeds0 One explorer says, "Some gardener must tend this plot»” The other disagrees, "There is no gardener„" So they pitch their tents and set a watch» No gardener is ever seen* "But perhaps he is an invisible gardenero" So they set up a barbed-wire fenceo They electrify ito They patrol with bloodhoundso (For they 3 remember how Ho Go Wells°s The Invisible Man could be both smelt and touched though he could not be seeno) But no shrieks ever suggest that some intru­ der has received a shock= 1© movements of the wire ever betray an invisible climber» The bloodhounds never give the cry. let still the Believer is not convinced» "But there is a gardener* invisible* intangible* insensible to electric shocks* a gar­ dener who has no scent and makes no sound, a gar­ dener who comes secretly to look after the garden which he loves»68 At last the Sceptic despairs, "But what remains of your original assertion? Just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from an imagin­ ary gardener or even from no gardener at all?"l What Flew is attempting to illustrate through the use of this analogy is that what begins as an existential assertion of a gardener is capable of being reduced inch by inch into a statement dealing with a completely different subject than that conceived in the original assertion* What to the Believer seems to be a vast cosmological assertion, ends up being destroyed step by step by a "death by a thous- 2 and qualifications *" As an example of this type of quali­ fication, some people say that Christ ascended into heaven, and surely many of them picture Jesus, flanked by patriarchs and surrounded by cherubim, rising up into the sky on a cloud * But when asked whether they really mean angels on clouds defying the law of gravity, they perhaps begin to hedge and offer other pictures which do not seem so 1* Antony Flew, "Theology and Falsification," New in Philosophical Theology, p* 960 2* Ibid*, p* 97< fantastic9 yet when pressed9 they als© refuse to take literallyo If this were to continue long enough, most likely they would reach the point where they "become so deceived by their religious imagery that in the end they are only left with empty concepts and nothing, logically or empirically, upon which they can take a rational stando But there is another equally important, but logic­ ally opposite point to this whole analogy,, Besides the fact that the Believer’s idea of the gardener, when pressed is shown to lack any cognitive content, one can also see that his belief in the gardener has become impervious to those facts in the garden which seem to count against his assertion. For if, indeed, his feeling towards the garden includes the assertion that a gardener must tend it, then his statement must be logically equivalent to the denial of the negation of that statement, that is, that it is not the case that a gardener does not exist ( X exists s — -x exists). So anything that can be given as evidence to falsify the assertion and induce the Believer to withdraw it, admitting he was mistaken, must be considered a part or whole of the meaning of the negation of the assertion. To know the meaning of the statement, 18God is the father of all mankind,” it is also necessary to know the meaning of its negation, that is, what state of affairs would have to exist for us to know that God was not the father of all mankindo If one has mo idea what it would he like for God not to love us or not to exist* then he could continue to "maintain** the assertion no
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Truth, Rationality, and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge
    ....... CONJECTURES sense similar to that in which processes or things may be said to be parts of the world; that the world consists of facts in a sense in which it may be said to consist of (four dimensional) processes or of (three dimensional) things. They believe that, just as certain nouns are names of things, sentences are names of facts. And they sometimes even believe that sentences are some- thing like pictures of facts, or that they are projections of facts.7 But all this is mistaken. The fact that there is no elephant in this room is not one of the processes or parts ofthe world; nor is the fact that a hailstorm in Newfound- 10 land occurred exactIy I I I years after a tree collapsed in the New Zealand bush. Facts are something like a common product oflanguage and reality; they are reality pinned down by descriptive statements. They are like abstracts from TRUTH, RATIONALITY, AND THE a book, made in a language which is different from that of the original, and determined not only by the original book but nearly as much by the principles GROWTH OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE of selection and by other methods of abstracting, and by the means of which the new language disposes. New linguistic means not only help us to describe 1. THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE: THEORIES AND PROBLEMS new kinds of facts; in a way, they even create new kinds of facts. In a certain sense, these facts obviously existed before the new means were created which I were indispensable for their description; I say, 'obviously' because a calcula- tion, for example, ofthe movements of the planet Mercury of 100 years ago, MY aim in this lecture is to stress the significance of one particular aspect of carried out today with the help of the calculus of the theory of relativity, may science-its need to grow, or, if you like, its need to progress.
    [Show full text]
  • The Demarcation Problem
    Part I The Demarcation Problem 25 Chapter 1 Popper’s Falsifiability Criterion 1.1 Popper’s Falsifiability Popper’s Problem : To distinguish between science and pseudo-science (astronomy vs astrology) - Important distinction: truth is not the issue – some theories are sci- entific and false, and some may be unscientific but true. - Traditional but unsatisfactory answers: empirical method - Popper’s targets: Marx, Freud, Adler Popper’s thesis : Falsifiability – the theory contains claims which could be proved to be false. Characteristics of Pseudo-Science : unfalsifiable - Any phenomenon can be interpreted in terms of the pseudo-scientific theory “Whatever happened always confirmed it” (5) - Example: man drowning vs saving a child Characteristics of Science : falsifiability - A scientific theory is always takes risks concerning the empirical ob- servations. It contains the possibility of being falsified. There is con- firmation only when there is failure to refute. 27 28 CHAPTER 1. POPPER’S FALSIFIABILITY CRITERION “The theory is incompatible with certain possible results of observation” (6) - Example: Einstein 1919 1.2 Kuhn’s criticism of Popper Kuhn’s Criticism of Popper : Popper’s falsifiability criterion fails to char- acterize science as it is actually practiced. His criticism at best applies to revolutionary periods of the history of science. Another criterion must be given for normal science. Kuhn’s argument : - Kuhn’s distinction between normal science and revolutionary science - A lesson from the history of science: most science is normal science. Accordingly, philosophy of science should focus on normal science. And any satisfactory demarcation criterion must apply to normal science. - Popper’s falsifiability criterion at best only applies to revolutionary science, not to normal science.
    [Show full text]
  • Study Questions Philosophy of Science Spring 2011 Exam 1
    Study Questions Philosophy of Science Spring 2011 Exam 1 1. Explain the affinities and contrasts between science and philosophy and between science and metaphysics. 2. What is the principle of verification? How was the logical positivist‟s view of verification influenced by Hume‟s fork? Explain. 3. Explain Hume‟s distinction between impressions and ideas. What is the relevance of this distinction for the empiricist‟s view of how knowledge is acquired? 4. Why was Hume skeptical about “metaphysical knowledge”? Does the logical positivist, such as A. J. Ayer, agree or disagree? Why or why not? 5. Explain Ayer‟s distinction between weak and strong verification. Is this distinction tenable? 6. How did Rudolf Carnap attempt to separate science from metaphysics? Explain the role of what Carnap called „C-Rules‟ for this attempt. Was he successful? 7. Explain one criticism of the logical positivist‟s principle of verification? Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? 8. Explain the affinities and contrasts between A. J. Ayer‟s logical positivism and Karl Popper‟s criterion of falsifiability. Why does Popper think that scientific progress depends on falsifiability rather than verifiability? What are Popper‟s arguments against verifiability? Do you think Popper is correct? 9. Kuhn argued that Popper neglected what Kuhn calls “normal science.” Does Popper have a reply to Kuhn in his distinction between science and ideology? Explain. 10. Is Popper‟s criterion of falsifiability a solution to the problem of demarcation? Why or why not? Why would Gierre or Kuhn disagree? Explain 11. Kuhn, in his “Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research?” disagrees with Popper‟s criterion of falsifiability as defining the essence of science.
