Reply #94: Re:My thoughts [View All]

[frustrated_lefty]

Regarding your situation with the parent out of work. The scientific approach would be to analyze the situation: what was the motivation for the crime? Crime of passion? Crime of opportunity? Crime of desperation?

We disagree here. I agree with you, the rational approach would be to analyze the situation, examine the motivation. I don’t think science is well suited to quantifying intangibles such as passion, opportunity or desperation.

Crime is something that affects society as a whole very negatively. Scientifically, I think you look to root out the causes of crime, to prevent it rather that just simply punish it. From a scientific perspective, you don't want to just treat the symptoms (punish the offender) but instead attack the cause.

Hey, I agree wholeheartedly! To be perfectly clear, I am a gene therapist, the focus of my work is rooting out the causes of illness and curing the disease at its foundation. I applaud that. If you take an honest look at modern medicine, though, what you see is it addresses symptoms foremost, and very rarely the cause. Modern pharmacology and surgery borders on barbarism, in my opinion.

Policy in this country, I think, tends to focus on fixing the symptoms, and completely ignores the cause.

How does one prevent Christian Scientists from withholding medical care from their children if you aren't willing to take a stand and say "your philosophy is bogus!" and point to science as the ultimate arbiter?

I would say that medical science has primacy over any other field with regard to physical health. Science, however, does not define justice.

We can't get caught up in the wishy-washy world of "well, science says this but ultimately it isn't really superior to any other tool of knowledge so go right ahead, because science just might be wrong and your belief in faith healing might just be right".

No. Science is penultimate in its domain. There are areas where science does not touch. I don’t think that means religion or prayer has primacy there, simply that we are arrogant if we think we have all the answers. It might be productive to ask, if science can't touch in an area, why can't it?