# Clarkians and Doctors



## unlearnedlearner (May 9, 2009)

Would a Clarkian go to a doctor? Perhaps I am missing something central to their position, but it seems like they would not, seeing how it is all predicated on the empirical.


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## Whitefield (May 9, 2009)

unlearnedlearner said:


> Would a Clarkian go to a doctor? Perhaps I am missing something central to their position, but it seems like they would not, seeing how it is all predicated on the empirical.



What is a "Clarkian?"


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## Craig (May 9, 2009)

Whitefield said:


> unlearnedlearner said:
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> > Would a Clarkian go to a doctor? Perhaps I am missing something central to their position, but it seems like they would not, seeing how it is all predicated on the empirical.
> ...



As in Gordon Clark


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## Whitefield (May 9, 2009)

Craig said:


> Whitefield said:
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> > unlearnedlearner said:
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Why wouldn't Gordon Clark go to a doctor?


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## caddy (May 9, 2009)

Whitefield said:


> Craig said:
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> > Whitefield said:
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Well, for one, he's dead! Sorry, I couldn't resist...


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## Craig (May 9, 2009)

Whitefield said:


> Craig said:
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> > Whitefield said:
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I dunno...I'm not terribly familiar with his philosophy...only that he believed all knowledge that is true must come by way of Scripture...explicitly or validly deduced. I don't think he would have acknowledged you could gain knowledge through sensory experience.


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## Christoffer (May 9, 2009)

my 

I suspect the Clarkian position with respects to medicine would be this (and now I am basing what I write on Clarks take on science in a christian view of men and things):

Yes, Clark would deny that empirical science can produce knowledge. However, it can produce very useful results. For example, empiricism shows that medicine Z is effective against illness X. 

Does this mean that medicine Z is a cure for X? Not necessarily. Z being a cure for X is a tentative hypothesis, which could be falsified tomorrow. 

Thus empirical science can be "justified" pragmatically but never rationally.


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