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Seems to me we can identify a scientific fact: it's an empirical proposition for which we have sufficient scientific evidence. "Sufficient" is a community stand
by satisfice 4y ago
Seems to me we can identify a scientific fact: it's an empirical proposition for which we have sufficient scientific evidence. "Sufficient" is a community standard, and different communities may have different standards. That's not an ideal state of affairs, but it turns out to be a liveable one.
This doesn't solve the problem of "future-proofing" or universalizing facts, because THAT is not a solvable problem. But it does solve the local problem of making a community decision about who deserves respect and what topics are worth debating.
- pdonis 4y ago> it's an empirical proposition for which we have sufficient scientific evidence. "Sufficient" is a community standard It doesn't have to be. We can use predictive power to judge how strong our evidence is.
- satisfice 4y agoMake a specific proposal and I will show you how that is a community standard. The only reason I can't right now is because what you have suggested is not yet specific enough to be ANY kind of standard.
- pdonis 4y agoMy point is that what is required by an actual real world application is not up to the community. It's up to the universe. For example, if you want to judge the predictions of astronomers about close approaches of asteroids to Earth, the standard is not what the community thinks is ok, but whether their predictions are accurate enough to say for sure whether an asteroid will hit or miss. That standard is imposed by the universe, the laws of physics, and our desire to not get killed by an asteroid impact.