[Buddha-l] it's not about belief -= science & empiricism

[Bob Zeuschner]

Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:

> Bob Zeuschner schreef:
> 
>> I would like to make two observations.
>> (1) It is my understanding that modern science is founded upon 
>> empiricism, and perhaps the strong empiricism of David Hume; 
> 
> 'Founded upon' is rather vague. It certainly is more then collecting 
> empirical data. Maths is also very important. In the standard model only 
> one part is about experiments and collecting data,  the others are about 
> interpretation, mathematical systematisation and abduction, i.e. 
> constructing theories.

Thanks, Erik, for pointing out this potential confusion.
Indeed, you are correct. Nothing I wrote suggests that science is 
equated with collecting empirical data.
Empiricism asserts that all of our knowledge of the external world is 
ultimately based on sense experience, and reasoning upon what we experience.
Neither pure reason alone nor divine revelation are considered genuine 
sources of knowledge for the empiricist.


>> (2) Modern science is concerned with finding out what is true and NOT 
>> assuming that we already know what is true.
>> During the middle ages, what passed for science was studying nature to 
>> determine what lesson god was teaching us.

> 
> According to Kuhn you're talking about the rare instances of 
> revolutionary science, most of the time it's just completing the puzzle 
> and keeping creative ideas out.
> The above only holds for science in a restricted sense, i.e. physics and 
> allies. For linguistics and humanities the situation is quite different 
> and in that area we have Asian predecessors.


I do believe the previous and ongoing discussion was focusing upon the 
"hard sciences," or what you describe as "science in a restricted sense."
I personally am in a department of philosophy, which in turn is under 
the "social sciences" banner -- but I would not consider philosophy, 
history, sociology, psychology or linguistics to be "science" in the 
sense that is involved when we discuss the question of whether 
"Christianity is the foundation of science" or whether "Christianity has 
been an obstacle to scientific discoveries."
In my mind philosophy is closer to an art form than to hard science.
Bob