3 ms·
Science (I will use "science" as shortcut for "deterministic materialist worldview") is not "proven": it offers (falsifiable) explanations to observable phenome
by gonvaled 10y ago
Science (I will use "science" as shortcut for "deterministic materialist worldview") is not "proven": it offers (falsifiable) explanations to observable phenomena, and it does not concern itself with as-of-yet non explainable phenomena. It accepts, and happily adopts, corrections.
People have spiritual beliefs when they try to explain things that they can not understand. Other people abuse this by telling them that they have special knowledge and that they can explain those phenomena, or even more subtle, that there is somebody out there who can explain it to them, at some point, in some manner. All this without providing the slightest chance of falsification, meaning basically they can assert whatever they like.
So in my eyes, no, people are not really justified in having those beliefs: they could just as well accept that certain things are (now, and possibly forever) unknowable.
- drzaiusapelord 10y agoExcept science doesn't support a basic Newtonian deterministic world. When you factor in relativity and quantum mechanics your worldview can't be purely a deterministic machine anymore.
- gonvaled 10y agoYou stated that the explanation we have is deterministic, I didn't. The explanation given by science is still falsifiable, though, which is what characterizes it. Other explanations ("beliefs") are completely arbitrary. That said, relativity has nothing intrinsically non-deterministic about it [1], and whether quantum mechanics is deterministic or not is open to debate [2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indeterminism#Classical_and_relativistic_physics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indeterminism#Classical_and_re... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretations_of_quantum_mechanics#Comparison_of_interpretations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretations_of_quantum_mec...