The Problem of Justifying First Principles

Ann Arbor

I like the dialogue Defending Science: An Exchange, with Michael Lynch and Alan Sokal.

In the philosophical discussion re. "properly basic beliefs" two candidates for PBBs are: the laws of logic; and sense experience. In a recent nytimes dialogue NYU physicist Sokal provides support for these as PBBs. He writes:

"It’s hard to imagine what an ab initio justification of logical principles like modus ponens would look like. But I guess that I have never gotten much worked up over this problem: all of us who are interested in discussing more serious problems (be they in philosophy, science, mathematics, politics or anything else) have no choice but to use modus ponens (and a lot of other things).

Likewise for sense experience and for knowing what information, if any, it gives about the external world (though this is a much more serious issue in my opinion than modus ponens): solipsism and radical skepticism are irrefutable, as far as I can see, but that does not mean there is any reason to take them seriously. In practice no human being does — even philosophers stop being solipsists or radical skeptics when they are shopping for dinner."

Sokal states that our fundamental epistemic principles are "well-nigh universal among human beings."

Co-author Michael Lynch, a philosopher at U-Connecticut, agrees. He writes: "The relevant epistemic principles are fundamental precisely because any attempt to justify them is circular. (Think of trying to give a logical argument for trusting logic, or basic inference patterns like modus ponens). That problem doesn’t go away just because most people will accept certain principles."

Modus ponens is:

If p, then q
p
Therefore, q

Here we have unjustifiable beliefs we all hold as true. Plantinga, Alston, et. al. argue that, if Christian theism is true, then God-belief is probably properly basic as well.

Lynch writes:

"The problem of justifying first epistemic principles is very old. It led the ancient Greek skeptics to say that knowledge is an illusion. But over the centuries, it has been more common to draw a different conclusion, one concerning the relative value of reason itself. According to many people, what the problem of justifying first principles really shows is that because reasons always run out or end up just going in circles, our starting point must always be something more like faith.

There is a grain of truth in this disquieting thought. We can’t reasonably defend our trust in science just by doing more science in the hope of persuading those who aren’t already on board. But that doesn’t mean we can’t give reasons for our first principles, including the epistemic principles of science. Of course we can. The hard question is what sort of reasons we can give."

Preaching Tomorrow at Redeemer Ministry School

We have four RMS students preaching tomorrow morning in our Redeemer sanctuary. They are:

• Lisa Phillips
• Jake Goins
• Dustin Harvey
• Michael Hammill

Anyone is invited to come and listen.

Worship, led by Linda and I, from 9-9:30.

Preaching begins at 9:40.

Listening to God: The Inward Whisper & the Interior Knowing

Great Blue Heron flying over the river on our property.

This week I'm reading Richard Foster's Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer. This was one of Leadership Journal's top books of the year for 2011. (Note: the book Humiltas was #1.) 

Foster's book is about deeply entering and living in the presence of God, and hearing the voice of God. He writes:

"You know how we are able to distinguish between human speakers by the quality of their voice, the spirit in their voice and, of course, the content of what is being said? It is much the same with the divine voice. The quality of God's voice is one of drawing and encouraging. The spirit in God's voice is all grace and mercy. And the content of what is being said is always consistent with what God has said have a huge biblical witness upon which to test our leadings. Now, I am not speaking here of an outward voice that can be captured by electronic equipment. That no doubt is possible, as the Bible gives ample witness. But here I am speaking of an inward whisper, a deep speaking into the heart, an interior knowing." (Kindle Locations 54-58)

This is how I usually experience hearing God. Last evening, for example, at our Spiritual Formation wrap-up meeting, as one person was sharing, I had a strong inner prompting that I have come to trust as being from God. I wrote down what I heard. It was something to share with the entire group, giving us a spiritual path to walk on.

My expectation, from experience and spiritual coaching, is that as a person spends more and more conversational time with God, the inner prompting of God's Spirit will become clearer.

