"Applying the principle of Occam's razor, I like to use the simplest explanation possible. If a natural explanation for something exists, that is preferable to a more unlikely explanation that involves a breaking of natural laws."
Dear Ron, It is interesting that you say this, because while I would agree that the modern scientific method can probably be traced back to William of Occham, as a nominalist, I'm not sure he believed in natural law as something immutable. Like the Asharites in Islamic theology, William of Occham believed that the "laws" we observed in nature were nothing more than expressions of God's customary ways of doing things, customs He could chose suspend when He wished to. As far as William of Occham was concerned, the Virgin Birth and the Incarnation itself were instances of this. I mentioned the Asharites who shared this perception. They saw existence as made up of atoms, but these atoms were not particles as we currently see them. They were more like mathematical points on a line, the will of God being the only thing that gave them any continuity whatsoever such that if God's active involvement in the universe were to cease for a moment all existence would cease to be. Now, I'm a strong believer in modern science, but I share this Asharite vision of the universe as well. I remember years ago I was taking a course from Dr. Heiko Oberman on St. Augustine's City of God. We got to the eleventh book, I think, where Augustine was offering the miracles associated with saint shrines as evidence of the validity of Christianity. Part of me recognized this as a pattern in the spread of Islam through Sufi saint shrines but another part of me was frustrated with this whole line of argument. I finally blurted out, "You can't prove anything by miracles, they happen all the time!" The other graduate students just stared at me. Dr. Oberman looked surprised for a moment too, and then smiled and said, "Suzy, you are so unmodern. And I say that with admiration." I just learned recently that Dr. Oberman passed away awhile back. He truly was a murshid-i kamil. Well, almost kamil. warmest, Susan __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
