Comments on: Just a “theory”? http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/climate/?p=27 The science behind a global issue Fri, 17 May 2013 18:20:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: peter http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/climate/?p=27&cpage=1#comment-179 peter Sat, 10 May 2008 03:52:00 +0000 http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/?p=27#comment-179 Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the comment, and that’s an excellent question. It’s the sort of thing that I think keeps philosophers of science up at night! Hmmm, how would I answer it? Well, I do not, in fact, have a belief in the scientific method. The scientific method works because it is a reasonably objective framework in which to evaluate proposed explanations of natural phenomena and observations. If there is any belief involved, it’s my belief that we live in a rational Universe. Why? I don’t know, but we certainly seem to! For example, I can say with tremendous certainty that the Sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning, and that the likelihood of it colliding with the Earth is vanishingly small. So my belief itself, I guess, is bolstered by many, many experiences and observations.
I think that I’ll stop here, but the questions of how we know what we know, and the limits of knowing, are awfully cool ones!

]]> By: Jeff http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/climate/?p=27&cpage=1#comment-174 Jeff Mon, 05 May 2008 22:27:57 +0000 http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/?p=27#comment-174 Peter, thank you for this posting. What a great idea, to simply take the concept of “belief” out of the equation when discussing a scientific theory.

But are you just pushing the idea of belief down a level? If you were asked if you had a belief in the scientific method, how would you respond?

]]>