And our science vocabulary is loaded with greek words, and their latin derivatives, from all of the categories he created. But he's more famous for his philosophy and his proposal of a remote, impersonal god, a first cause and unmoved mover, might surprise a lot of people who just see him as just the guy who got the solar system backwards. In his day, and until very recently, science and philosophy were kindred endeavors, as the Love of Wisdom does not confine itself to the spiritual realm.

And actually the ideas in this article appear as reworkings of ideas you'll find in Plato, Aristotle and Kant, among others, like Descarte and Paschal, who were fabulous mathemeticians also, not by coincidence. It's an age old dilemma, where our ideas come from, but the great thing is, none of these speculations can be proven, neither can they be disproven.

I like the suggestion that one must master what's gone before (and cite sources, of course) before pushing out a blurb like it's a new idea, that would be nice. However it's also nice of Mr. Saletan to continue to propose these synthesized (there's that greek again) solutions to matters spiritual, as he has on the abortion debate. No harm in trying.

Another thing that's really old in philosophy is not realizing that somebody has already said what you're saying. Usually, as in this case, that (rather than a deliberate slight or theft) is what's going on. Apologies to the unacknowledged dead.

C-Tips:

So you acknowledge that this article is on philosophy and has nothing to do with science?

As though they're unrelated?

At its root, science is a way of looking at and understanding the world/universe. It seems to be a pretty good, effective way. But it isn't the only way. Moreover it can't explain everything. Hence other ways of thinking and understanding the world will remain popular.

Thus science, like religious thought, remains a subset within the auspice of philosophy.