A
Ani_Ibi
Guest
By doing the math.
You are assuming that the only way to know is by observation. In fact observation is coloured by what we think we know and about the imperfection of our theoretical grasp of what we are attempting to observe.
When the Europeans first came to the Americas, the natives could not see the big ships because they had only seen small boats. As soon as the Europeans lowered the row boats, the natives could see them because they had experience of small boats.
Similarly the Europeans could not see buffalo; instead they saw ‘deer’ because they had experience of deer but not of buffalo.
Scientific investigation progresses by oscillating between the two poles of observation and theory.
We observe something until experience shows us that there is something lacking in our understanding of what we are observing. Then we theorize and come up with an explanation for the anomaly. Then we test the theory through repeated observation. And so on.
In quantum science, the very act of observation changes what is being observed. And now there are whole realms which cannot be observed at all, but only inferred through theory; through doing the math.
Columbus no more ‘proved’ that the earth was round than the sailors watching the the ships rise into visibility on the horizon.
If observation is your only criteria for knowing something then we would have had to wait for the first manned space flights to see that the earth was round and then we still would have had to take it on faith that the astronauts were making accurately observations and were credible witnesses.
Um… no. We theorized that the moon was a cold rock.
We theorized that it was a cold rock long before we went there.
I disagree and have already set out my reasons for disagreeing. Religious faith is not illogical. It merely uses a methodology which may differ from science.
See Faith can never conflict with reason by JP2 on Galileo.
This does not make sense. At all.
Define evidence. Do you believe that it is what can be observed? If so, then your belief contradicts what Hebrews 11:1 says; that faith is the evidence of things unseen.
Unseen. Not observed. But inferred theoretically.
Science is from ‘scientia’ which means knowledge. So religious knowledge, the knowledge of physics, biolology, whatever. We are simply talking about different forms of knowledge. Religion is a form of knowledge. Like physics, it must be logical.
