Inis

If the flow of time were an illusion, wouldn't we at least experience it? I'm not sure we do. Rather, it seems we make a mistake in the interpretation...

No one is claiming that space flows. If they did, then you can rest assured that that flow would need to be with respect to something. Claiming that s...

If time flows, then it must flow with respect to something, and that something has to be an external time. What's the question of illusion?

If time flows, as A-theory claims, what does it flow with respect to?

That would be Newton's gravitation. Without it, what does "anomalous orbit" even mean?

Do you have good reason to believe the theory that predicts the existence of Neptune to be true?

So, is the theory, that predicted Neptune true or not?

So you retrodict/deduce/induce that the theory that predicts Neptune is true?

Lets get this straight: 1. You retrodict Neptune/Vulcan. 2. You deduce consequences from the retrodiction. 3. You induce corroborations or falsificati...

The anomalous orbit of Uranus/Mercury becomes normal when the statement "Neptune/Vulcan exists" is true, which gives us the good reason to believe tha...

And by the same logic, we have reason to believe the statement "Vulcan exists", is true?

Scientific theories can't be causal arguments if they work just as well backwards in time.

They are empirical statements, but "it is raining" is also an empirical statement, and no one claims that is a scientific theory. Popper argued that s...

Sometimes "observational findings", but also purely theoretical considerations. For example the huge and varied research programs to unify quantum mec...

Well, trial and error can certainly work when trying to figure out the shape of orbits, but lets have a more recent example. You are doubtless aware t...

It is a matter of judgement whether a statement is falsifiable or not. Some people think Freudian psychoanalysis is non-falsifiable, others disagree. ...

Popper does not differentiate between an hypothesis and a theory. The only way conjectures can be dealt with is to admit them to the scientific method...

OK, so accepting, for the sake of argument, that given a scientific problem, we manage to retrodict a solution, what are the "reasons to suspect" that...

Where does "A" come from?

Nay, Nay, and thrice Nay! The Scientific Method goes like this: 1) Problem Identification - You find a problem you are interested in or need to solve....

And yet Eratosthenes was able to measure the circumference of the Earth in ~200 B.C. The scientific method deals with universal statements, and I'm no...

No he didn't. Popper argued that it is logically impossible to verify or falsify a scientific theory. He sets out a Method, based on certain epistemol...

Before Popper's criterion of demarcation between science and non-science, the prevailing wisdom was that of the Vienna Circle. The Logical Positivists...

There is no "theory of a spherical earth". The earth literally is (approximately) spherical. The theory is the explanation of that phenomenon, and the...

That the Earth is spherical is not a scientific theory, it is merely a fact of reality. The scientific theory consists of the explanation for this and...

He really didn't just invigorate old ideas. They were his ideas and they were so radical, that still very few understand him.

And as a true Popperian you reject authoritative sources of knowledge, certainty, and anything that claims to beyond criticism.

There is: The Criterion of Demarcation. This would be against the Scientific Method, and ruled out by the criterion of demarcation.

I'm not so sure this is an accurate characterisation of science, or quite captures Popper's central ideas. Let's not forget that Freudian psychoanalys...

Couldn't be further from the truth. Popper will be underestimated for a thousand years.

I tell you what, in the absence of a block function on this forum, please never interact with me again, and I will pay you the same courtesy.

It's literally in the book, and I would provide an exact quote but there is a 4 year old sleeping in the room where the book is. Look it up!

It's exactly how all new theories are treated in Science. There is no other way to the truth.

Popper confronts and solve the Duhem-Quine Thesis in "Logic of Scientific Discovery". According to Popper, falsification of any theory is logically im...

What sort of prescriptive things do you not like? The requirement to be open to criticism, and to subject one's ideas to the harshest of tests? How a ...

NOTA is what the Monster Raving Loony Party is for.

I wince a little when Popper is called a "falsificationist ". Not because he was not a falsificationist, but because falsificationism is so often misr...

The same way we understand what anything is. We encounter a phenomenon of some kind, perhaps a feature or a regularity, and we conjecture an explanati...

If your conception of God is an inconsistent, incoherent, self-contradictory, unnecessary entity, then I'm not sure the point of engaging with the ide...

I think the difference is psychological rather than logical. We can all imagine things we can't lift, and even making things we can't lift, and this c...

No one ever argues that god lacks omnipotence because she cannot make 2+2=5.

Since when does omnipotence require the ability to defy logic, to instantiate logical contradictions?

I don't think it reasonable to regard omnipotence as something you can lose just by making a stone.

I don't quite get the idea that an omnipotent/omniscient being is required to have logically impossible abilities, and have access to in principle unk...

Certainty in knowledge is impossible, worthless, and damaging. What you are seeking is an authority, to certify certain truths. There is no such thing...

If you value knowledge, then only certain moral systems will support that value. Are they objectively good? I'm not sure that question is answerable. ...

Is it not true that, in order to achieve scientific progress, and knowledge in general, that a certain morality is required? A society cannot progress...

It seems more like polytheism. What am I missing?

Yes indeed, people who can't comprehend Galileo's thought experiment, call me "stupid" and tell me to "seek a different thread". Oh, to be in the pres...

"Pagan" is another word.