    [Show full text]
  • Corkett a Note on the Aristotelian Origin
    1 A NOTE ON THE ARISTOTELIAN ORIGIN OF POPPER’S DEMARCATION CRITERION TOGETHER WITH ITS APPLICATION TO ATLANTIC CANADA’S FISHERIES Christopher J. Corkett* *Christopher is a retired Instructor from the Biology Department of Dalhousie University. He is currently applying Karl Popper’s non-inductive theory of method to the management of the world’s commercial fisheries. Abstract It has not always been realised that Karl Popper’s demarcation criterion, the criterion he uses to distinguish an empirical science from its ‘metaphysical’ complement involves an interpretation of the classical theory of terms. From the beginning Popper’s criterion never was an attempt to distinguish some subject matter called ‘science’ from some subject matter called ‘metaphysics’. His criterion of falsifiability always was an attempt to distinguish the logical strength of a universal law from the logical weakness of its complement, a complement that can bear no fruit. For example: if the falsifiability criterion is applied to the management of the fisheries of Atlantic Canada we can distinguish the bold and sound management of Atlantic lobster from the weak and unsound management of Atlantic groundfish. In the early 1990s Newfoundland’s fishery for Atlantic cod suffered a major collapse that has become one of the world’s most prominent case studies of failure in fisheries management. Under Popper’s analytic theory of demarcation a weak management with no problem solving potentiality is to be held responsible for the collapse of Newfoundland’s Atlantic cod fishery. 2 1. Introduction Logic is one of the most ancient of all disciplines. It was founded by the Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) before even the Hellenistic development of mathematics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Problem of Induction
    The Problem of Induction Gilbert Harman Department of Philosophy, Princeton University Sanjeev R. Kulkarni Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University July 19, 2005 The Problem The problem of induction is sometimes motivated via a comparison between rules of induction and rules of deduction. Valid deductive rules are necessarily truth preserving, while inductive rules are not. So, for example, one valid deductive rule might be this: (D) From premises of the form “All F are G” and “a is F ,” the corresponding conclusion of the form “a is G” follows. The rule (D) is illustrated in the following depressing argument: (DA) All people are mortal. I am a person. So, I am mortal. The rule here is “valid” in the sense that there is no possible way in which premises satisfying the rule can be true without the corresponding conclusion also being true. A possible inductive rule might be this: (I) From premises of the form “Many many F s are known to be G,” “There are no known cases of F s that are not G,” and “a is F ,” the corresponding conclusion can be inferred of the form “a is G.” The rule (I) might be illustrated in the following “inductive argument.” (IA) Many many people are known to have been moral. There are no known cases of people who are not mortal. I am a person. So, I am mortal. 1 The rule (I) is not valid in the way that the deductive rule (D) is valid. The “premises” of the inductive inference (IA) could be true even though its “con- clusion” is not true.
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of the Demarcation Problem in Philosophy of Science and Its Application to Homeopathy
    AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEMARCATION PROBLEM IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND ITS APPLICATION TO HOMEOPATHY Alper Bilgehan YARDIMCI ABSTRACT This paper presents a preliminary analysis of homeopathy from the perspective of the demarcation problem in the philosophy of science. In this context, Popper, Kuhn and Feyerabend’s solution to the problem will be given respectively and their criteria will be applied to homeopathy, aiming to shed some light on the controversy over its scientific status. It then examines homeopathy under the lens of demarcation criteria to conclude that homeopathy is regarded as science by Feyerabend and is considered as pseudoscience by Popper and Kuhn. By offering adequate tools for the analysis of the foundations, structure and implications of homeopathy, demarcation issue can help to clarify this medical controversy. The main argument of this article is that a final decision on homeopathy, whose scientific status changes depending on the criteria of the philosophers mentioned, cannot be given. Keywords: Demarcation Problem, Scientific Status of Homeopathy, Falsifiability, Puzzle-solving, Anarchist Method, Pseudoscience BİLİM FELSEFESİNDE SINIR ÇİZME SORUNUNUN ANALİZİ VE HOMEOPATİYE UYGULANMASI ÖZ Bu makale, bilim felsefesinin önemli konularından biri olan sınır çizme sorunu açısından homeopatinin bir ön analizini sunmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, Popper, Kuhn ve Feyerabend'in sınır çizme sorununa yönelik çözümleri sırasıyla verilecek ve onların ölçütleri, homeopatinin bilimsel durumu üzerindeki tartışmalara ışık tutacak şekilde uygulanacaktır. Homeopatinin Feyerabend tarafından bilim, Popper ve Kuhn açısından ise sözde bilim olduğu sonucuna varmak amacıyla, homeopati sınır çizme ölçütleri çerçevesinde incelenmektedir. Sınır çizme tartışması homeopatinin temellerini, yapısını ve sonuçlarını analiz etmek için yeterli araçları sunarak bu tıbbi tartışmayı netleştirmeye yardımcı olabilir.
