[UA] "I believes in Science!" (but Do You Believe In Love?)

[Epoch]

On Thu, 14 Jun 2001, Kevin Mowery wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Epoch" <msulliva at wso.williams.edu>
> To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 9:03 PM
> Subject: Re: [UA] "I believes in Science!"
> 
> > The fundamental axiom of science is "what is observed empirically serves
> > as a predictor for the future."  That's as unprovable as anything in
> > religion, and as much of a leap of faith.  It's also susceptible to
> > cultural whims in terms of how much we believe it -- it was /much/ less
> > accepted a few centuries ago.
> 
>     Well, let's take a reasonable example: dropping a pencil off a table.
> Empirical observation says it'll drop toward the earth if it's not stopped.
> That happens so consistently I can pretty safely call it a fact.

And here's where we trip up.  You gotta jump back a step, man.  /Why/ can
you call it a fact (By which I presume you mean: it's a fact that
generally pencils fall when dropped) because it's happened consistantly
in the past?

Answer:  Because you've made a leap of faith that says "what is observed
empirically serves as a predictor for the future."  Or, perhaps, a better
way of saying it would be "what is observed empirically shows a general
case."

Mike

--
"Like H.P. Lovecraft's dark and inbred Maine, only with grits!"
		- Greg Stolze


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