Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Teleological argument
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics=== [[William Lane Craig]] has proposed a nominalist argument influenced by the [[philosophy of mathematics]]. This argument revolves around the fact that, by using mathematical concepts, we can discover much about the natural world. For example, Craig writes, [[Peter Higgs]], and any similar scientist, "can sit down at his desk and, by pouring{{sic}} over mathematical equations, predict the existence of a fundamental particle which, thirty years later, after investing millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours, experimentalists are finally able to detect." He names mathematics the 'language of nature', and refutes two possible explanations for this. Firstly, he suggests, the idea that they are abstract entities brings about the question of their application. Secondly, he responds to the problem of whether they are merely useful fictions by suggesting that this asks why these fictions are so useful. Citing [[Eugene Wigner]] as an influence on his thought, he summarizes his argument as follows:<ref>{{Cite web |title=God and the 'Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics' - Reasonable Faith |url=http://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/existence-nature-of-god/god-and-the-unreasonable-effectiveness-of-mathematics/ |website=www.reasonablefaith.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Does God Exist? - Reasonable Faith |url=http://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/existence-nature-of-god/does-god-exist1/ |website=www.reasonablefaith.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZmFptNGnFs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200313161320/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZmFptNGnFs&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=2020-03-13 |access-date=2018-12-11 |website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> {{Poem quote|text=1. If God did not exist, the applicability of mathematics would be just a happy coincidence. 2. The applicability of mathematics is not just a happy coincidence. 3. Therefore, God exists.|char=|sign=|title=|source=}}
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)