    [Show full text]
  • Falsification and Falsificationism
    Available online at www.worldscientificnews.com WSN 51 (2016) 62-71 EISSN 2392-2192 Falsification and falsificationism Karol Kraiński Faculty of Economics and Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 13a Gagarina Str., 87-100 Toruń, Poland E-mail address: [email protected] ABSTRACT Falsification is not meant to refute the theory, but only allows you to specify the probability of the truth of posed too. This action can be described as a set of hypotheses that have a researcher to help explain and describe the world around us. Keywords: falsification; falsificationism; counterfeiting; forg ery; fraud 1. INTRODUCTION Falsification (trans. NLC. Falsificatio = counterfeiting, forgery, fraud) ang. falsification; Ger. Falsifikatio. Proceedings aiming to overturn a sentence, that is, an attempt to demonstrate its falsity. Such a procedure usually involves three stages [6]: 1. derivation of appropriate logical consequences of forged hypothesis; those consequences must be sentences observation; 2. execution of relevant experience (observation, experiment, measurement); 3. confrontation with the results derived consequence experience and any decision to reject the hypothesis. Falsifies is usually not a single thesis, but some of their team. Falsification is the criterion on the basis of a scientific conception of science (K. R. Popper), according to which: a) the thesis must be subject to falsification; World Scientific News 51 (2016) 62-71 b) does not attach much importance to the verification procedure, since the assertion can sometimes completely subvert and never can not be completely verified (with the exception of statements regarding finite and relatively not-great number of objects); c) believes that the introduction of science thesis is not even verified valuable than refraining from introducing too insufficiently verified.
    [Show full text]
  • Falsification
    Falsification David Miller Department of Philosophy University of Warwick COVENTRY CV4 7AL UK [email protected] Truth, Falsity, and Negation Technical University of Dresden, 1 April 2010 C O 0 Summary of the Lecture N 1 Verifiability and Falsifiability T 2 Acceptance and Rejection E 3 Petitio Principii N 4 The Critical Approach T 5 Is a Special Logic of Falsification Needed? S 0 Summary of the lecture This is a philosophical lecture with some logical additives. The aim is to consider the rival attractions of verifica- tion, or proof, or justification (total or partial) on the one side, and falsification or (more generally) criticism on the other. Old arguments will be deployed to reach the con- clusion that all worthwhile uses of arguments are critical, rather than constructive, or exploratory, or persuasive. The critical approach draws attention to unfamiliar epi- stemological problems, in particular the problem of over- population. Everyone, verificationist or falsificationist, is exposed to this problem, but so far it resists solution. 0{0 1 The criterion of demarcation As all the world knows, in 1919, or 1931, or perhaps only in 1934, Karl Popper proposed falsifiability as the criter- ion with which to demarcate empirical science from non- scientific pursuits such as logic & mathematics, meta- physics, and pseudoscience. His proposal was a critical re- sponse to the criterion, propounded by the Vienna Circle, that scientific knowledge is what is empirically verifiable. The distinctive doctrine of these logical empiricists was that there exist only two varieties of knowledge: analytic knowledge, which is justified by formal proof, and scient- ific knowledge, which is justified by empirical verification.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scientific Approach Theories Falsifiability
    E.g. Popper was initially cynical of the falsifiability of natural selection. Freud's theory regarded the unconscious and so was unfalsifiable (and was also based on idiographic data). Many humanistic theories (Rogers' theory of 'self actualisation' or Maslow's 'hierarchy of needs' theory) are unfalsifiable. These are example of alleged pseudo-sciences. However, it could be argued that the discusssion that these theories provokes warrants their existence (e.g. Bowlby extended Freud's theories brilliantly. As did Michael Rutter after that!) 20th Century philosopher Karl Popper asserted that a theory is only scientific if it is falsifiable. He proposed this as a solution to the problem of Scientists should therefore attempt to falsify their induction, which states that people make theories, as opposed to trying to confirm them. deductive statements using their own Thomas Kuhn argued that science undergoes experiences (e.g. "all swans are white") to make stages of "paradigm shifts" in which a major conclusions about objects they haven't How realistic is this in practice? How useful was breakthrough occurs and shifts the direction of experienced. Theoretically, a statement is only the 'reification' of Behaviourism in explaining research. Science is broken up in to three stages: true until it has been falsified (e.g. australian behaviour?! If an experiment is replicated and yields diferent black swans). Pre-science, which lacks a central paradigm. results, it has arguably been falsified. But to Then normal science, which has a paradigm. A what extent has it been falsified? How many build up of refuting evidence is seen to suggest studies are required to prove that another is more and more that the existing paradigm is false? false, and this builds up to a critical mass.
