Why Agnosticism?

[diffidus]

Empirical: Verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment

Diffidus please prove to me that your abstract math is true in the empirical sense. I want to observe a real world perfect geometric shape very much.

Diffidus:

I said that it was a statement of absolute fact not that you could prove it by empirical measurement. An empirical fact might be that the planet earth is smaller than the universe that contains it.

Yes but under science all laws and theory are open to adjustment should new evidence be discovered. This leaves open the very improbable possibility that the whole universe and the earth does not exist at all and we are all part of a simulation in the real universe. This does not mean we should adopt a view of being agnostic to the idea of each being part in a simulation. we can rule it out as statistically insignificant. I believe we should and can do the same with supernatural myths.

There is any number of improbable realities that would be able to disprove anything empirical or otherwise. This does not negate the value of empirical evidence. It does negate the value of the highly improbable until empirical evidence is provided.

You have lept from an insistence on empirical measurement in a real world back to an abstract philosophical argument. It seems that your argument is circular. When I state an abstract truth, such as Pythagoras' theorum you demand an empirical truth. When I give an empirical truth you defeat it with an abstract example. I think there is a fundamental problem with any approach that states that there must be at least some doubt in any empirical statement. This due to a contradiction: If everything is in someway doubtful, then why not doubt this very phrase? It seems self defeating!!

However, let us take your supposition that the real world we perceive, absolutely everything, is just a mirage in a machine in a real world. Then it becomes impossible to estimate the probability of this machine existing. Imagine what the beings in this world would decide based upon their empirical measurements . They would deduce that such a machine did not exist or that it was highly improbable. In this world, however, the probability that the machine exists is 100%!!

Finally, the statement that the planet earth is smaller than the universe that contains it is still a statement of empirical fact, even if the 'real world' is a machine. This is due to the fact that although, in such a universe, the earth may not exist as we perceive it, it must exist in some form within the machine(if only as a shadow or electrical pulse etc) and hence the statement is still a statement of truth.