Good Morning Spiritual Formation Friends!

The River Raisin in Monroe

(This is especially for all who have been in my 6-week Spiritual Formation class.)

Good Morning Spiritual Formation Friends!

Here are some things I want to share with you.

1. Last evening we gathered and people shared responses to the question: "What did God say to you during these past six weeks?" It was very encouraging for me to hear what God has veen saying and doing!
2. If you would like to write a response to this question, you can send it to me. I'll look at it, maybe edit it some, and then post it on my blog, with your name attached. I think some testimonies would be an encouragement to others. If that's for you, send me something.
3. I plan on continuing to send you things I am writing on prayer and spiritual formation. If you do not want to continue to receive these let me know and I'll remove you from my list.
4. I am praying about doing another one of these 6-week prayer adventures, possibly in late summer.

Here's what one person wrote me a few days ago.

"John,
I am sorry that I will be unable to make it tonight, but rest assured, the last 5 weeks have been beautiful. I look for opportunities to pray, I sleep better as God's peace has increased in my life, I had a word of knowledge for a woman in church last night, my work life is changing, and on and on. In some ways, I'm almost glad that I won't be there, because I don't want my mind to think that this is the end of a class - I just want to keep going - and I will! I just want an increasingly natural conversation with God until my mind is a conduit for His - that's all. Thanks again."

I love the way this person expressed this. So, this week - I am praying that you will continue taking time to meet with God and pray.

My suggestion is: Spend a few weeks with Matthew chapters 5-6-7. This is Jesus' incredible "Sermon on the Mount." Arguably, this is the most impactful and revolutionary sermon or "speech" ever given.

As you read it, do so as if you have never heard these words before.

Pray - "God, if there is something you would like to speak to me about, I am listening." Then, when God speaks, write it down.

Slow-cook in these three chapters. They are rich and deep!

If God speaks to you in these days ahead and you would like to share this with me, please send me what He has been saying.

I am so glad you have been part of these past six weeks. I am praying NOW for all of you, that your focused meeting times with God will continue and become a spiritual platform from which you live this life.

Blessings and Love,

PJ

Becoming a Praying Community

Prayer, in our sanctuary

This evening at Redeemer many who have been taking my 6-week Spiritual Formation course will come to our sanctuary. We'll spend time in small groups sharing, with the question "What did God say to you in these past weeks?" being our focus.

I anticipate that the small group sharing will be lively. And encouraging. Tonight we'll be spurring each other on in the life of prayer and encountering God. I expect God to be speaking to a number of people this evening.

Notice the word "common" in "community." "With unity." With one voice. What we'll have in common are things like:

• Spending much time actually praying.
• Hearing from God.
• Meditating on Psalm 23 and John 14-15-16.
• Being formed and transformed by God's Spirit.

The sharing will circle around these things.

For me it's like this. If we all went to see an excellent movie, then went out for dinner afterwards, we'd be talking about our shared experience. Everyone would have a say in this; no one would be left out. This is authentic "fellowship," if the word can be taken to mean something like "a group of fellows in the same ship."

To me it works like this.
- Pray alone
- Come together in small groups and share and pray together
- Worship together in a large group
- Pray alone
- Come together in small groups and share and pray together
- Worship together in a large group
- Pray alone
- and so on and on and on...

Let this thing build into your life, this movement from solitude to community and back to solitude and then again to community, focused on prayer, the biblical text, hearing from God, obedience, spiritual fruit-bearing, and meta-morphing into Christlikeness.

Let "church" be defined by this kind of inner movement.

From these inner circles move outward into the world.

That's how I am viewing the idea of "Church," and what I desire to be part of.