    [Show full text]
  • Falsifiability Much Discussion of the Empirical Status of Social Science In
    Falsifiability Much discussion of the empirical status of social science in the past has revolved around Karl Popper's formulation of the doctrine of falsifiability. This idea has had a particularly noticeable influence on discussions of methodology in the social sciences. Popper's requirement is that all scientific hypotheses must in principle be falsifiable: that is, it must be possible to specify in advance a set of empirical circumstances which would demonstrate the falsity of the hypothesis. Popper writes, "A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non- scientific. Irrefutability is not a virture of a theory (as people often think) but a vice" (Popper, 1965, p. 36). This criterion is often used to fault social science research on the ground that social scientists are often prepared to adjust their hypotheses in such a way as to render them compatible with unexpected empirical results (anomalies). Popper develops these criticisms in some detail in his discussion of Marx's social theory. Popper writes, The Marxist theory of history . ultimately adopted this soothsaying practice. In some of its earlier formulations . their predictions were testable, and in fact falsified. Yet instead of accepting the refutations the followers of Marx re-interpreted both the theory and the evidence in order to make them agree. In this way they rescued the theory from refutation; but they did so at the price of adopting a device which made it irrefutable. They thus gave a "conventionalist twist" to the theory; and by this strategem they destroyed its much advertised claim to scientific status. (Popper, 1965, p.
    [Show full text]
  • In-Between Science and Religion Dominic Balestra Fordham University, [email protected]
    Fordham University Masthead Logo DigitalResearch@Fordham Hermeneutic and Phenomenological Philosophies Research Resources of Science 2002 In-Between Science and Religion Dominic Balestra Fordham University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fordham.bepress.com/phil_research Part of the Philosophy of Science Commons Recommended Citation Balestra, Dominic, "In-Between Science and Religion" (2002). Research Resources. 44. https://fordham.bepress.com/phil_research/44 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Hermeneutic and Phenomenological Philosophies of Science at DigitalResearch@Fordham. It has been accepted for inclusion in Research Resources by an authorized administrator of DigitalResearch@Fordham. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DOMINIC BALESTRA IN-BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION 1. METHODOLOGICAL DEMARCATION: A WANING WALL Stripped of its seventeenth and eighteenth century Deistic, if not theistic, sensibility, science entered the twentieth century as agnostic and indifferent, if not outrightly antagonistic, toward religion. Religion was often viewed as the enemy of modern science; and its theology was presumed to be intellectually vacuous. “Real science” was clearly understood to be objective, empirical and rational. It bore no relationship to theology, none of any cognitive import – except perhaps to eliminate theology as contributing toward any understanding of the cosmos. This view of the relationship between science and religion was further reinforced by logical empiricism. In the latter’s view science aimed to establish empirically testable, generalized explanations of observable but problematic phenomena. Such phenomena might be freely falling bodies or the deviation of a planet from the expected path of its usual orbit. As the phrase “logical empiricism” suggests, in its view the objectivity of science rested with an evidential base of empirical facts, facts which were independent of any hypothesized theory under question and available to all through sense observation.
    [Show full text]
  • Spinoza and the Paradox of Constitutionalism Miguel Vatter
    Spinoza and the Paradox of Constitutionalism Miguel Vatter Abstract: This paper discusses the connection between the idea of C R constituent power and Spinoza’s theory of nature as first formulated I by Carl Schmitt in the context of the paradox of constitutionalism. The S paper argues that Hans Kelsen also employs Spinoza in the confrontation I S with Schmitt and in order to address this paradox. The paper goes on to suggest a republican conception of constituent power that unites & the autonomy of the law with the power of the people that is closer to C Kelsen’s than to Schmitt’s conception of constituent power. R I T Keywords: constituent power, Schmitt, Spinoza, Kelsen, basic norm I Q U E Introduction The relationship between might and right, power and law, is a perennial / problem since at least Plato’s polemic against the Sophists over natural Volume 8 right (nomos phuseos). Law is both an expression of power, for the Issue 1 powerful get to make laws, and what tempers the use of power, for “a prince who can do what he wishes is crazy” (Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy I, 58, 4). The proper way to understand the relationship between power and law was also at the heart of the polemic between Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt. As juridical minds, both agreed that “power proves nothing in law” (Schmitt 1988:17). But they drew entirely opposed conclusions from this insight. For Kelsen it meant that what is “law” can only be determined “legally” in and through an autonomous and autopoietic legal system.
    [Show full text]