Specter of Reason

The knowledge argument begins with a compelling scenario. Imagine Mary, a scientist confined to a black-and-white room. She has always been in this room, and so has never known the experience of color vision. The room contains a black-and-white television through which Mary interacts with the rest of the world. In this way she has learned all of the physical facts of color vision. Yet, she has never experienced color vision directly. This scenario was first described by Frank Jackson in the 1980s, and was designed to raise the question: If Mary leaves the black-and-white room, will she learn something new about color? The intuitive answer is, yes, Mary must learn something new. She will learn what it is like to see colors. The implication is that there is more to be known about color vision than what can be contained in the scientific literature. The experience of color vision must include some kind of special knowledge, something which is not described by the physical facts. Th...

I just read Paul Davies' article, "Taking Science On Faith." The point of the article is that science is just as much a faith-based system as religion, though apparently Mr. Davies believes there is some hope that science may transcend its allegedly theological roots. All scientists need to do is develop a testable hypothesis that accounts for the fundamental laws of nature. It is not absurd for him to suggest that scientists could, or even should, develop such a hypothesis. What is absurd is the claim that, until such an achievement is reached, all of science implies or relies on faith--more specifically, a faith that is equivalent to that of religion. Paul Davies is an award-winning popularizer of science, but you wouldn't know it by reading this recent article. I have to agree with PZ Myers , who wrote a response to Mr. Davies for Edge.org and believes that Mr. Davies' article could not have been published on its merits. I knew that Mr. Davies liked to teas...