The Nihilistic Lives of College-Age Americans

Moon over the River Raisin
Monroe County

Here's a review of Notre Dame scholar Christian Smith's Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood. See Thomas Kidd, "A Jeremiad with Statistics: Christian Smith on the Nihilistic Lives of College-Age Americans." I've reviewed Smith before - see here, here, and here. He is THE scholar to read to find out about the moral and spiritual status of today's midadolescents in America.


Here are some bullets from Kidd's review.

• Smith has data and statistics, hard empirical research, to back up his observations. As I have said before, his conclusions jive with my experience teaching college students over the past 11 years.
• "Shockingly high numbers of Smith's subjects are living listless, anxious, nihilistic lives, consumed with buying more stuff, getting stoned, hooking up, and tuning out."
• "Endless consumer choices, easy access to drugs and alcohol, and an increasing lack of taboos in sexuality, all make it critical that emerging adults have a moral framework for making wholesome choices. But Smith shows that this foundational framework is exactly what the majority of his interviewees do not have. Sixty percent of them said that morality was in the eye of the beholder, and about half subscribed, as best they understood it, to the concept of moral relativism."
• "One in three had no idea what made something right or wrong. Many of those interviewed simply could not understand questions about their sources of morality, no matter how the interviewer rephrased them."
• "Interviewees displayed distressingly high rates of alcohol and drug abuse, as well as high-risk sexual behavior. About half of those studied had engaged in binge drinking within the past two weeks. Almost three quarters of the non-married emerging adults had experienced sexual intercourse a number of times with a variety of partners, typically beginning around age 16. Especially for women, this pattern of reckless sexuality has fostered deep regrets, insecurity, and trauma from abortions or sexually-transmitted diseases. Other emerging adults, especially some men, seem to sense no regrets whatsoever about their amorous escapades."
• "Smith and his co-authors offer almost no practical solutions to help today's teenagers become more ethically adept than this cohort of college age adults. Even his tentative proposals—better moral education in high schools?—seem nearly hopeless. But parents and pastors sure ought to think about a solution; the average American teenager's cultural diet of school, media, sports, and/or church is not preparing them to emerge as morally capable adults."

This Sunday morning I am going to offer all the young people who come to Redeemer the opportunity to embrace a Moral Framework, the only one I think actually works. (New Redeemer website coming very soon!)

Preaching This Sunday on Galatians 5:13-26

This Sunday at Redeemer (new website close to being published) I'll continue the series of "Freedom" messages in Galatians. Out text is: Galatians 5:13-26.

SUMMARY

1.     You are free, in Christ.

2.     Do not use your freedom as a base camp to descend into darkness and sin.

3.     Instead, use your freedom to love God, and love others.

4.     Enter into deep relationship with God; abide in Jesus; pray much; stay ins tep with the Spirit.

5.     Then, your life will bear much fruit.

We Shape Our "Connectomes"

I'm reading M.I.T. neuroscientist Sebstian Seung's Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are. How will he, or will he, deal with the matter of free will? I'm thinking about this as I'm reading his distinction between the genome and the "connectome."

One's genome does not change. A genomic sequence is orderly, and looks like this:

A connectome "is the totality of connections between the neurons in a nervous system. Unlike one's genome, one's connectome morphs. It changes. It's more like a thick forest, like this:



A person is more than their genes; they are also their connectome. And, "There is reason to believe that we shape our own connectomes by the actions we take, even by the things we think. Brain wiring may make us who we are, but we play an important role in wiring up our brains." (K 127)

This is the language of personal agency, of free will. "We" shape our connectomes. This is not the language of epiphenomenalism.

Spiritual Discernment

RR tracks in Valley Forge, PA

At the heart of my Spiritual Formation course is this: how to hear and discern the voice of God.

The biblical Greek word we translate as "discernment" is diakrisis. This is a put-together of the prefix dia- ("through") and krisis, from the verb krino, which means "to cut." To "discern" is, literally, to "cut through." Or, to separate. One separates the voice of God out from other voices.

As we are praying and listening for the voice of God, hHow can we tell if it’s really God speaking to us, or some other voice? How can we discern this?

To grow in discernment I suggest:

1 - Saturate yourself in the Bible. Read it over and over and over… Slow-cook in the Scriptures. If you want to make a strong beginning, read the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) over and over and over… I did that for a few years. I wanted to become much more familiar with the Real words of the Real Jesus. Do this and you will become familiar with His voice. This will help you separate out His voice from other competing voices.

2 - Accompany your reading of the Gospels with N.T. Wright's "For Everyone" commentaries on the 4 Gospels. . In Wright we have a brilliant New Testament scholar who can write so everyone can understand. This will nicely supplement your Scripture reading. Wright's commentaries read well devotionally.

3 - Spend much time (hours and hours and hours) praying, by yourself. What is prayer? Prayer is talking with God about what we are doing together. This involves, necessarily, listening. When God speaks to you, write it down in your journal.

4 - When God calls you to do something, obey.

5 - Be part of a small community of Jesus-followers who do #s 1-2-3-4 above. Ask each other the question: What is God saying to you? Talk about the things God is saying. Disagree or agree. Learn. Linda and I have been in a Home Group every year of our 38+ years of marriage. A Home Group is an exercise in corporate discernment. This is good.

6 - Keep a spiritual journal. A spiritual journal is a record of the voice of God, to you. Among ogther things, the journal aids us in remembering. Remember that “remembering” is huge in the Judeo-Christian scriptures.

7 - Find a spiritual coach to share your journal with. This isn’t for everyone. But it would be very cool if you had someone. This person should be someone who does all of the above. They must have humility. They must not be into controlling other people.

Anyone who lives out 1-6 (if not 7) will grow in spiritual discernment.

Nobody Really Understands How the Human Brain Works

This ladybug walked across my office desk today.

One of my doctoral dissertation professors at Northwestern was James Ashbrook. Dr. Ashbrook was a neuro-psychologist and neuro-theologian. His The Humanizing Brain: Where Religion and Neuroscience Meet was nominated for the Templeton Prize in Religion and Science.

I remember talking with Dr. Ashbrook as he talked about the first time he held a human brain in his hands. His eyes were filled with wonder in the face of what is arguably the greatest of God's accomplishments. I was fascinated as he talked.

My research in the philosophy of language had taken me into the relatively new field of neurolinguistics, especially how the physical brain processes metaphor. It turns out that, e.g., what happens in the brain when making a metaphor is structurally different than when making a simile. This, among other things, helps debunk the old, Aristotelian idea that metaphor is but an elliptical simile.

My own independent neuro-studies have continued. My interest has in no way diminished, and my fascination has only increased.

How much do we know about the human brain? Sebastian Seung, professor of brain science at M.I.T., says: "Every day we recall the past, perceive the present and imagine the future. How do our brains accomplish these feats? It's safe to say that nobody really knows."

McGill University neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, in "The Ultimate Brain Quest," writes:

"Neuroscientists posit that all of our hopes, desires, beliefs and experiences are encoded in the brain as patterns of neural firings. Just how this happens is not precisely understood, as the author attests, but we have made great strides in understanding how neurons communicate with one another. Progress has also been made in mapping which brain systems control which kinds of operations (my own field of research)."

As advanced as we are, why do we understand so little about the brain? Because:

• the human brain contains 100 million neurons
• each neuron, on average, makes thousands of connections
• each distinct connection pattern gives rise to a distinct brain state
• This means that "the number of brain states exceeds the number of known particles in the universe."
• "The next big frontier is mapping those trillions of neural connection patterns to their brain states. By observing a particular network of neurons firing, researchers should know (in theory) whether you are thinking about love or money, beer or burgers."

Levitin says that Seung's book Connectome is "the best lay book on brain science I've ever read (Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are)

I just bought it. I'm pulling it up on my Kindle. I'm about to find out more of what I don't understand about the human brain.