Re: The logic of atheism

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 12:56:06 +0000 (UTC), prabbit1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:

Christopher A. Lee <calee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 12:51:43 +0000 (UTC), prabbit1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:

Christopher A. Lee <calee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 29 Mar 2006 07:21:33 -0800, "Paul Holbach"
<paulholbachDELETETHENAME@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

robpar wrote:

Let's not posit anything that isn't proven to exist.

The physicist Wolfgang Pauli had posited the neutrinos 25 years before
their existence was experimentally proven.

However he had a reason to do so.

He said "we see phenomenon X. Now let's posit that there's a particle Y with
properties W that would explain X. This particle would also have to have
properties Z." <time passes> "Ok, we found this particle A that has property
W. Now let's see if it has properties Z. Nope? Then it's not what we're
looking for." <more time passes> "Ok, we now found particle B that does have
both W and Z. Here's our neutrino."

Textbook scientific method. Starting with a reason to posit it.

Starting with a REASON to posit it but not yet proven it does exist. NOT
what you said above. There's a difference between "Let's not posit anything
that isn't proven to exist" and "let's not posit something until there's
some unexplained phenomenon that it might explain." When gods were posited
initially, there was very good reason for such (primative man didn't see the
world as being an actually orderly place and did not see the real
cause/effect of things.) But most of the gods posited back then have been
shown to be illogical or otherwise impossible (I won't go to claim ALL of
them have since I don't know of every single god that's ever been posited.)
A deity such as that of the deists (i.e. "the belief, based solely on
reason, in a god who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no
control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no
supernatural revelation.) could possibly exist outside of our universe. But
I don't lay awake nights worrying about such a critter.

That was not I. All I said was that he had a reason to posit it.
.

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