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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 1228 Views
Interesting. - 30/11/2010 04:43:15 AM 668 Views
crap! I will be watching this! - 30/11/2010 05:04:58 AM 814 Views
Goddammit Wikileaks get on this *NM* - 30/11/2010 05:05:19 AM 332 Views
There's no one to smear, why would wikileaks be interested? *NM* - 30/11/2010 01:45:58 PM 323 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 705 Views
Seems to put atheists in a bit of a catch-22 there. - 30/11/2010 05:54:25 AM 838 Views
Bwa? - 30/11/2010 06:45:33 AM 761 Views
Sorry, yeah. That is not my position. - 30/11/2010 07:03:17 AM 753 Views
The best will be when we find other intelligent life - 30/11/2010 02:32:35 PM 661 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 793 Views
Using anthropomorphic terms to describe the universe only reflects on you, not on the universe. *NM* - 30/11/2010 07:31:04 PM 337 Views
What an arbitrary and meaningless statement. *NM* - 30/11/2010 07:52:13 PM 275 Views
Anthropomorphizing concepts is a cognitive bias. - 30/11/2010 11:19:23 PM 663 Views
Only given a certain metaphysical framework. - 01/12/2010 12:18:09 AM 707 Views
Mind dumbing that down a bit? - 01/12/2010 12:43:47 AM 645 Views
I think he is saying - 01/12/2010 01:26:34 AM 838 Views
That ain't not a lot simpler - 01/12/2010 01:35:38 AM 771 Views
Yes. - 01/12/2010 01:44:41 AM 735 Views
Those worldviews are unsupported by empirical evidence. - 01/12/2010 01:41:27 AM 849 Views
No worldviews are supported by empirical evidence. *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:57:23 AM 318 Views
Empiricism is unsupported by empirical evidence. *NM* - 01/12/2010 02:21:52 AM 283 Views
Empirical evidence is the only objective standard. - 01/12/2010 02:59:18 AM 707 Views
Empirical evidence cannot fully explain reality. - 01/12/2010 03:28:41 AM 799 Views
Re: Question (use google now!): what's the net energy of the universe? - 01/12/2010 03:35:57 AM 721 Views
Re: - 01/12/2010 03:45:22 AM 915 Views
Re: Re: - 01/12/2010 04:04:38 AM 707 Views
Yes. I know what empiricism is. - 01/12/2010 05:17:05 AM 1014 Views
Re: You are a smart person. - 01/12/2010 03:09:13 AM 690 Views
Thanks. - 01/12/2010 03:30:46 AM 927 Views
Interesting. I agree with what you're saying, actually. - 30/11/2010 07:49:51 PM 641 Views
It won't change the argument in the least. - 01/12/2010 05:26:16 AM 834 Views
I have the feeling it's probably not going to be that. - 30/11/2010 06:02:48 AM 715 Views
Ohh, exciting! - 30/11/2010 08:37:32 AM 683 Views
noooo! - 30/11/2010 10:19:27 AM 635 Views
Boring primitive things would be cool. - 30/11/2010 02:54:10 PM 676 Views
Hey, there's a name I recognize, "Iron Lisa" - 30/11/2010 09:25:01 AM 779 Views
WE'RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE - 30/11/2010 02:33:30 PM 729 Views
I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords. *NM* - 30/11/2010 02:35:04 PM 290 Views
"I, for one, welcome our new INSECT overlords"! - 01/12/2010 12:40:27 AM 713 Views
but we don't know if they're insects yet! - 01/12/2010 12:55:52 AM 658 Views
I'll not bow to any mere Bacterial Overlords, Eukaryote Overlords only!!! *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:02:20 AM 291 Views
So you're prejudiced against the nuclearly challenged? - 01/12/2010 01:09:57 AM 665 Views
Down right genocidal toward them - 01/12/2010 01:31:47 AM 648 Views
Genocide is a bit extreme - 01/12/2010 02:13:18 AM 680 Views
They had better have a green man *NM* - 30/11/2010 10:45:56 AM 254 Views
Because you need somebody to attack Aginor and Balthamel? *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:04:23 AM 265 Views
Oh no you didn't *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:14:55 AM 266 Views
Seriously. - 01/12/2010 01:26:54 AM 637 Views
Re: But then you got turned on just thinking about the phrase? - 01/12/2010 02:23:02 AM 740 Views
I'm actually a tiny bit giddy about this. *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:04:49 AM 272 Views
Re: Arsenic. *NM* - 01/12/2010 02:09:51 AM 287 Views
Re: Perhaps just as awesomely: - 01/12/2010 02:21:35 AM 787 Views

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