vol 3: Development
cap 1: Epistemology
page 6: Evidence
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... to restore theology to the mainstream of science
Evidence
How do we know that we know the truth? How can we tell if someone is being honest? These questions are not easy, and they have generated many answers. The answer supported here goes under the general name of evidence, that is, constraints drawn from a record what has happened .
It can be very dangerous to mistake our own imagination, or the imagination of another, for reality. Imagination is devoid of all physical constraints, so that we can fly, build castles in the air, or fall endlessly in love with no care for the consequences. Survival in real life, on the other hand, requires that we compare our imaginative flights with the world, and control them where they deviate in a dangerous, ineffective or expensive way.
Evidence has an important role in science, but it its mandate runs much more widely. than that. It has an important constitutional role in our societies, since it is essential for the administration of justice. We all know how easy it is to make up false accusations against our enemies. Peace in a community requires that we agree on many things, and the basis for such agreement is evidence properly tried in a public and transparent manner.
Someone has been killed? Who killed them? If nobody will admit to the deed, the investigators must look for physical and eyewitness evidence to discover the murderer. Only if this evidence is good may the community be honestly empowered to declare a named person guilty and seek some reparation for its loss.
Tampering with the evidence and deliberately misinterpreting it are forms of perjury, intended to lead the community away from the truth, One of the most obvious features of life is that we are born and die. There is no evident communication between the living and the unborn and dead.
Christianity (and its predecessors and collateral lines) seems largely a product of efforts to deal with the reality of death. Christianity exemplifies a tendency to deal with it by denial, postulating instead eternal life.
Here we accept the evidence of birth and death at its face value, and seek to fit it into a model of the world. We know from physical observations that particles are created and annihilated. The physics of the birth and death of fundamental particles is described by the quantum theory of fields. Weinberg
The network model of the world shows us the same fundamental structure in all processes, no matter what their scale. At this level of resolution the birth and death of all particles are the same, whether they be a photon, a person or a planet. Each of our lives is a distinct message in the life of the universe. On our hypothesis, that the universe is divine, every life is an element of the life of god.
Books
| Dawkins, Richard, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design, Penguin/Pelican 1996 Preface: '[Darwinism] is, indeed a remarkably simple theory; ... In essence it amounts simply to the idea that non-random reproduction where there is hereditary variation, has consequences that are far reaching if there is time for them to be cumulative ... ' Amazon back |
| Gardner, Thomas J, Criminal Evidence: Principles and Cases, # Wadsworth Publishing 2006 Amazon Book Description:'Book Description Gardner and Anderson cover the key rules of evidence and the applicability of these rules in criminal matters. The authors provide students with an understanding of the rationale behind these rules, and focus on making the rules accessible to law enforcement officers who must apply them on the job. This text includes many of the features that have popularized Gardner/Anderson's best-selling CRIMINAL LAW text, including high-interest examples, boxes that focus in on key concepts, and case excerpts. Unlike competing texts, CRIMINAL EVIDENCE: PRINCIPLES AND CASES is comprehensive without being encyclopedic or overwhelming.' Amazon back |
| Kiralfy, A K R (ed), Potters Historical Introduction to English Law and its Institutions , Sweet and Maxwell 1958 back |
| Walker, Geoffrey de Q, The Rule of Law: Foundations of Constitutional Democracy, Melbourne University Press 1988 Jacket: 'The author argues that the survival of any useful rule of law model is currently threatened by distortions in the adjudication process, by perversion of law enforcement (by fabrication of evidence and other means), by the excessive production of new legislation with its degrading effect on long-term legal certainty and on long-standing safeguards, and by legal theories that are hostile to the very concept of rule of law. In practice these trends have produced a great number of legal failures from which we must learn.' Amazon back |
| Weinberg, Steven, The Quantum Theory of Fields Volume I: Foundations, Cambridge University Press 1995 Jacket: 'After a brief historical outline, the book begins anew with the principles about which we are most certain, relativity and quantum mechanics, and then the properties of particles that follow from these principles. Quantum field theory then emerges from this as a natural consequence. The classic calculations of quantum electrodynamics are presented in a thoroughly modern way, showing the use of path integrals and dimensional regularization. The account of renormalization theory reflects the changes in our view of quantum field theory since the advent of effective field theories. The book's scope extends beyond quantum elelctrodynamics to elementary partricle physics and nuclear physics. It contains much original material, and is peppered with examples and insights drawn from the author's experience as a leader of elementary particle research. Problems are included at the end of each chapter. ' Amazon back |
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