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

[Kevin Mowery]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Epoch" <msulliva at wso.williams.edu>
To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: [UA] "I believes in Science!" (but Do You Believe In Love?)

> >     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."

    Every night, do you worry that the sun might not rise tomorrow?  If not,
you've made the same "leap of faith."  It'd be cool to be able to breathe
water, wouldn't it?  Try it.  Didn't work?  Maybe next time it will.  Keep
trying--it's just a numbers game.  Sure, no one else can wrap a blanket
around their shoulders and fly--but that's no evidence that *you* can't do
it.

    We couldn't function if we couldn't make that "leap of faith."  Being
able to spot that pattern is a pretty early developmental stage.

Kevin Mowery_____________ kemowery at earthlink.net
Mad science comics updated daily at www.narbonic.com


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