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The natural sciences are, put simply, the study of the natural world via experimentation and the collection of empirical evidence. However none of the empirical

The natural sciences are, put simply, the study of the natural world via experimentation and the collection of empirical evidence. However none of the empirical evidence you might collect (or any other type of evidence for that matter), can survive the scrutiny of the trilemma. You cannot prove that a chair exists, or an apple, or a pen without relying on circular reasoning, an infinite regression of reasoning, or by inventing some axiomatic foundation. I’m not aware of any scientific knowledge that’s capable of circumventing this trilemma, as you put it. You might think it’s sensible to believe that apples exist, and that the world you perceive around you is real, but this is strictly a faith based position, no matter how perfectly obvious it might seem to you.

kbrkbr 4y ago
Thanks for your clarification. I really enjoy your arguments. I reply that I find the idea of from first principles proving the existence of something, e.g. an apple a weird notion. What is the justification of asking for it? That is a rationalistic-philosophic concept I can only chuckle at. What about the human information-processing tract is so special that this would help anything? I completely agree that the trilemma helps against these attempts. I do not agree that it is a useful or meaningful practice. I’m not setting out to prove something this way. I’m saying: you have projects and plans that you want to be successful. Truth found by the scientific method has in general a track record of being repeatably found again, and thus will help you. Religion, philosophy, astrology ideology does not have that track record. That’s what makes science unique and points to that it has found some truths. Otherwise it’s track record would be miraculous. I’m also saying this is as good as it gets, precisely because of the trilemma. To try to make myself clear: I’m thinking that this practice of proving from first principles would need to be shown to do anything useful, before I‘ll look into it. I think it’s a failed idea, though I believed it long. It’s often taken for granted, but it’s highly questionable.

kbrkbr 4y ago

Thanks for your clarification. I really enjoy your arguments. I reply that I find the idea of from first principles proving the existence of something, e.g. an apple a weird notion. What is the justification of asking for it? That is a rationalistic-philosophic concept I can only chuckle at. What about the human information-processing tract is so special that this would help anything? I completely agree that the trilemma helps against these attempts. I do not agree that it is a useful or meaningful practice. I’m not setting out to prove something this way. I’m saying: you have projects and plans that you want to be successful. Truth found by the scientific method has in general a track record of being repeatably found again, and thus will help you. Religion, philosophy, astrology ideology does not have that track record. That’s what makes science unique and points to that it has found some truths. Otherwise it’s track record would be miraculous. I’m also saying this is as good as it gets, precisely because of the trilemma. To try to make myself clear: I’m thinking that this practice of proving from first principles would need to be shown to do anything useful, before I‘ll look into it. I think it’s a failed idea, though I believed it long. It’s often taken for granted, but it’s highly questionable.