Answer by Vector Shift for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
Why all this discussion? Like Feynman said we cannot be absolutely certain of anything.... You might be a brain in a vat and you want certainty?
View ArticleAnswer by user9166 for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
The basic reason for falsification is not to inspire doubt, but to insist that every addition to our field's complexity is warranted by at least slightly better returns on investment.The point of...
View ArticleAnswer by immortal squish for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
It seems some great answers have been given, but just to add something else: Regardless of whether a scientific theory is later proven to be incorrect, the data and testing that previously supported...
View ArticleAnswer by Peter Beattie for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
It would be hard, I suppose, to improve substantially on Richard Feynman’s discussion of uncertainty in science, from a book of lectures, The Meaning of it All.The bare bones of his idea are that we...
View ArticleAnswer by vonjd for What basis do we have for certainty in current scientific...
David Deutsch's last book is more or less exclusively on this topic: The Beginning of InfinityThere he argues that although objective knowledge is attainable, justified belief ('certain truth') is...
View ArticleAnswer by DaleSwanson for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
Isaac Asimov wrote a great essay related to this, The Relativity of Wrong. This quote summarizes his point:My answer to him was, "John, when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When...
View ArticleAnswer by Joseph Weissman for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
We have confidence in scientific theories, not unshakeable convictions in our knowledge of their certainty.A scientific belief simply cannot be justified by any other means than the various evidences...
View ArticleAnswer by Jon Ericson for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
I take a somewhat pragmatic approach. It's unlikely that the ratio of solid scientific knowledge to bogus knowledge is much different today than it was at other points in human history. My basis for...
View ArticleAnswer by Seamus for What basis do we have for certainty in current...
I don't think it's true that scientific beliefs are increasingly held to be true. At least in philosophy we have learned the lesson of the "Pessimistic Induction".What has changed is the general...
View ArticleWhat basis do we have for certainty in current scientific theories?
Given there is much past scientific belief that we now know NOT to be true, what basis do we have for the seemingly increasing certainty in our scientific beliefs held today being true?On the one hand,...
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