RE: So...guess I'm the new guy
September 2, 2012 at 4:02 am
(This post was last modified: September 2, 2012 at 4:04 am by Reforged.)
(September 1, 2012 at 5:50 pm)Vincenzo "Vinny" G. Wrote:(September 1, 2012 at 5:03 pm)RaphielDrake Wrote: The concept of the metaphysical by its very nature defys proof. Mathmatics is a system that is applicable in the real world and its results can be recreated time after time. Thats proof that its more than the imaginings of any one man. If I take one apple and put it in a basket with three apples I apply the numerical value of four apples to the contents of that basket. Thats basic mathematics. Its a system we use in our day to day lives and it demonstrably works. Would you debate this?
Until we find an instance in which it does not work and cannot be applied to a physical, tangible situation then why should such a tried and tested system be cast aside?
The concept of the metaphysicals chief characteristic is that it requires no proof because it is supposedly beyond our means of detecting it. I am not for one second saying this is an acceptable standard to go by but that is part of its definition.
If we follow your logic we must deduce your definition of the metaphysical entails anything conceptual goes under its header. This is evidently not the case and it would be sheer nonsense to claim as such.
So I put it to you once again; what metaphysical assumptions are made by science?
See the part I bolded? That's the important part. Repeatability is NOT a measure of validity.
You might observe 100 white swans every time you look at a lake. You may observe one million white swans every time you look across a lake. You may observe a quadrillion white swans wading across a hypothetical lake.
But that IN NO WAY justifies an assumption that the very next swan will be white, nor does it justify an assumption that there are only white swans in the universe.
This is precisely the problem I am referring to. The problem of induction. Look it up.
Repeatability may not be a measure of validity but this isn't a mere issue of repeatability. The fact of the matter is that we base almost everything we do on mathematics because we have not come across an instance it has failed.
To your knowledge as mathematics ever failed as a system?
Yes or no.
I mean how far do you take this? Do we start questioning whetherin normal circumstances extreme heat burns us? I mean after all there might be the one occasion when it doesn't. We've never come across it but we can't be certain it won't happen. The idea of using this as a standard to live by is sheer nonsense.
Until we do come across such an occasion and thoroughly test it we must be at least partially open to the concept it might happen but not assume it can or will happen.
So once again, do you have any valid examples of science relying on metaphysical assumptions?
"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die."
- Abdul Alhazred.
- Abdul Alhazred.