Platonism in modern science (was Re: Genealogy of Specious Dualisms)

[Dace]

>Carrol Cox:
>>
>> The odd belief that scientific laws (as opposed to what those
>> laws describe) have an independent reality is just a modern
>> version of Plato's forms.
>
>Couldn't this simply be a religious position?  There _is_
>evidence of a higher realm for some people -- the experiences
>of some mathematicians, for example.  It is the best way
>they have of explaining their experiences to themselves, in
>spite of the fact that there is no physical evidence for it.
>
>
>Gordon
>
Platonism is indeed a religious belief.  Newton believed that universal,
eternal laws were thoughts in the mind of God.  His mechanistic synthesis of
matter and the ideal hinged on the notion that God was the master mechanic
who designed the universe and all the living things in the world according
to his Ideas.  This view permeates modern thinking, despite the fact that
God is gone, and evolution has replaced not only the mechanistic creation of
life on earth but even the development of the cosmos.  Whether cosmic or
biological, evolution depends on habit, not ideal laws.

Superstition does not explain experiences.  It just prevents us from
searching for the real explanation.

Ted