[RFC_Gal]

On the subject of senses.

My eyes and brain working together tell me that what I am seeing is 100% correct. It isn't, humans have two blind spots that our optical pre/post processing systems work around.


Truth doesn't tell me that a theory might be falsified in the future, science does. It isn't science if it can not be falsified.

Truth doesn't tell me that the Sun rises and sets - science tells me that the Sun appears to rise and set due to the orbiting of earth around said star.

You definition of truth "things we currently believe based on the best evidence available to us at the current time" need a little work.

[microgood]

Truth doesn't tell me that the Sun rises and sets - science tells me that the Sun appears to rise and set due to the orbiting of earth around said star.

Wrong. Humans knew this to be reality long before the concept of "science" existed. That is the point. Humans have been around perceiving the world around us long before anything like science existed. Humans know certain things to be true regardless of science. If a mother gives birth to a child she knows that is true. That the universe started with a big bang is a theory. There is a huge difference between those levels of certainty.

[microgood]

My eyes and brain working together tell me that what I am seeing is 100% correct. It isn't, humans have two blind spots that our optical pre/post processing systems work around.

And as an addendum, if we did not believe our sensory ability or that we were able to rationally understand the world around us, this conclusion could never have been reached.

[microgood]

Truth doesn't tell me that a theory might be falsified in the future, science does. It isn't science if it can not be falsified.

True, but science is an adventure in making assumptions that cannot be proven to acheive a loftier goal. Science makes assumptions that cannot be verified as true to get to a different place in reality. That is why they call them theories. For example, to embark on the theory of evolution, one has to assume all processes are naturalistic. To deliver a child, and name it, one need not engage in that abstraction.

[B-Chan]

Descartes pointed out that, since our senses can be fooled without our being able to know the difference (e.g. dreams, hallucinations, etc.), there is no way to objectively demonstrate that what we see, hear, etc. corresponds to an external "reality" in any way. Therefore, all observations made by use of our senses (including scientific observations) are suspect. We must take the existence of the world on faith. All we can know for certain is that which we experience directly, without use of our fallible senses -- i.e. our own existence. Cogito, ergo sum.