RE: Scientific knowledge versus spiritual knowledge
January 23, 2016 at 5:05 pm
(This post was last modified: January 23, 2016 at 5:14 pm by phil-lndn.)
(January 3, 2016 at 11:39 am)LadyForCamus Wrote: What is knowledge that is not testable, not measurable against anything, not reproducible, not able to be objectively confirmed, and not demonstratable to others? It is simply NOT knowledge. How can theists justify using that word when speaking of metaphysical or spiritual subject matter?
Depends a bit on the specific definition of "knowledge" you are wishing to apply: Information, or Awareness
If the latter, you do have knowledge of something that is none of the things you've listed, and it's a knowledge I doubt you would refute because you have direct experience of it.
Knowledge of your own consciousness, your own subjective experience of being an aware being.
Consciousness itself is a bit weird, it's not an object, not demonstrable to others, not measurable against anything, not reproducible (because we don't really know what it is)
(January 19, 2016 at 4:08 am)Irrational Wrote:(January 19, 2016 at 3:34 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: The evidence to hand, however, supports the hypothesis that subjective experience comports fairly closely with objective reality, absent mind-altering drugs or other outside influences.
Can we really know how close we are to objective reality? What is objective reality anyway? I see a reality beyond and around me, but can I trust that this reality I see closely resembles objective reality whatever it may be. I see objects with clear outlines and varying colors, but is that what objective reality is composed of?
It's not wholly meaningful to consider an objective reality in an absolute sense because humans can only experience reality through a perspective.
In a sense, the universe we live in is just a projection of our own mind.
It seems that there are aspects to human projections that all humans can agree with which we call "objective reality", there's nothing really objective about it in an absolute sense though.