RE: A question regarding proof
September 10, 2011 at 1:56 am
(This post was last modified: September 10, 2011 at 2:30 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(September 9, 2011 at 4:25 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Fortunately we have many such examples, and this has of course been a productive area of nueroscience. We've even had an example of such experiments recently discussed on this forum of how changes in environment, (even without physically jacking with the brain) can cause changes in self (measured by observations of behaviour and activity) in the case of monkeys, rape benches, and the "pit of despair". That there is a direct relationship between the material and the mind is documented extremely well. Examples of the "mind" altering material reality are not so well demonstrated.
Love it when I get to quote myself. I'll add:
lobotomy, hallucinogens, mood altering pharmecueticals, disease (say, schizophrenia), traumatic head injuries resulting in temporary or permanent amnesia, the effects of asphyxiation, dehydration, and of course lets not forget death. Each one an example of how something that affects the brain leads to an effect of the mind.
Now, I've made my claim in the quote above, perhaps you'll suggest something to the contrary, any "mind over matter" you'd like us to consider Ryft?
So, we watch a brain light up in response to stimulus, what's going on Ryft? What we observe or "the great unknown"?
Not falsifiable even in principle, shenanigans. Lets see if someone can will themselves into the effects of a lobotomy without actually undergoing one. Is there anything you don't believe philosophy to be the appropriate tool for?
Why must he do that? Because that's how science is done. It's called the scientific method, it replaced philosophy in such matters right around 100 years ago. Not everything that can be imagined can be said to exist. A great many things exist that we have not yet discovered, but without evidence any claim to knowledge (including knowledge of existence) about such things is unacceptable. We can speculate on what may exist, but we cannot confidently claim that it does with nothing to substantiate it. If we have one claim that is substantiated by an argument and another which is substantiated by an argument, observations, predictions, results, and reproducibility....they are not on equal terms.
There is no area of science that is built on unfalsifiable claims Ryft. That would, by definition, not be science. Nueroscience is not a faith based position.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
