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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 1002 Views
Interesting. - 30/11/2010 04:43:15 AM 474 Views
crap! I will be watching this! - 30/11/2010 05:04:58 AM 622 Views
Goddammit Wikileaks get on this *NM* - 30/11/2010 05:05:19 AM 262 Views
There's no one to smear, why would wikileaks be interested? *NM* - 30/11/2010 01:45:58 PM 219 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 532 Views
Seems to put atheists in a bit of a catch-22 there. - 30/11/2010 05:54:25 AM 592 Views
Bwa? - 30/11/2010 06:45:33 AM 580 Views
Sorry, yeah. That is not my position. - 30/11/2010 07:03:17 AM 571 Views
The best will be when we find other intelligent life - 30/11/2010 02:32:35 PM 478 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 617 Views
Using anthropomorphic terms to describe the universe only reflects on you, not on the universe. *NM* - 30/11/2010 07:31:04 PM 265 Views
What an arbitrary and meaningless statement. *NM* - 30/11/2010 07:52:13 PM 202 Views
Anthropomorphizing concepts is a cognitive bias. - 30/11/2010 11:19:23 PM 489 Views
Only given a certain metaphysical framework. - 01/12/2010 12:18:09 AM 521 Views
Mind dumbing that down a bit? - 01/12/2010 12:43:47 AM 462 Views
I think he is saying - 01/12/2010 01:26:34 AM 663 Views
That ain't not a lot simpler - 01/12/2010 01:35:38 AM 576 Views
Yes. - 01/12/2010 01:44:41 AM 524 Views
Those worldviews are unsupported by empirical evidence. - 01/12/2010 01:41:27 AM 619 Views
No worldviews are supported by empirical evidence. *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:57:23 AM 234 Views
Empiricism is unsupported by empirical evidence. *NM* - 01/12/2010 02:21:52 AM 209 Views
Empirical evidence is the only objective standard. - 01/12/2010 02:59:18 AM 546 Views
Empirical evidence cannot fully explain reality. - 01/12/2010 03:28:41 AM 589 Views
Re: Question (use google now!): what's the net energy of the universe? - 01/12/2010 03:35:57 AM 541 Views
Re: - 01/12/2010 03:45:22 AM 752 Views
Re: Re: - 01/12/2010 04:04:38 AM 525 Views
Yes. I know what empiricism is. - 01/12/2010 05:17:05 AM 824 Views
Re: You are a smart person. - 01/12/2010 03:09:13 AM 487 Views
Thanks. - 01/12/2010 03:30:46 AM 734 Views
Interesting. I agree with what you're saying, actually. - 30/11/2010 07:49:51 PM 471 Views
It won't change the argument in the least. - 01/12/2010 05:26:16 AM 645 Views
I have the feeling it's probably not going to be that. - 30/11/2010 06:02:48 AM 540 Views
Ohh, exciting! - 30/11/2010 08:37:32 AM 498 Views
noooo! - 30/11/2010 10:19:27 AM 454 Views
Boring primitive things would be cool. - 30/11/2010 02:54:10 PM 463 Views
Hey, there's a name I recognize, "Iron Lisa" - 30/11/2010 09:25:01 AM 602 Views
WE'RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE - 30/11/2010 02:33:30 PM 561 Views
I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords. *NM* - 30/11/2010 02:35:04 PM 215 Views
"I, for one, welcome our new INSECT overlords"! - 01/12/2010 12:40:27 AM 536 Views
but we don't know if they're insects yet! - 01/12/2010 12:55:52 AM 470 Views
I'll not bow to any mere Bacterial Overlords, Eukaryote Overlords only!!! *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:02:20 AM 222 Views
So you're prejudiced against the nuclearly challenged? - 01/12/2010 01:09:57 AM 518 Views
Down right genocidal toward them - 01/12/2010 01:31:47 AM 457 Views
Genocide is a bit extreme - 01/12/2010 02:13:18 AM 498 Views
They had better have a green man *NM* - 30/11/2010 10:45:56 AM 181 Views
Because you need somebody to attack Aginor and Balthamel? *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:04:23 AM 185 Views
Oh no you didn't *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:14:55 AM 181 Views
Seriously. - 01/12/2010 01:26:54 AM 467 Views
Re: But then you got turned on just thinking about the phrase? - 01/12/2010 02:23:02 AM 551 Views
I'm actually a tiny bit giddy about this. *NM* - 01/12/2010 01:04:49 AM 203 Views
Re: Arsenic. *NM* - 01/12/2010 02:09:51 AM 210 Views
Re: Perhaps just as awesomely: - 01/12/2010 02:21:35 AM 579 Views

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