[Tool for the mind] Major flaw in the way we explain explanation

MadSheeple · 12-08-2009, 12:05 AM

I stumbled upon a video that I would like to share with you guys. It pinpoints a major flaw in the way we are told the world arround us ticks. And since this is an important step to lift this spell of mass confusion I tought I should share this information.

Here are some quotes to give you a sneak peak to spark interest to delve deeper into the matter.

"Before the scientific revolution, they believed everything important(knowable) was already known [...] they believed that knowledge came from autority that actually knew very little"

"Empiricism is inadequate, because, well, scientific theories explain the seen in terms of the unseen. And the unseen, you have to admit, doesn't come to us through the senses. We don't see those nuclear reactions in stars. We don't see The origin of species. We don't see the curvature of space-time. But we know about those things. How?"

"Well, the classic empiricist answer is induction. The unseen resembles the seen. But it doesn't!"

"Evidence for evolution? Some rocks and some finches. Parallel universes? Again : dots there, rather than there, on a screen. What we see, in all these cases, bears no resemblance to the reality that we conclude is responsible -- only a long chain of theoretical reasoning and interpretation, connects them."

"The search for hard-to-vary explanations is the origin of all progress."

David Deutsch: A new way to explain explanation :
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_deuts...planation.html

12-08-2009, 12:05 AM	#1
MadSheeple Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Just across the river from Ottawa Posts: 55	[Tool for the mind] Major flaw in the way we explain explanation I stumbled upon a video that I would like to share with you guys. It pinpoints a major flaw in the way we are told the world arround us ticks. And since this is an important step to lift this spell of mass confusion I tought I should share this information. Here are some quotes to give you a sneak peak to spark interest to delve deeper into the matter. "Before the scientific revolution, they believed everything important(knowable) was already known [...] they believed that knowledge came from autority that actually knew very little" "Empiricism is inadequate, because, well, scientific theories explain the seen in terms of the unseen. And the unseen, you have to admit, doesn't come to us through the senses. We don't see those nuclear reactions in stars. We don't see The origin of species. We don't see the curvature of space-time. But we know about those things. How?" "Well, the classic empiricist answer is induction. The unseen resembles the seen. But it doesn't!" "Evidence for evolution? Some rocks and some finches. Parallel universes? Again : dots there, rather than there, on a screen. What we see, in all these cases, bears no resemblance to the reality that we conclude is responsible -- only a long chain of theoretical reasoning and interpretation, connects them." "The search for hard-to-vary explanations is the origin of all progress." David Deutsch: A new way to explain explanation : http://www.ted.com/talks/david_deuts...planation.html