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BJU Earth Science
chapter 1
Question | Answer |
---|---|
science | the total collection of knowledge from man's methodical observations of the universe as well as the activities by which that knowledge is obtained. Ultimately, the concept of science is not easily definable |
faith | belief in the authority and reliability of something because it or its ultimate source is believed to be trustworthy |
scientism | the belief that scientific inquiry is the only path to truth |
cosmologist | scientists that theorize about the beginning of the universe (cosmology) |
big bang theory | the most popular evolutionary theory for the origin of the universe. Supposedly, around 15 billion years ago, all the matter seen in the universe today was condensed and compacted into a tiny point that exploded and evolved into the immense expanse of ga |
worldview | the philosophical perspective from which a person interprets all evidence in life. One's worldview is arrived at by faith. Also a person's set of beliefs and presuppositions about what is true in life |
creational goodness | the principle that the universe, as God originally created it, perfectly fulfilled His intentions for its existence |
Creation Mandate | the command in Genesis 1:28 in which God delegates to Adam and Eve, and hence to all mankind, the authority and responsibility for subduing and managing the earth for God's glory and man's benefit |
total depravity | the doctrine that from our birth every aspect of our being(mind, will, and emotions)has been turned away from God. This condition was inherited from fallen Adam, and the work of Christ is the only thing able to correct it. |
eisegesis | the error of reading meaning or intent into a text (especially Scripture) that is not present or was not intended by the author. It is the opposite of exegesis, which is the careful interpretation of scripture based on what the text says |
uniformitarianism | belief system that holds "the present is the key to the past" and that geological change is caused by gradual naturalistic processes rather than sudden supernatural catastrophies. Creationary secientists reject uniformitarianism because it contradicts Scr |
secular | any idea or human activity that is not supposed to be related to a religion or religious teaching. Also a viewpoint of religious skepticism that opposes Christian worldview in science and education. |
materialism | the philosophical belief that only physical, material, or measurable things are real. It denies the existence of supernatural beings or their activities. An underlying principle in evolutionary thought. |
fallacy | an error in reasoning |
hasty generalization | a logical fallacy resulting from drawing conclusions from too few examples or from examples that are not representative of all the possibilities |
circular reasoning | the logical fallacy of assuming a conclusion to be true in the course of arguing for that conclusion |
ad hominum fallacy | a logical fallacy in which the speaker is attacked rather thatn the speaker's argument. Latin for "to the man" |
post hoc fallacy | the logical error of assuming that because a more recent event occured after a previous event, the latter was caused by the former. Abbreviated from the Latin phrase meaning "after this, therefore, because of this." |
Pretended neutrality fallacy | the logical error of claiming to have no presuppositions |
presupposition | an idea tha is held to be true or is taken for granted when making decisions or arguing to a conclusion. It is the main reason for a bias. |
deductive reasoning | a logical process in which a specific statement is determined to be true from the consideration of more general statements that are known or believed to be true |
inductive reasoning | a logical process by which a general conclusion is drawn from the implications of a set of specific examples |
1st law of thermodynamics | the conservation principle that matter and energy are not now being created or destroyued but only converted from one form to another |
conservation | the principle that the sum total of all matter and energy in the universe is constant. Matter and energy are not now being created nor destroyed but are only converted from one form to another |
2nd law of thermodynamics | includes the concept that all natural processes proceed toward a state of greater disorder (greater entropy) and of less usable energy |
degeneration | the principle that all things tend to die, become more disordered, fall apart, and run down |
entropy | the measure of the disorderliness of a system. Less orderliness in a system implies it has more entropy. More orderliness implies less entropy. An ice cube has far less entropy than a cloud of water vapor formed from the same water molecule |
scientific methodolgy | a set of standards and procedures a scientist uses when studying a scientific problem |
data | scientific observations recorded as detailed descriptions or measurements. Scientists draw conclusions based on analysis of their data. |
hypothosis | a testable and tentative(not fully worked out) description for an observed phenomenom |
model | a woking representation of what a scientist thinks is occuring in a phenomenom he is studying |
bias | the belief that a person holds based on his experience or knowledge of the subject |
theory | a tool used by scientists to study scientific problems. In many cases, it is a hypothesis that has been tested and is a workable description of a phenomenom |
law | a scientific theory that has become well established because it has been repeatedly confirmed by experimentation, has made many accurate predictions, or is readily accepted by the majority of scientists |