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Empirical evidence cannot fully explain reality. ranagrande Send a noteboard - 01/12/2010 03:28:41 AM
Empirical evidence must be augmented by logical analysis to provide a full explanation of reality, of course, but that's not the issue here. Without evidence as an objective standard, there is no way to distinguish the relative accuracies of any worldviews. I could say "evidence of extraterrestrial life shows that the universe is a giant house cat, and it creates life so that it will have mice to chase," and without some standard for comparison, that would be just as legitimate a statement.


Logic, empirical evidence, and the scientific method are undoubtedly useful, and they can explain our immediate surroundings quite well, but they are inadequate when taken to the extremes.

For instance, you can follow a trail of evidence back through time to the Big Bang, and then it breaks down. What caused that explosion? Where did it come from? The cyclical universe theory can push back further, but there must at some point have been a beginning.

If there was a beginning, what caused it? If not, what was there before? There are really only three possibilities. The first is that the universe came into being out of nothing, in violation of the laws of physics. The second is that the universe itself is eternal and has always existed in one form or another. The third is that it was created by a higher power.

There is not, and I suspect that there never can be, any empirical evidence to prove or disprove any of those possibilities. No matter what sort of reality you choose to believe in, you believe in it by faith.

Since you're free to place your faith in anything you wish, you could of course choose to believe in the eternal house cat that is the universe, and that would indeed be just as valid a conception of true reality as any that you can reach through evidence alone.
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Is NASA set to reveal on Thursday signs of possible extraterrestial life within the solar system? - 30/11/2010 03:49:40 AM 1170 Views
Interesting. - 30/11/2010 04:43:15 AM 629 Views
crap! I will be watching this! - 30/11/2010 05:04:58 AM 768 Views
Goddammit Wikileaks get on this *NM* - 30/11/2010 05:05:19 AM 315 Views
There's no one to smear, why would wikileaks be interested? *NM* - 30/11/2010 01:45:58 PM 305 Views
If there is life in the solar system then it is likely a natural development in the universe. - 30/11/2010 05:12:38 AM 663 Views
Seems to put atheists in a bit of a catch-22 there. - 30/11/2010 05:54:25 AM 787 Views
Bwa? - 30/11/2010 06:45:33 AM 718 Views
Sorry, yeah. That is not my position. - 30/11/2010 07:03:17 AM 708 Views
The best will be when we find other intelligent life - 30/11/2010 02:32:35 PM 629 Views
Well, I don't actually agree with the first part of your Catch-22. At least, not entirely. - 30/11/2010 02:43:13 PM 752 Views
Using anthropomorphic terms to describe the universe only reflects on you, not on the universe. *NM* - 30/11/2010 07:31:04 PM 322 Views
What an arbitrary and meaningless statement. *NM* - 30/11/2010 07:52:13 PM 259 Views
Anthropomorphizing concepts is a cognitive bias. - 30/11/2010 11:19:23 PM 619 Views
Only given a certain metaphysical framework. - 01/12/2010 12:18:09 AM 662 Views
Mind dumbing that down a bit? - 01/12/2010 12:43:47 AM 602 Views
I think he is saying - 01/12/2010 01:26:34 AM 797 Views
That ain't not a lot simpler - 01/12/2010 01:35:38 AM 729 Views
Yes. - 01/12/2010 01:44:41 AM 694 Views
Those worldviews are unsupported by empirical evidence. - 01/12/2010 01:41:27 AM 792 Views
No worldviews are supported by empirical evidence. *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:57:23 AM 303 Views
Empiricism is unsupported by empirical evidence. *NM* - 01/12/2010 02:21:52 AM 268 Views
Empirical evidence is the only objective standard. - 01/12/2010 02:59:18 AM 666 Views
Empirical evidence cannot fully explain reality. - 01/12/2010 03:28:41 AM 755 Views
Re: Question (use google now!): what's the net energy of the universe? - 01/12/2010 03:35:57 AM 683 Views
Re: - 01/12/2010 03:45:22 AM 881 Views
Re: Re: - 01/12/2010 04:04:38 AM 666 Views
Yes. I know what empiricism is. - 01/12/2010 05:17:05 AM 975 Views
Re: You are a smart person. - 01/12/2010 03:09:13 AM 647 Views
Thanks. - 01/12/2010 03:30:46 AM 889 Views
Interesting. I agree with what you're saying, actually. - 30/11/2010 07:49:51 PM 599 Views
It won't change the argument in the least. - 01/12/2010 05:26:16 AM 790 Views
I have the feeling it's probably not going to be that. - 30/11/2010 06:02:48 AM 677 Views
Ohh, exciting! - 30/11/2010 08:37:32 AM 641 Views
noooo! - 30/11/2010 10:19:27 AM 596 Views
Boring primitive things would be cool. - 30/11/2010 02:54:10 PM 635 Views
Hey, there's a name I recognize, "Iron Lisa" - 30/11/2010 09:25:01 AM 740 Views
WE'RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE - 30/11/2010 02:33:30 PM 698 Views
I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords. *NM* - 30/11/2010 02:35:04 PM 271 Views
"I, for one, welcome our new INSECT overlords"! - 01/12/2010 12:40:27 AM 676 Views
but we don't know if they're insects yet! - 01/12/2010 12:55:52 AM 617 Views
I'll not bow to any mere Bacterial Overlords, Eukaryote Overlords only!!! *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:02:20 AM 274 Views
So you're prejudiced against the nuclearly challenged? - 01/12/2010 01:09:57 AM 628 Views
Down right genocidal toward them - 01/12/2010 01:31:47 AM 610 Views
Genocide is a bit extreme - 01/12/2010 02:13:18 AM 640 Views
They had better have a green man *NM* - 30/11/2010 10:45:56 AM 239 Views
Because you need somebody to attack Aginor and Balthamel? *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:04:23 AM 243 Views
Oh no you didn't *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:14:55 AM 247 Views
Seriously. - 01/12/2010 01:26:54 AM 597 Views
Re: But then you got turned on just thinking about the phrase? - 01/12/2010 02:23:02 AM 692 Views
I'm actually a tiny bit giddy about this. *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:04:49 AM 256 Views
Re: Arsenic. *NM* - 01/12/2010 02:09:51 AM 271 Views
Re: Perhaps just as awesomely: - 01/12/2010 02:21:35 AM 741 Views

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