Empiricism in science--the belief that only that which can be proven (observed/measured) is true--is self-referentially incoherent. Self-referentially incoherent means, basically, an assertion which by its own logic should not be believed. While a bold statement, the most easy way to see that the fundimental belief of our scientific modern age is to take the principle of Empiricism into the past. "The earth is round" you say in 1AD. Clearly this is false, as there is no way to prove it. I say, "The earth is flat... look at it." And... indeed, the earth is flat. Just look at it and I don't fall off of it as I would trying to walk atop a ball. It is really not until the earth has been circumnavigated before the Earth truly can be round. Of course, perhaps it is only that we do not have the ability to quantify it at the time. In reality, I think we all believe that the earth was always round, right? How, so, can we measure this? Considering the vast number of popular assertions disproven in history (ie: geocentric universe, sound barrier, etc), the real problem is that we cannot see all. Clearly if we could see all we could Empirically work our way towards knowing all. Omniscience. What is the only type of creature that could know all, see all? Gods... ...but gods do not exist, as per empiricism. | |||
Interesting. Side note: Man has always thought that the world is round, thanks to the moon and the horizon. | |||
Meh, there are those who claim that the Earth is like an egg...ellipsoid or summat like that. | |||
I believe they call it an oblate spheroid. Due to the mass of the Earth spinning on an axis, it bulges more and more towards the equator. It may be no more than a few miles of difference, but the earth is not a perfect sphere even ignoring its surface imperfections (aka: Geography). | |||
DrakemasterDrake - "I would rather live a short life of glory than a long one of obscurity." TALK - The clock on this site is so messed up, why bother? The clock on this site is so messed up, why bother? | |||
Wow, this seems to have been a very intresting conversation. | |||