Re: [asa] on science and meta-science

From: Dave Wallace <wmdavid.wallace@gmail.com>
Date: Mon Nov 02 2009 - 12:56:50 EST
David Clounch wrote:

If the answer is no, then how much science can you teach without any metaphysical context?

Let me phrase it differently. Can you teach science without any metaphysical interpretation at all?
David

No you can't teach any science without any metaphysical context.  Of course the metaphysical context may be implicit and not stated or even thought about very much. 

In Ethiopia my parents as teachers had to combat the idea that the supernatural directly caused events.  Similarly our nurses had to teach that a child had stomach problems because of water impurities... and not because a dead ancestor was offended.  Teaching science just does not work if the pupils think that events, especially bad events are largely caused by the supernatural which must be placated. 

This is one of the reasons that I affirm "MN" ie. as if Naturalism.  In science God and the supernatural may not be allowed to appear in scientific explanations.  Of course in metaphysics or theology one might well have conclusions supported by scientific methods and mathematics.   

Of course none of this should be taken as inferring that I deny that occasionally demonic activity does certainly seem to occur.

Dave W
To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message. Received on Mon Nov 2 12:56:46 2009

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon Nov 02 2009 - 12:56:46 EST