Metaphysical questions are defined as coming after' Physics, or as having answers that lie beyond' Nature. Now, if such questions were simply beyond the reach of science to answer then we could argue that the existence and intractability of these questions is evidence for the inadequacy of the scientific method, the falsity of the scientific view', or the incoherence of the beliefs of many scientists. This is not an uncommon argument.
However, metaphysical questions are not simply undecidable in this sense. They are undecidable in a formal mathematical sense. That is, all reasonable answers to a metaphysical question give rise to contradictions within the formal systems of reasoning that give rise to the question. That is to say, metaphysical questions cannot be decided within the system of reasoning used by the person who is asking the question. This is for the same reasons that Gödel-sentences' cannot be decided within the formal systems in which they arise.......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 1365
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |