[FoRK] materialism vs. humanism vs. history

[Dr. Ernie Prabhakar]

Hi Lucas,

On Jan 2, 2008, at 4:19 PM, Lucas Gonze wrote:
> On Jan 2, 2008 4:35 PM, Dr. Ernie Prabhakar <drernie at radicalcentrism.org 
> > wrote:
>> But, what is your criteria for determining "what is real"?
>
> Anything that can be investigated by any present or future science is
> a candidate for inclusion.

"future science"?  That seems awfully open-ended...

> For example Christian belief is by
> definition an act of faith and can't be investigated, therefore it is
> not real.

  By _whose_ definition?

For example, what if we could invent time-viewing machines that could  
verify whether or not Jesus rose from the dead?

Do you really just  mean "Anything I can't imagine being true must not  
be real?"

For that matter, do you count "history" a science? In that case,  
people can (and do :-) have meaningful arguments about the historical  
basis for Christianity.  Maybe not conclusive, but it is at least  
_possible_ to investigate those questions.

I don't mean to be antagonistic -- I admire your willingness to come  
up with a concrete alternative to the purely negative "atheism".  But  
I do want to push you to flesh out your definitions!

-- Ernie P.