Changes

The '''Horror of a unique position'''<ref name="Observational Approach"/> is expression for embarrassment of [[naturalistic]] theorists who fear that our place, that is [[planet]] [[Earth]], [[Solar system]] or [[Milky Way]] [[galaxy]], could be extraordinary in the [[universe]]<ref name="Feynman">{{cite book |title=Feynman Lectures on Gravitation |author=Richard Phillips Feynman et al. |publisher=Westview Press |year=2002 |pages=166 |isbn=978-0813-340388 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jL9reHGIcMgC&dq=Feynman+lectures+on+gravitation&source=bl&ots=_nuGcNOn2_&sig=VyTgUmNcfeCOiwisdwoTEgKK9og&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gaYyUMHwIcfP4QTm5YD4Ag&redir_esc=y|quote=I suspect that the assumption of uniformity of the universe reflects a prejudice born of a sequence of overthrows of geocentric ideas...It would be embarrassing to find, after stating that we live in an ordinary planet about an ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy, that our place in the universe is extraordinary...to avoid embarrassment we cling to the hypothesis of uniformity}}</ref>. They do not like the idea that we might be at or near the center of the universe because that would suggest that we are in a special or privileged position, perhaps put here on purpose by the Creator.<ref name="DismantlingBB">{{cite book|author=Alex Williams, John Hartnett|title=Dismantling the Big Bang|publisher=Master Books|location=Green Forest, AR, USA|year=2005|pages=132|isbn=978-0-89051-437-5 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=FR7basoxkSwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=hartnett+dismantling+the+big+bang&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JvNwT_6nJJOP4gTP6fG_Ag&sqi=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hartnett%20dismantling%20the%20big%20bang&f=false}}</ref> They believe their commitment to so called ''absolute materialism'' as pseudo-religious dogma "''cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door''{{#tag:ref|It is symptomatic that naturalistic scientists often feel, similarly to [[Gnostic]] sects, being at war against "cruel world maker" usually identified with the [[God]] of the [[Old Testament]] whom they perceive, from their metaphysical position, as "tyrant". Such was the case when Richard Dawkins paid tribute to his late fellow Christopher Hitchens as a "great warrior [against all tyrants including God]" who was "in a foxhole", and "did not flinch".<ref>{{cite web |title=In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011|author=Juli Weiner|publisher=richarddawkins.net. |url=http://old.richarddawkins.net/articles/644245-in-memoriam-christopher-hitchens-1949-2011 |accessdate=August 4, 2013

The '''Horror of a unique position'''<ref name="Observational Approach"/> is expression for embarrassment of [[naturalistic]] [[theory|theorists]] who fear that our place, that is [[planet]] [[Earth]], [[Solar system]] or [[Milky Way]] [[galaxy]], could be extraordinary in the [[universe]]<ref name="Feynman">{{cite book |title=Feynman Lectures on Gravitation |author=Richard Phillips Feynman et al. |publisher=Westview Press |year=2002 |pages=166 |isbn=978-0813-340388 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jL9reHGIcMgC&dq=Feynman+lectures+on+gravitation&source=bl&ots=_nuGcNOn2_&sig=VyTgUmNcfeCOiwisdwoTEgKK9og&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gaYyUMHwIcfP4QTm5YD4Ag&redir_esc=y|quote=I suspect that the assumption of uniformity of the universe reflects a prejudice born of a sequence of overthrows of geocentric ideas...It would be embarrassing to find, after stating that we live in an ordinary planet about an ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy, that our place in the universe is extraordinary...to avoid embarrassment we cling to the hypothesis of uniformity}}</ref>. They do not like the idea that we might be at or near the center of the universe because that would suggest that we are in a special or privileged position, perhaps put here on purpose by the Creator.<ref name="DismantlingBB">{{cite book|author=Alex Williams, John Hartnett|title=Dismantling the Big Bang|publisher=Master Books|location=Green Forest, AR, USA|year=2005|pages=132|isbn=978-0-89051-437-5 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=FR7basoxkSwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=hartnett+dismantling+the+big+bang&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JvNwT_6nJJOP4gTP6fG_Ag&sqi=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hartnett%20dismantling%20the%20big%20bang&f=false}}</ref> They believe their commitment to so called ''absolute [[materialism]]'' as pseudo-religious dogma "''cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door''{{#tag:ref|It is symptomatic that naturalistic scientists often feel, similarly to [[Gnostic]] sects, being at war against "cruel world maker" usually identified with the [[God]] of the [[Old Testament]] whom they perceive, from their metaphysical position, as "tyrant". Such was the case when Richard Dawkins paid tribute to his late fellow Christopher Hitchens as a "great warrior [against all tyrants including God]" who was "in a foxhole", and "did not flinch".<ref>{{cite web |title=In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011|author=Juli Weiner|publisher=richarddawkins.net. |url=http://old.richarddawkins.net/articles/644245-in-memoriam-christopher-hitchens-1949-2011 |accessdate=August 4, 2013

|quote=Farewell, great voice. Great voice of reason, of humanity, of humour. Great voice against cant, against hypocrisy, against obscurantism and pretension, against all tyrants including God. Farewell, great warrior. You were in a foxhole, Hitch, and you did not flinch. Farewell, great example to us all.  

|quote=Farewell, great voice. Great voice of reason, of humanity, of humour. Great voice against cant, against hypocrisy, against obscurantism and pretension, against all tyrants including God. Farewell, great warrior. You were in a foxhole, Hitch, and you did not flinch. Farewell, great example to us all.  

Richard}}</ref> Slovak [[theology|theologian]] Jozef Ondrej Markuš maintains that a man who lives in separation from God suffers from fear and doubts. Then, in order to mitigate this uncertainty fueled also by own misdeeds and transgressions, humans search for ways how to silence their own voice of conscience and escape the God's judgment by devoting to projects like the famous biblical the [[Tower of Babel]] with ultimate goal to replace God by self-adoration and feel like gods themselves.<ref>{{cite book |title=Prorok Daniel (Prophet Daniel)|author= Jozef Ondrej Markuš|publisher=Matica slovenská|year=2001|page=42-43|isbn=80-7090-600-6|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zpnkAAAACAAJ&dq=Prorok+Daniel&hl=sk&sa=X&ei=7xv-UamhCsjw4QTI34HIDw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ|language=Slovak}}</ref>|group=note}} thus they think to be in need to be willing to<ref>{{cite web |author=Richard Lewontin |title=Billions and billions of demons (review of The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan, 1997) |publisher=originally in 'The New York Review' | pages= 31 |date= January 9, 1997

Richard}}</ref> Slovak [[theology|theologian]] Jozef Ondrej Markuš maintains that a man who lives in separation from God suffers from fear and doubts. Then, in order to mitigate this uncertainty fueled also by own misdeeds and transgressions, humans search for ways how to silence their own voice of conscience and escape the God's judgment by devoting to projects like the famous biblical the [[Tower of Babel]] with ultimate goal to replace God by self-adoration and to feel like gods themselves.<ref>{{cite book |title=Prorok Daniel (Prophet Daniel)|author= Jozef Ondrej Markuš|publisher=Matica slovenská|year=2001|page=42-43|isbn=80-7090-600-6|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zpnkAAAACAAJ&dq=Prorok+Daniel&hl=sk&sa=X&ei=7xv-UamhCsjw4QTI34HIDw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ|language=Slovak}}</ref>|group=note}} thus they think to be in need to be willing to<ref>{{cite web |author=Richard Lewontin |title=Billions and billions of demons (review of The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan, 1997) |publisher=originally in 'The New York Review' | pages= 31 |date= January 9, 1997

|url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/nave-html/faithpathh/lewontin.html|acessdate=August 1, 2013|quote="Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."}}</ref>:

|url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/nave-html/faithpathh/lewontin.html|acessdate=August 1, 2013|quote="Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."}}</ref>:

*accept scientific claims that are against common sense,  

*accept scientific claims that are against common sense,  

|isbn=9780006224853

|isbn=9780006224853

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6QvjGwAACAAJ&dq=screwtape+proposes+a+toast+and+other+pieces+fontana+books&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wFEOUcyxGYT-4QTxgYGwCw&redir_esc=y}}</ref>|group=note}}, violation of the [[Socratic principle]], damning the alternatives, and clinging to the biased a priori assumptions such as those of ''uniformity'' and ''homogeneity'' of the universe.  

|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=6QvjGwAACAAJ&dq=screwtape+proposes+a+toast+and+other+pieces+fontana+books&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wFEOUcyxGYT-4QTxgYGwCw&redir_esc=y}}</ref>|group=note}}, violation of the [[Socratic principle]], damning the alternatives, and clinging to the biased a priori assumptions such as those of ''uniformity'' and ''homogeneity'' of the universe.  

Consequently, atheistic cosmologists assert that ''"there must be no favoured location in the universe, no centre, no boundary; all must see the universe alike"''{{#tag:ref|cf.[[Cosmological principle]]|group=note}}. In order to ensure this situation, they postulate spatial isotropy and spatial homogeneity, which is way of stating that the universe must be pretty much alike everywhere and in all directions. In their reasoning, they use [[circular argument]] hence claim that a favoured position is intolerable because it represents a discrepancy with the theory that postulates homogeneity. Then, in order to restore homogeneity, and "to escape the horror of a unique position", the departures from uniformity, which are introduced by the recession factors, must be from their perspective compensated by the second term in the Einstein's field equations representing effects of [[spatial curvature]].  

Consequently, [[atheism|atheistic]] [[cosmologist]]s assert that ''"there must be no favoured location in the universe, no centre, no boundary; all must see the universe alike"''{{#tag:ref|cf.[[Cosmological principle]]|group=note}}. In order to ensure this situation, they postulate spatial isotropy and spatial homogeneity, which is way of stating that the universe must be pretty much alike everywhere and in all directions. In their reasoning, they use [[circular argument]] hence claim that a favoured position is intolerable because it represents a discrepancy with the theory that postulates homogeneity. Then, in order to restore homogeneity, and "to escape the horror of a ''unique position''", the departures from ''uniformity'', which are introduced by the ''recession factors'', must be from their perspective compensated by the second term in the [[Gravitational field equations|Einstein's field equations]] representing the effects of [[spatial curvature]].  

==Effort to hide philosophical criteria for model selection==

==Effort to hide philosophical criteria for model selection==

The kinds of universes that would be compatible with these principles are belonging to the set of so called [[Relativistic cosmology|relativistic cosmological models]]<ref name="Observational Approach">{{cite web

The kinds of universes that would be compatible with these principles are belonging to the set of so called [[Relativistic cosmology|relativistic cosmological models]]<ref name="Observational Approach">{{cite web