Philosophy Now Forum

Greta wrote:Man, they defend their fort as hard as any fundamentalist! For years I've laughed at people suggesting that rationalists are as inflexible as theists for being locked in.

The horrible truth is that sociologists of science have a point. David Bloor argued that the reasons people believe things which are still mainstream are the same as the reasons that people believed things which are no longer current, or are on the fringe. Scientific 'knowledge' is a social construct. Philosophically this goes back to Hume and the problem of induction; all theories are underdetermined, because there is no hypothesis or equation that we can be certain will account for all future observations. The point (Popper's) has been made several times that all we can know is what isn't true, so what anyone believes is true is not based unconditionally on 'scientific', or purely rational, reasons.

Obvious Leo wrote: Not only is it a truism, Dalek, it is THE truism which is standing between the science of physics and models of physics which make sense. Instead of modelling the universe our models of physics are merely modelling the physicist's cognitive MAP of it. Ptolemy would beam in admiration because he got away with the same trick for 1400 years.

I know understand where you are coming from, Leo.

Walker wrote:You’re obviously intelligent and offer value, which may or may not be the standard defining your detention.

You're too merciless, but I appreciate the effort. How does that strike you?

As usual.

Imagine that, the admin. being silly again at my expense. Madness!