Originally posted by Ibram Gaunt:
Oh my goodness...I went overseas and left this discussion
thread for more than a week and it is still raging...
It seems to be more "popular" than even some of the other politics
thread.
Science (as I have mentioned before) is one of the best tools
available to mankind in studying natural phenomenon. But to try and
apply it to other less "naturalistic" areas like politics, ethics,
religion, social values, etc would most likely bring about less
than satisfying results.
The great philosopher Bertrand Russell said it best:
"Ethics contains no statements, whether true or false, but consists
of desires of a certain general kind, namely such as are concerned
with the desires of mankind in general - and of gods, angels, and
devils, if they exist. Science can discuss the causes of
desires, and the means for realizing them, but it cannot contain
any genuinely ethical sentences, because it is concerned with what
is true or false (i.e. naturalistic explanantions) "
"I conclude that, while it is true that science cannot decide
questions of [b]values, that is because they cannot be
intellectually decided at all, and lie outside the
realm of truth and falsehood. Whatever knowledge is
attainable, must be attained by scientific methods; and what
science cannot discover, mankind cannot know."
Full text at: http://www.solstice.us/russell/science-ethics.html
Note the last part where he says:
"what science cannot discover, mankind cannot
know."
[/b]
Bertrand Russell said "what science cannot discover, mankind
cannot know."
Soul_rage and myself say "science can discover what mankind does
not know."
a monkey says "whatever science cannot prove, it is superstition.
"
You wrote "But to try and apply it to other less "naturalistic";
areas like politics, ethics, religion, social values, etc would
most likely bring about less than satisfying results."
I agree with what you wrote.
A monkey will disagree with you. Only a monkey insists to use
science to inform on a decision whether to build a casino in his
neighborhood or not.
this monkey lives in boogie wonderland and laughs like seow all the
time.