CH. 7 Can Science Explain Everything? Flashcards
What is the difference between a global why-question and a local why-question?
A local why-question are questions answerable that are about an event or something that happened at the same time and place. While global why-question are questions that ask for an explanation of the totality of the whole universe’s story.
Can science answer global why-questions? Why or why not?
No, because science can only aim to explain the events and generalizations. In addition, they “explain events by describing the causes.” While global question asks for an explanation of the whole world’s existence, science only explains what’s within the world.
Is it possible to have evidence that something exists without having an explanation for why the thing exists?
It is possible, however, it commits the Only Game in Town Fallacy for it is accepting only those hypotheses that are “on the table.”
Consider the following argument: “If science can’t explain some fact that a theological story can explain, then that fact is strong abductive evidence that the theological story is true.” How is the Only Game in Town Fallacy relevant to assessing this argument?
In this argument, the abductive evidence might be strong but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it would be the conclusion for the matter because there might be some other explanations about the question “why” other than a theological story. In addition, theological stories also do not indicate “how or why God did what he did.”
What does it mean to say that causation is a relationship that obtains between events in space and time? If this were a correct claim about causation, what implications would it have for the idea that God explains the sorts of global facts discussed in this chapter?
One event caused the other in the same particular time and place. It implies that God caused the world to exist.
What is the Principle of Sufficient Reason? Do you find it plausible? Why or why not?
The Principle of Sufficient Reason is the idea that everything happens for a reason and that everything has an explanation. I find plausible and implausible for there are circumstances that be proven with some evidence but only “an explanation of consciousness” which makes it implausible.
