71
votes
Accepted
Is the Skeptic's Prayer a valid scientific experiment?
This must be one of the grossest attempts at manipulating one's readership I have ever seen. The proposed "experiment" can never fail because the authors carefully planted 3 escape routes ...
- 6,983
44
votes
Is Christianity testable?
Is John Lennox's defense of the testability of Christianity sound?
No. It's true that Christianity as a religion contains some testable claims, but the implication – that therefore Christianity is ...
- 843
33
votes
Accepted
Is Christianity testable?
TL;DR Testable claims are testable, untestable claims are not testable, and it's easy to confuse the two when they appear to be one package.
People who study comparative religion tend to distinguish ...
- 562
31
votes
Is there a way to tell if something is science versus pseudoscience?
This question is closely related to a problem in philosophy of science known as the demarcation problem. A good starting point for
broad overview would be the SEP article.
To answer you question ...
- 1,006
27
votes
Is Christianity testable?
We have to start from the neutral observation that while Lennox is deliberately using scientific terminology, and explicitly placing it in a scientific context, he is NOT using the term in the same ...
- 30.4k
24
votes
Accepted
Using the Duck-Typing method in scientific context
Duck typing in philosophy is variously called structuralism or functionalism, depending on the context. The idea that duck typing is the best way to articulate our commitment to scientifically-...
- 2,647
23
votes
Does Intelligent Design fulfill the necessary criteria to be recognized as a scientific theory?
These two answers to prior questions spell out almost everything you have asked here:
Would a teleogenetic standpoint be more useful in discovering certain possibilities about life origins than the ...
- 14.6k
22
votes
Is scientific method entirely based on statistics (statistical inference)?
Ernest Rutherford said:
"If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment"
which is deeply ironic, given that his subject (atomic/nuclear/particle physics) ...
- 3,045
18
votes
Is it "unscientific" to be sceptical without offering alternative explanations?
Definitely not. To say that it is unscientific is to fall into what is sometimes called the Sherlock Holmes fallacy. Alice seems to be saying that her explanation must be right because she has ruled ...
- 439
17
votes
Is the Skeptic's Prayer a valid scientific experiment?
It is a test of whether you can be talked into religious belief. In that respect it is rather a pointless test, since billions of people all over the world are ample proof that it is possible to be ...
- 24.5k
16
votes
Using the Duck-Typing method in scientific context
You always run the risk of it being a goose!
runs
I would actually argue that nearly all of science uses this mentality. Most famously, it shows up in wave/particle duality. We assume light is a ...
- 18.2k
15
votes
Does Intelligent Design fulfill the necessary criteria to be recognized as a scientific theory?
Commonly "Intelligent Design" does not denote anything theoretic, but a political anti-scientific movement aiming to replace science teaching in schools by teaching of religion.
The ...
- 4,956
15
votes
Is entropy physical or idealistic?
to complete RodolfoAP's answer with a simple image of what entropy is that might resolve the confusion of OP.
Entropy is not about "order" or "chaos", those terms are just used by ...
- 6,983
14
votes
What Would Be the state of philosophy of Science if There were no patterns in nature
If there were no patterns in nature, there would be no humans around to observe it.
Think about it, your very ability to exist in a persistent way requires certain regularities. If nature truly had NO ...
- 3,692
12
votes
What sorts of beliefs can be justified non-scientifically?
Ethical and moral beliefs are justified but they are non scientific. Aesthetic beliefs , metaphysical beliefs , epistemological beliefs , religious beliefs , intuitive beliefs , cultural and social ...
- 1,220
11
votes
Is there a way to tell if something is science versus pseudoscience?
While you already got the very long (and good) answers showing you all the problems with the term "pseudo science" from a deep philosophical viewpoint, there are "litmus tests" ...
- 3,044
11
votes
Is the Skeptic's Prayer a valid scientific experiment?
No, it is not a scientific experiment, because there is no objective way to determine the outcome.
First, by refusing to set a time limit, the proposal protects itself against falsification; the "...
- 14.7k
10
votes
Accepted
What is the Null Hypothesis for a negative claim?
You don't use the term "null hypothesis" for pure facts. It is used in statistics, when you claim there is correlation between two events. Like "swans living near coal mines tend to be purple more ...
- 5,735
10
votes
Is there a way to tell if something is science versus pseudoscience?
From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's article on Pseudoscience:
There is widespread agreement for instance that creationism, astrology, homeopathy, Kirlian photography, dowsing, ufology, ...
- 29.1k
10
votes
Does Intelligent Design fulfill the necessary criteria to be recognized as a scientific theory?
Allow me to get properly philosophical here and point out that the phrase 'scientific theory' is at best a red herring (and at worst a holdover from mid-20th century scientism). Theory is proposed ...
- 21.3k
10
votes
Does Intelligent Design fulfill the necessary criteria to be recognized as a scientific theory?
The elephant in the room is that ID apparently originated as pseudoscience:
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an ...
- 6,782
10
votes
Is scientific method entirely based on statistics (statistical inference)?
The experimental portion of the scientific method requires statistics. The model-building process, on the other hand, relies instead on mathematical formalism.
- 8,859
10
votes
Is Christianity testable?
Well, he's playing with polysemy, but what he really says is that it's testable in the sense of someone adopting it may have beneficial results. Of course there's the issue what the control group is ...
10
votes
Is Christianity testable?
Not really. Firstly you need to be clear what you mean by testing Christianity. It's a bit like testing a person- there are hundreds of different attributes, some of which are testable and some are ...
- 24.5k
10
votes
Is it "unscientific" to be sceptical without offering alternative explanations?
she proposes a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon, as well as an experiment to validate (or otherwise) her hypothesis... Bob still believes that it is reasonable be open-minded, even though he ...
- 744
10
votes
Is it "unscientific" to be sceptical without offering alternative explanations?
Let's suppose the answer to your question was yes, it is unscientific to doubt theories without alternative explanations. Bob would have to say 'No need to perform your experiment, Alice; I can't ...
- 24.5k
10
votes
What were the reactions to Hume's problem of induction from scientists practicing in the field?
I can't speak for people in the 18th century, but there isn't really much for scientists to do about it.
The principle of induction has proven to be exceedingly useful for predicting things, and for ...
- 10.9k
8
votes
Does Intelligent Design fulfill the necessary criteria to be recognized as a scientific theory?
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Discovery Institute's Wedge Document, which is interesting reading for anyone who wants to know whether to take Intelligent Design seriously.
The social ...
- 730
8
votes
Does Intelligent Design fulfill the necessary criteria to be recognized as a scientific theory?
Before we can answer the question, we first need to understand what it means for theory to be scientific. In my view, your framing of this question in six questions is not helpful, and a distraction ...
- 1,192
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