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Showing posts with label Philosophy of Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philosophy of Nature. Show all posts

Monday, November 30, 2009

"The Riddle of the Universe" by Ernst Heinrich Haeckel,1899


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A scientific philosophy must join experience with speculation.
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The greatest triumphs of science,
including the cellular theory and the theory of evolution,
are philosophic achievements.
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In a scientific age a monistic philosophy is necessary,
one in which matter and spirit are abstractions from a single physical nature,
attributes of the universal substance.
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Man is distinguishable quantitatively,
but not qualitatively,
from the lower animals.
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Friday, November 20, 2009

"First Principles" by Herbert Spencer,1862


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The business of philosophy is to formulate the laws concerning phenomena common to all the branches of scientific knowledge.
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From the principle of the persistence of force can be derived the other principles of Natural Philosophy,among them the principles of the uniformity of law ;
the transformation of forces,and the line of least resistance.
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The Principle of Evolution and Dissolution is the dynamic and unifying principle of nature ;
evolution is an integration of matter and a dissipation of motion,during which matter passes from homogeneity to heterogeneity ;
dissolution occurs when resistance overcomes equilibrium and a system loses its force without adding to its organization.
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Society is a kind of super-organism which exemplifies the same principles of differentiation.
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Reality is unknowable,we know only appearances.
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

"Man a machine" by Julien Offray de La Mettrie,1748


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Both animals and men are machines that feel.
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The soul is a material part of the brain,
as is shown by the fact that when the body is diseased,so is the soul.
.
Concerning the soul,the requisite
"experience and observation as foundations of knowledge even about soul,as against the claims put forward for revelation as a source superiore to reason,
are to be found throughout the records of the physicians who are philosophers,and not in the works of the philosophers who were physicians...
Only the physicians have a right to speak on this subject."
Theologians have the least right.
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Man is distinguished from other animals
by his larger brain and
by his ability to use language.
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Although it is highly probable that a supreme being exists,
this information has little practical value.
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"If there is a God,
He is the Author of nature as well as of revelation ;...
if there is a revelation,
it can not contradict nature"
To be sure,nature stands in need of interpretation ;
but so does the Bible.
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Thursday, October 15, 2009

"Syntagma Philosophicum" by Pierre Gassendi,''Constructive Skepticism''

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(Gassendi was one of the foremost philosophers and scientists of the early 17th century.
He was the most important rival and critic of Descartes,
he had a crucial role in the revival of the ideas of the ancient Greek skeptics and atomists,
-as Sextus Empiricus /third century-,and of the French essayist Michel de Montaigne,
finally he adopted more and more of a materialistic explanation of the world based on the ancient theory of Epicurus.)
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Between skepticism and dogmatism there is a third possibility :
CONSTRUCTIVE SKEPTICISM,
the theory that although certain knowledge of nature is not possible,
a useful but limited type of knowledge is within our grasp.
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By cautious evaluation of our sense experience we can reach conclusions which can be tested by future experience.
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Epicurus was correct in maintaining that
the universe is composed of atoms moving in empty space ;
atoms are solid,with figure,weight,and extension ;
changes in nature are the result of collisions of the downward coursing atoms.
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The primary cause of atomic motion is God ;
he is the great designer of the universe.
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Unlike the animal soul,which is wholly corporeal,
the human soul is only partly corporeal or material ;
the rational part of the soul is immaterial,derived from God,and immortal.
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Our ideas are not innate,
but some either from the senses or from intellectual activity.
..