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To: Alamo-Girl; PatrickHenry
Ah, I see. Then, we have a significant problem, which is that I have interpreted your phrase literally (the terms as they are, without the underlying formulation you've built into them and its ancillary connotations).

Therefore, the proper step would be to modify our definition as follows:

Intelligent Design: A hypothesis that given features of actuality are explained by an intelligent cause, rather than by an undirected process such as natural selection.

Your formulation "life v non-life/death in nature" would be a subset of actuality. Do you have an objection to this final revision?

2,042 posted on 05/31/2005 9:59:14 AM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: AntiGuv; betty boop
Thank you for your reply!

Intelligent Design: A hypothesis that given features of actuality are explained by an intelligent cause, rather than by an undirected process such as natural selection.

Your formulation "life v non-life/death in nature" would be a subset of actuality. Do you have an objection to this final revision?

Indeed, I object because I cannot accept the term "actuality" without a definition.

Kant would have us understand actuality as "existence in some determinate time" but his definition of time is not up-to-date with geometric physics (i.e. 3 spatial dimensions evolving over time v time as a dimension) and thus would beg the question.

It also leaves the door open for modal logic which I doubt you would want.

The term "reality" might substitute, but the problem of definition remains. In a prior survey here on Free Republic, we compiled these different views of what reality "is":

To a metaphysical naturalist, "reality" is all that exists in nature

To an autonomist "reality" is all that is, the way it is

To an objectivist "reality" is that which exists

To a mystic "reality" may include thought as substantive force and hence, a part of "reality"

To Plato "reality" includes constructs such as redness, chairness, numbers, geometry and pi

To Aristotle these constructs are not part of "reality" but merely language

To some physicists, "reality" is the illusion of quantum mechanics

To Christians "reality" is God's will and unknowable in its fullness.

We originally set out to keep cosmology off the table in this project. It appears that may be impossible after all.

I have to go help with construction again this afternoon, but have a few minutes more now and will be back later on.


2,051 posted on 05/31/2005 10:43:40 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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