Friday, September 09, 2005
Essay Assignment
[The following essays have been voluntarily posted by five of our 15 students. The assignment for the essay is described in this post—Prof. Macosko]
We have now studied four different approaches to the search for truth.
a. The Ionians for the most part, kept God and divine intervention out of their models of the universe and out of their philosophical speculations. They looked for natural causes.
b. The Pythagoreans combined mysticism with science and mathematics.
c. Plato’s view was that truth could not be obtained through the study of nature. Anything which we observe in the material world is akin to the shadows seen by the chained observers in the cave analogy.
d. Aristotle looked for natural causes but also included God in his cosmology. However, his god did not create the universe, nor was he aware of it. He was unconsciously responsible for the motions of the celestial objects.
Which of these styles do you personally relate to the most? Which do you think is closest to that of modern science? What role do you think God (or any other supernatural force) should play in scientific theories?
We have now studied four different approaches to the search for truth.
a. The Ionians for the most part, kept God and divine intervention out of their models of the universe and out of their philosophical speculations. They looked for natural causes.
b. The Pythagoreans combined mysticism with science and mathematics.
c. Plato’s view was that truth could not be obtained through the study of nature. Anything which we observe in the material world is akin to the shadows seen by the chained observers in the cave analogy.
d. Aristotle looked for natural causes but also included God in his cosmology. However, his god did not create the universe, nor was he aware of it. He was unconsciously responsible for the motions of the celestial objects.
Which of these styles do you personally relate to the most? Which do you think is closest to that of modern science? What role do you think God (or any other supernatural force) should play in scientific theories?
