Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: March 25, 2025, 3:11 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
A reason to believe?
#66
RE: A reason to believe?
(May 3, 2010 at 11:57 am)Watson Wrote: I believe without evidence, but through experience, that the sun will rise the next morning when I wake up.

I believe without evidence, but through experience, that when I come home I will not find it burned down to the ground when I get there.

etc

Have you ever heard of inductive reasoning? Its an interesting concept- you should try it some time.

Basically, the idea is that you can generalize from specific cases. For example, if I hit my thumb with a hammer, and it hurts, then I can use induction to conclude that it would also hurt to hit my index finger with a hammer. Similarly, if the sun rises every morning, then by induction we can say that it will rise the next morning.

All of the empirical sciences use induction. If an experiment is run repeatedly, with replicable results, then by induction it is assumed that the results represent some sort of general regularity. Thats how science works.

Clearly, induction needs to be used carefully, and does not produce absolute knowledge. But I'm afraid that if what you're after is absolute knowledge of the world, then you're out of luck. There isn't any.

Knowledge gained through induction certainly counts as evidence. So when you say that there isn't any evidence that the sun will rise tomorrow, you're simply wrong.
Reply



Messages In This Thread
A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - April 29, 2010 at 12:58 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - April 29, 2010 at 1:12 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - April 29, 2010 at 1:16 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Welsh cake - April 29, 2010 at 3:58 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by EggSpurt - April 29, 2010 at 4:31 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by True Christian - April 29, 2010 at 4:36 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - April 29, 2010 at 4:47 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Ace Otana - April 29, 2010 at 5:16 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - April 29, 2010 at 6:05 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Ace Otana - April 29, 2010 at 6:16 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Godschild - April 29, 2010 at 11:52 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by theVOID - April 30, 2010 at 12:14 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Godschild - April 30, 2010 at 11:57 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Xyster - May 2, 2010 at 2:07 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Ace Otana - April 30, 2010 at 3:16 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - April 30, 2010 at 12:33 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by campenney - May 3, 2010 at 10:46 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by tavarish - May 3, 2010 at 11:22 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 4, 2010 at 2:43 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - April 29, 2010 at 4:45 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - April 29, 2010 at 6:50 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Ace Otana - April 29, 2010 at 6:58 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by KichigaiNeko - April 30, 2010 at 3:05 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - April 30, 2010 at 4:22 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Atheist_named_Christian - April 30, 2010 at 5:57 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - April 30, 2010 at 11:43 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Ace Otana - April 30, 2010 at 12:03 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Atheist_named_Christian - April 30, 2010 at 1:07 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by tavarish - April 30, 2010 at 2:05 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Zen Badger - April 30, 2010 at 9:17 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by KichigaiNeko - April 30, 2010 at 6:16 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by bozo - April 29, 2010 at 8:17 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Ace Otana - April 30, 2010 at 6:45 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - April 30, 2010 at 12:15 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - April 30, 2010 at 12:18 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Caecilian - April 30, 2010 at 7:28 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by KichigaiNeko - April 30, 2010 at 9:12 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by KichigaiNeko - May 2, 2010 at 9:19 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - April 30, 2010 at 9:09 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - May 1, 2010 at 2:20 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by padraic - May 1, 2010 at 2:55 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Caecilian - May 1, 2010 at 11:00 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - May 1, 2010 at 8:22 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Godschild - May 2, 2010 at 1:20 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 2, 2010 at 1:26 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 2, 2010 at 2:09 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 2, 2010 at 4:14 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 3, 2010 at 5:16 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 7:03 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 2, 2010 at 4:23 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by The_Flying_Skeptic - May 2, 2010 at 4:31 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 2, 2010 at 7:22 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 3, 2010 at 7:09 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Violet - May 3, 2010 at 7:19 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 7:41 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 3, 2010 at 11:57 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by tavarish - May 3, 2010 at 12:57 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 3, 2010 at 2:52 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by tavarish - May 3, 2010 at 4:51 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Thor - May 3, 2010 at 3:38 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Autumnlicious - May 3, 2010 at 3:46 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 3, 2010 at 4:20 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 4:30 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 3, 2010 at 7:43 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 8:05 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 3, 2010 at 8:09 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 9:11 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 3, 2010 at 12:11 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 4:08 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 4:33 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 4:51 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 5:02 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 4, 2010 at 5:00 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 4, 2010 at 8:09 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 9:33 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 10:16 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 10:19 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 10:44 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 11:02 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 3:42 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 3:50 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Caecilian - May 3, 2010 at 1:37 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 3:03 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 3, 2010 at 3:09 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - May 3, 2010 at 3:11 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 3, 2010 at 3:12 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - May 3, 2010 at 3:14 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 3, 2010 at 3:14 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - May 3, 2010 at 3:17 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 3, 2010 at 3:19 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - May 3, 2010 at 4:22 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 3:17 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Autumnlicious - May 3, 2010 at 3:22 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 5:21 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Paul the Human - May 3, 2010 at 5:24 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 3, 2010 at 5:54 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Minimalist - May 3, 2010 at 6:49 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 4, 2010 at 8:36 am
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 4, 2010 at 3:34 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Watson - May 4, 2010 at 3:37 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 5, 2010 at 12:40 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by tavarish - May 5, 2010 at 12:43 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by Edwardo Piet - May 5, 2010 at 12:51 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by tavarish - May 5, 2010 at 2:10 pm
RE: A reason to believe? - by fr0d0 - May 5, 2010 at 2:53 pm

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  A question about Dawkins enemies of reason documentary Quill01 3 788 April 17, 2022 at 5:25 pm
Last Post: Belacqua
  The reason religion is so powerful Macoleco 344 37039 June 30, 2021 at 11:43 am
Last Post: Abaddon_ire
  Reason Jesus must have been a real person mrj 74 13507 March 5, 2021 at 6:44 am
Last Post: arewethereyet
  "How God got started", how god belief + basic reason + writing -> modern humans? Whateverist 26 8399 October 15, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Last Post: Gawdzilla Sama
  Look i don't really care if you believe or don't believe Ronia 20 9092 August 25, 2017 at 4:28 am
Last Post: ignoramus
  Another Reason Christians are Dangerous Rhondazvous 49 9869 February 5, 2017 at 8:55 am
Last Post: Mr Greene
Question Why disbelievers believe? They believe in so called “God of the gaps”. theBorg 49 10260 August 27, 2016 at 12:25 pm
Last Post: bennyboy
  Atheists Have the Most Logical Reason for being Moral Rhondazvous 24 8384 January 22, 2016 at 6:49 pm
Last Post: Reforged
  The only important reason I'm more powerful than god. Silver 5 2225 November 13, 2015 at 4:24 am
Last Post: ignoramus
  The reason humans believe drfuzzy 31 7283 October 10, 2015 at 1:18 pm
Last Post: TheRocketSurgeon



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)