RE: Death Threats After Supporting Evolution
August 30, 2012 at 5:37 pm
(This post was last modified: August 30, 2012 at 5:39 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
No, lets propose that you feel that the particulars of the world around us can be known...but I do not.
I would be at a loss to explain how we have arrived at such useful knowledge as to allow us to so much as fire an arrow from a bow and hit a target. Both of us could clearly see the arrow fly and hit the target, and there's our evidence even though we do not share confidence in the axiom.
You, on the other hand, would be able to explain to me the particulars of aerodynamics, kinetic energy, and momentum.
Therein lies my reason for subscribing to this axiom in practice, even though (if you've read many of my posts) I can't completely sign on-board with the axiom in principle. Proposing that the world can be known, and then going to look for what we can infer from this has an effect -for whatever reason- (there's some really good criticism of this from the likes of Popper). Proposing that the world cannot be known leads to jack shit.
No, I don't think that science leads to truth (a slippery word btw), I think science leads to evidence, evidence to explanations. I wasn't aware that scientists were supposed to be searching for truth in the first place. I don't think beliefs are justified at all Clive, what gave you the impression that I did?
I suppose that would a be a problem if I believed that the particulars of the world could be known, wouldn't it? But since I don't, it's not much of an issue for me. It's a useful axiom, and certainly our history with regards to science and discovery lends it a great deal of weight, but ultimately, just an axiom.
I would be at a loss to explain how we have arrived at such useful knowledge as to allow us to so much as fire an arrow from a bow and hit a target. Both of us could clearly see the arrow fly and hit the target, and there's our evidence even though we do not share confidence in the axiom.
You, on the other hand, would be able to explain to me the particulars of aerodynamics, kinetic energy, and momentum.
Therein lies my reason for subscribing to this axiom in practice, even though (if you've read many of my posts) I can't completely sign on-board with the axiom in principle. Proposing that the world can be known, and then going to look for what we can infer from this has an effect -for whatever reason- (there's some really good criticism of this from the likes of Popper). Proposing that the world cannot be known leads to jack shit.
No, I don't think that science leads to truth (a slippery word btw), I think science leads to evidence, evidence to explanations. I wasn't aware that scientists were supposed to be searching for truth in the first place. I don't think beliefs are justified at all Clive, what gave you the impression that I did?
I suppose that would a be a problem if I believed that the particulars of the world could be known, wouldn't it? But since I don't, it's not much of an issue for me. It's a useful axiom, and certainly our history with regards to science and discovery lends it a great deal of weight, but ultimately, just an axiom.
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