Post by nolanharris on Jun 7, 2015 9:21:50 GMT
What is meant by the phrase, "philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy."
The phrase, “philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy” likely means that that philosophy done correctly will likely yield accurate, falsifiable results, whereas philosophy done incorrectly will likely yield ambiguous, unfalsifiable results. With science, the goal is to answer questions and solve problems through a process of observation and experimentation. Science is objective and thus its primary goal is to find the right answer. Conversely, a large section of philosophy is devoted to answering questions that can never truly be answered; thus, subjectivity and untestable results are given a lot more credibility here than in science. When philosophers succumb to “transcendental temptation”, as discussed in The Remainder Conjecture: Driving Science to the Brink of an Epistemological Cul de Sac, and/or refuse to acknowledge certain facts that contradict their worldview, they run the risk of never truly finding the right answers to their questions or experiments--and thus run the risk of attempting to answer questions that can never truly be answered from their position.
Why is Faqir Chand's experiences important in understanding the projective nature of religious visions and miracles?
Faqir Chad’s experience in Iraq in is important in understanding the projective nature of religious visions and miracles because it affirms what many philosophers have already concluded--that NDEs, visions and miracles are likely neurological projections the mind uses to encourage people to survive and avoid death. These projections can be anything that convinces a person that he or she needs to live. They can range from a projection of a bike that a child is looking forward to getting, such as in the case of Andrea Diem-Lane’s student, or to a religious figure who appears with a sacred message that must be shared with others, such as in Faqir’s case. Regardless of the projection used, they all have one purpose, and that is to convince a person that he or she needs to survive. In light of the news that he had allegedly appeared to a village of people in a vision in Iraq, Faqir concluded, “whosoever remembers God in whatever form, in that very form he helped his devoted.” In other words, even in 1919, like many philosophers today, Faqir was convinced that religious visions were likely the result of tricks of the mind, not actual appearances of people in visions.
The phrase, “philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy” likely means that that philosophy done correctly will likely yield accurate, falsifiable results, whereas philosophy done incorrectly will likely yield ambiguous, unfalsifiable results. With science, the goal is to answer questions and solve problems through a process of observation and experimentation. Science is objective and thus its primary goal is to find the right answer. Conversely, a large section of philosophy is devoted to answering questions that can never truly be answered; thus, subjectivity and untestable results are given a lot more credibility here than in science. When philosophers succumb to “transcendental temptation”, as discussed in The Remainder Conjecture: Driving Science to the Brink of an Epistemological Cul de Sac, and/or refuse to acknowledge certain facts that contradict their worldview, they run the risk of never truly finding the right answers to their questions or experiments--and thus run the risk of attempting to answer questions that can never truly be answered from their position.
Why is Faqir Chand's experiences important in understanding the projective nature of religious visions and miracles?
Faqir Chad’s experience in Iraq in is important in understanding the projective nature of religious visions and miracles because it affirms what many philosophers have already concluded--that NDEs, visions and miracles are likely neurological projections the mind uses to encourage people to survive and avoid death. These projections can be anything that convinces a person that he or she needs to live. They can range from a projection of a bike that a child is looking forward to getting, such as in the case of Andrea Diem-Lane’s student, or to a religious figure who appears with a sacred message that must be shared with others, such as in Faqir’s case. Regardless of the projection used, they all have one purpose, and that is to convince a person that he or she needs to survive. In light of the news that he had allegedly appeared to a village of people in a vision in Iraq, Faqir concluded, “whosoever remembers God in whatever form, in that very form he helped his devoted.” In other words, even in 1919, like many philosophers today, Faqir was convinced that religious visions were likely the result of tricks of the mind, not actual appearances of people in visions.