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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   29235 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 19, 2024

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My perspective, as a Christian:

  • There is knowledge/truth that cannot be discovered via purely rationalistic/logical means (as hinted at by Godel)
  • There is truth that is inherently unfalsifiable
  • Science/rationality is an incredibly useful tool, and is a subset of the tools/revelation that God has provided us to understand his world
  • Like all tools, this tool can (and due to our fallenness will inevitably) become unaligned with God's will/plan
  • Unless another tool is yet to be discovered (and I doubt such a tool will be), there is no way for humanity to ascertain unfalsifiable truth/knowledge without revelation (either general or specific).

I've been re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time since I was a kid. I'm not a huge fan of Lewis' children's books, but there are certain moments that stand out. Two that resonate with me:

From the Dawn Treader:

"In our world," said Eustace, "a star is a huge ball of flaming gas."

"Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of."

From the Silver Chair:

"Hangeth from what, my lord?" asked the Witch; and then, while they were all still thinking how to answer her, she added, with another of her soft, silver laughs: "You see? When you try to think out clearly what this sun must be, you cannot tell me. You can only tell me it is like the lamp. Your sun is a dream; and there is nothing in that dream that was not copied from the lamp. The lamp is the real thing; the sun is but a tale, a children's story."

"Yes, I see now," said Jill in a heavy, hopeless tone. "It must be so." And while she said this, it seemed to her to be very good sense.

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