Thinking philosophically. Please read and correct

[Epsicron]

I was thinking about some strange stuff tonight and here is what I wrote. Please let me know if my logic below falls apart. I’m hoping for feedback because I would like to receive the insight of others.

I began by thinking of things that go beyond science.
Science shows us what could happen but it will never tell us what should happen.
Propose that nothing exists outside the realm of science. Then, right and wrong, which reach beyond science, must be an illusion.
Therefore, morality is just subjective desire.
But then even desire itself could not exist.
Why? Desire is nothing more than a direction of will. Yet, even the concept of a will must be an illusion. I’ll explain. If everything can be determined by science then every action is the result of external and internal forces playing upon a vehicle. Each person simply responds to the forces that affect it, like a rock rolling down a hill. Every one of us is a rock rolling down a hill; just a very complex version of it.
There is no justice, because with no will there is no one to blame.
Indeed, there is not even a self to blame because there is no self at all.

 

[Jamie5]

Science shows us what DOES happen, not could. Of course you can have theories that are 99.9% true, but not visible yet to human eyes or technology. Also as has been discussed here a lot, morals are subjective to an extent, but regardless of religion one can know that there are certain rights and wrongs in the world. But when it comes down to it, it’s all chaos really. So be kind. That’s the secret. Be kind and love one another.

 

[RandomAlias]

Propose that nothing exists outside the realm of science.

I am guessing that you mean outside of the material world – the universe of matter, energy, space, and time.

Science is our effort to understand the material world. It is a search for truth at that level. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is incorrect to say that the domain of science, namely, the material world, is all there is. That’s materialism. Science can’t prove or disprove that proposition.

Reason, however, perhaps can. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, used a kind of logic to prove that God exists, and to gain many other insights.

It may be possible for you to reconcile faith and science. I am a scientist and I think a lot about these sorts of things. Science both challenges and strengthens my faith. My advice to you is to keep searching and thinking, and don’t settle for materialism. The atheist looks at the world and says that science explains mind and love. The believer looks at the world, and science, and says “How great is our God, who can form mindful and loving beings out of minerals, water, and air!”

It’s not always easy. They say faith is a gift from God. You can’t construct faith solely from reason. Science informs us that when we die, our brain chemistry stops. More accurately, it returns to thermal, chemical, and electrical equilibrium. The material “self” associated with brain function is utterly destroyed. If anything of our self remains – let’s call it our soul – it is unobservable and totally outside the domain of science.

Other discussions here at CAF have asked about the nature of the soul after the death of the body. Does the soul retain the memories and thoughts and feelings that were associated with brain function? If it does, it is beyond the natural world. Science has no way to observe or explain it.

One may still have faith. It might be a desperate faith, or it might be a sure faith, or a little bit of both. I believe that God created this awesome, amazing universe, and with it created me. Did he create me to live in the flesh, and then die forever? If that is God’s entire plan, I would be disappointed, but frankly there’s not a lot I could do about it. However, I believe that a God who can create this universe can do a lot more. If he intends for me to exist after this life, he can make it happen, no difficulty for him, and it will be even more awesome than this already awesome universe. So, in summary, I have faith, not without some doubt or worry, I have much love for our God who holds us in existence, and I have big hopes.

What do you believe?

 

[AlNg]

Please let me know if my logic below falls apart.

I think there is a problem with the word exists. Things can exist tangibly or intangibly. According to scientific theory of evolution, some aspects of morality and right or wrong have developed according to the laws of biological evolution whereas others, according to sociological science, may have been incorporated to promote social well being and community interests.