Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'The Value of Science', 'Letters to Samuel Masson' and 'Theology and Falsification'

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5 ideas

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / d. Actual infinite

13190	I don't admit infinite numbers, and consider infinitesimals to be useful fictions [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: Notwithstanding my infinitesimal calculus, I do not admit any real infinite numbers, even though I confess that the multitude of things surpasses any finite number, or rather any number. ..I consider infinitesimal quantities to be useful fictions.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Samuel Masson [1716], 1716)
	A reaction: With the phrase 'useful fictions' we seem to have jumped straight into Harty Field. I'm with Leibniz on this one. The history of mathematics is a series of ingenious inventions, whenever they seem to make further exciting proofs possible.

26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 11. Against Laws of Nature

15877	The aim of science is just to create a comprehensive, elegant language to describe brute facts [Poincaré, by Harré]
	Full Idea: In Poincaré's view, we try to construct a language within which the brute facts of experience are expressed as comprehensively and as elegantly as possible. The job of science is the forging of a language precisely suited to that purpose.
	From: report of Henri Poincaré (The Value of Science [1906], Pt III) by Rom Harré - Laws of Nature 2
	A reaction: I'm often struck by how obscure and difficult our accounts of self-evident facts can be. Chairs are easy, and the metaphysics of chairs is hideous. Why is that? I'm a robust realist, but I like Poincaré's idea. He permits facts.

29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / b. Religious Meaning

1466	Claims about God don't seem to claim or deny anything tangible, so evidence is irrelevant [Flew, by PG]
	Full Idea: An assertion is logically equivalent to denying its opposite, but claims about a 'gardener', or God, make neither claims nor denials of anything, so no evidence can count against the claim, or for it.
	From: report of Antony Flew (Theology and Falsification [1950]) by PG - Db (ideas)

29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / d. Religious Falsification

1465	You can't claim a patch of land is tended by a 'gardener' if there is no evidence, and all counter-evidence is rejected [Flew, by PG]
	Full Idea: If someone claimed a patch of land was tended by a 'gardener', but there was never a shred of evidence to support this view, the claim would gradually dissolve into meaninglessness, especially if it was suggested that evidence was irrelevant.
	From: report of Antony Flew (Theology and Falsification [1950]) by PG - Db (ideas)

1467	Religious people seem unwilling to accept any evidence that God does not love us, so their claim is unfalsifiable [Flew, by PG]
	Full Idea: Religious people seem unwilling to accept any evidence which shows that God does not love us, so what would they accept? If nothing counts that way, their claim is unfalsifiable, and hence meaningless.
	From: report of Antony Flew (Theology and Falsification [1950]) by PG - Db (ideas)