The attitude of the modern materialist philosopher towards the metaphysical philosopher is that the metaphysician engages in pure speculation and guesswork, especially if they offer speculative evidences for the existence of God. However, the materialist seems to have no problem engaging in pure speculation if they believe it offers evidences for the nonexistence of God. The materialist should not be so quick to dismiss the metaphysician when one considers the history of philosophy.
Democritus' theory of atoms and Empedocles' theory of the basic elements of earth, air, fire and water, although rudimentary in their forms, was fairly good speculation for so long ago before there was any real science. Modern science has discovered atoms and the basic elements.
The metaphysician does not completely engage in pure speculation and guesswork. He takes the clues that exist and tries to apply logic to them in order to construct a view of reality that may be true. He is satisfied, if in the future, he is found to be a least partly right. In this respect, the metaphysician's work is akin to that of Sherlock Holmes, even though he was always right. Even the great scientist, Albert Einstein, arrived at his theory of relativity by engaging in thought experiments. He applied logic to the present evidence.
Some philosophers, such as St. Augustine and St. Anselm, have applied logic to present evidence and have adduced some reasons for the existence of God. Considering the fairly good track record for metaphysical philosophy, no one should ever take their speculations too lightly.
( As a prophecy, this amateur philosopher strongly suspects that modern science has already found cogent evidences for the existence of God and are keeping quiet about it.)
No comments:
Post a Comment