Re:No, really—consciousness is worth thinking about
by saym on Sunday August 11, 2013 @08:40PM
(#6197054)
There are people that believe in 'non-science things' on every continent.
I don't see how providing antagonizing labels based on nationality helps your argument at all.
Re:No, really—consciousness is worth thinking about
by wslh on Sunday August 11, 2013 @10:39PM
(#6197374)
> I don't see how providing antagonizing labels based on nationality helps your argument at all.
I completely understand what paganel said: nationality and culture play an important role here. There are cultures or subcultures that accept that we can be completely wrong in our assertions (are we just dreaming?), or they are based on mysticism, or they are relativists, or they are scientific.
There are prejudices against you in the scientific environment if you have doubts about things like God or consciousness.
Re:No, really—consciousness is worth thinking about
by Jimmy on Sunday August 11, 2013 @09:07PM
(#6197116)
>(for example just the other day I was thinking "hey, has anyone proved that mathematical induction is really intellectually honest? or was Hume actually right and it's all make-believe?")
Mathematical induction is different from the type of induction that Hume was concerned with, and it's just as sound as any other method of mathematical proof.
Re:No, really—consciousness is worth thinking about
by mindcrime on Sunday August 11, 2013 @09:10PM
(#6197124)
I'm guessing the post you replied to really meant to talk about "inductive reasoning" and not mathematical induction. Regarding the former, it is a well known open question within the philosophy of science, regarding how valid inductive reasoning is.[1]
I could be wrong, but as an European my understanding is that there are people in the States who actually believe in non-science things like Adam and Eve and all that, so that when you begin to say that maybe Science doesn't or can't have all the answers (for example just the other day I was thinking "hey, has anyone proved that mathematical induction is really intellectually honest? or was Hume actually right and it's all make-believe?") you're immediately tagged as "a lunatic guy who believes the Earth is 6,000 years old" by Science-loving American redditors (HN is a little bit more forgiving), doesn't matter that I may be an agnostic and that I'm amazed that things like "God" are brought into a discussion which tries to make sense of the things around us.
It would also help if people would have a little more knowledge of the history of Science itself, this way they'd know about guys like La Mettrie or the French positivists who lived in the 19th century, meaning this discussion has happened many times before.