(May 6, 2022 at 9:51 am)Angrboda Wrote:(May 6, 2022 at 9:45 am)h311inac311 Wrote: Moving outward from the topic a little, the OP made me think of how much knowledge we take for granite. I mean most of us don't know how an engine works despite the fact that we drive vehicles on a daily basis. For us, the claim that an engine can convert gasoline into power and use that power to turn the wheels is an unverified claim. There are millions of things which engineers and scientists have already discovered/invented which we take for granite every day even to the extent that we don't even know what we don't know. I understand that claims regarding engineering and science can be verified but my point is that for the individual, a lot of times we just have to accept that someone else understands how these things work.
I think one needs to think in terms of justification, rather than verification. Verification has unnecessary connotations. We are justified in believing the engine turns gas into motion even if we can't verify it.
The issue is not one of verification but of falsification; this is where William James went off the rails. But, who can blame him? He wrote over a century ago.
