Religion & Ethics: Content from Across the ABC




Date/Time 29 Dec 2014 7:33:08am
"t still seems that the observable force of gravity obeys an unobservable law of gravity, and that that unobservable law is to be posited as deriving from transcendent Reason."

This is where you are going wrong. It is not necessary for the causal motivation for gravity to be "transcendent". Rather, the reason is simply as a result of the constituent parts of the universe. That is, the nature of gravitational attraction is the result of the component parts of the universe and their interaction. There is no independent lawgiver that says "Now gravity, you have to act like this". Rather, the interaction of those things within the system (ie the universe) result in a phenomenon that we call gravity. Because that operation is probablistic, we can observe and describe rules about its operation. But please do not get confused and consider it a separate or independent component of the universe for it is not, except in our nature of describing it.

For clarity, you are importing a transcendent reason without any need for it. The universe is self-fulfilling in its nature. It does not require an outside force or rule giver for its operation.