[Avodah] Science and Truth

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jul 02, 2008 at 12:56:14PM -0400, Rich, R Joel replied to RAMiller:
:> Of the four factors mentioned, that leaves "tradition". I'd say that
:> anything based on a clear *Revelation* is the only absolute in this
:> discussion, and even there, it is reliable only to the extent that one
:> can trust himself to have understood the Revelation correctly. 

: Perhaps for the recipient, what about their descendants?

Well, the Kuzari invokes the presence of a tradition. IMHO, it doesn't
work too well until after you already bought into the notion of being
a part of the Jewish people which as a corporate entity knows something.

I would instead object to an earlier objection RAM's post:
> It seems to me that anything based on observation might be flawed because
> of an incomplete observation. Anything based on reasoning might be flawed
> because of faulty reasoning. Anything based on intuition might be flawed
> because it is quite possibly mere guesswork.

I think that the line, "More than the Jews have kept the Shabbos,
the Shabbos has kept the Jews" is more than a truism, it's an
epistomological reality. Nothing kept Judaism alive more than the
experience of Shabbos. And although our performance is imperfect, and
thus our observation incomplete, we manage to glimpse something that is
convincing enough for most of us.

This is the answer our ancestors amazingly intuited when they said
na'aseh before nishmah. The only thing that can be relied upon to be
heard is the results of the asiyah.

Is it 100% proof? There is no such thing. We could be insane, and falling
for something that sane minds would realize is incoherent. That's a
theoretical abstraction that only would have meaning if we had perfect
minds no less complex than all potential realities. Certain enough so
as to make no difference? Definitely.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A person must be very patient
micha at aishdas.org        even with himself.
http://www.aishdas.org         - attributed to R' Nachman of Breslov
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