Last week I talked about Kurt Gödel (1906-1978), whom Einstein said was “the greatest logician since Aristotle.” Amongst Gödel’s papers found after he passed was a proof for the existence of God. I’ve been asked to expand on that, so, sure, I’ll do my best! But first, more context will be helpful.
In my mind I distinguish between Science and ScienTISM. ‘Science’ is the application of the Scientific Method (observe, form theories, test them, rinse and repeat) to understand the physical world. The Scientific Method has been spectacularly useful — I’d say it’s one of humanity’s greatest inventions, rivaling the discovery of fire.
And then there’s Scientism — the belief (yes, that’s what it is) that the Scientific Method is sufficient to discover ALL truth, and that anything that can’t be investigated with the Scientific Method must be nonsense or nonexistent. A corollary of Scientism is that EVERYTHING can be reduced to equations — that everything is ultimately a machine. Including humans — we’re all meat robots.
I understand how Science gave rise to Scientism — if you have a hammer that works spectacularly well, it’s hard to resist the temptation to see all problems as nails.
I note that Scientism doesn’t hold up to its own criteria. That is, Scientism itself cannot be tested by the Scientific Method. That is, the idea that the Scientific Method is sufficient for ALL truth cannot be tested with the Scientific Method! I’m sure I’m guilty of oversimplifying this for the purposes of this Music Box, but in essence this has been a major objection to Scientism by many serious thinkers since the early 20th century.
Nevertheless, it’s pretty easy to see that the notion that everything and everyone is a Machine is still a dominant way of thinking even today — mostly (I think) because “this hammer has worked so well, all problems must be nails” even when it has been shown that the hammer itself has serious manufacturer defects.
This is the cultural milieu in which Gödel found himself in the early 20th century. In Math in particular, there was the belief that all that was needed was to formulate a proper set of axioms, and the rules for deriving theorems from them, and turn the crank indefinitely to create all the Math you could ever need or want. Gödel didn’t see it that way: he thought that intuitive insight was essential, and THAT is something outside of The Machine. Intuitive insights happen in strange dreams, and when you least expect them, and seeing connections between incongruous things, and all sorts of other bizarre and wonderful ways — none of which sound like the tidy soul-less cranking of meat robots.
That’s what Gödel’s most famous theorems demonstrate: that given ANY set of axioms and ways to derive theorems from them, and regardless of how long you turn the crank, there will still be True Math that falls through the cracks. That there is Math that is true, but can’t be derived by meat robots, regardless of how long they turn the crank.
In Gödel’s intellectual world atheism was the norm, though Gödel himself was a theist and a Platonist (another verboten point of view — that ideas have their own reality — they’re not just chemical reactions in my meat robot brain). With that in mind, one can understand why Gödel would concern himself with a proof for the existence of God, and also why he didn’t publish it. His proofs blasting holes in the idea that Math can be reduced to meat robots were revolutionary enough. Perhaps the mental fragility that accompanied his profound mathematical/logical prowess — a mental fragility that resulted in him starving himself to death — was martyrdom enough.
But his proofs showed a LOT. If Math itself is beyond meat robots, then so is everything based on Math. Like Science. And Economics. And the medical model that the body is Just a Machine. And all those tidy statistical analyses you see in the media. And a long list of ‘sciences’ that claim that math and machines and Science are enough to explain EVERYTHING.
Instead, isn’t it enough to say that Science explains a LOT — and just maybe there’s room for more? And be loud and proud about that?
Next week I’ll tackle Gödel’s proof for the existence of God itself. (It’s twisty!)
P.S. Kurt Gödel is not an easy person to parse, not taking much time to explain his agenda to us mere mortals. My article is particularly indebted to A World Without Time, Palle Yourgrau (Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis).