Some new definitionsPhilosophy - standing in a dark room looking for a black cat. Metaphysics - standing in a dark room looking for a cat that isn't there. Theology - standing in a dark room looking for a cat that isn't there and shouting “Found it!” Quoted on richarddawkins.net Shepherds don’t look after sheep because they love them — although I do think some shepherds like their sheep too much. They look after their sheep so they can, first, fleece them and second, turn them into meat. That’s much more like the priesthood as I know it. An engineer, a physicist. and a mathematician were riding in a train in Scotland. when out the window they saw a black sheep The engineer said, “The sheep in Scotland are black” The physicist said. ‘Some of the sheep in Scotland are black” The mathematician said, “There exists in Scotland at least one sheep. at least one side of which is black” The epistemologist said: Given that we can agree that it is reasonable to assume that our senses inform us reliable about reality, and that we are not subject to hallucinations or ploys, it is reasonable to assume that there exists in Scotland at least one sheep at least one side of which has an overall reflectance-profile which we would characterize as black from our point of view. Quoted on richarddawkins.net
When we run over
libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take
in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics for instance; let us
ask Does it contain any abstract
reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental
reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the
flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
David Hume (1711 - 1776) |
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If an entity X is postulated to exist, and no substantive evidence capable of withstanding intense critical scrutiny is present to support the postulated existence of entity X, then the default position is to regard entity X as not existing until said substantive supporting evidence becomes present. 'Calilasseia' on richarddawkins.net Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996) Astronomer and populariser of science |