Science is NOT faith-based!

The Bad Astronomer said:
Folks--

I put up a blog entry today called "Is Science faith-based?" because I am good and sick of hearing the definition of science abused by the willfully (and woefully) ignorant.

I'm curious about peoples' thoughts on this. I hope this is useful.
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Just above is an example of a person who calls opposing views "wilfully ignorant" without taking into the account that wilfully ignorant people are not capable of doing advanced science.

Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.
~ Max Planck ~
 
First, Phil didn't call all opposing views wilfully ignorant, just the specific view of some wilfully ignorant religious people toward science. You see the huge difference, right?

And when Max Planck said "faith", do you think he meant belief in God? Or maybe he meant thisWP: "Planck regarded the scientist as a man of imagination and faith, "faith" interpreted as being similar to "having a working hypothesis". For example the causality principle isn't true or false, it is an act of faith. Thereby Planck may have indicated a view that points toward Imre Lakatos' research programs process descriptions, where falsification is mostly tolerable, in faith of its future removal."
 
Can this essay still be found on that site? My smart phone is screwed up & doing a search is an exercise in futility.:blush:
 
I clicked on the link in epix's post, but if you need the full URL, here it is:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/b...-and-india-love-their-antiscience/#more-27660

It's a lot to type but worth the effort.:)

ETA: I see the URL has been truncated. Let's try this:

http: // blogs.discovermagazine . com/badastronomy/2011/02/03/america-and-india-love-their-antiscience/#more-27660

I'm trust you can see where the unnecessary spaces are.
 
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Gee Epix,

Thanks for re-awakening this thread and demonstrating you are completely wrong in your ideas about it......
 
Jozen-Bo said:
Is it possible to separate science from faith 100%...?
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In some cases, sure. In other cases, particularly "how did we get here" sorts of questions, not so much.

My computer is a tangible product thanks to the field of electrical engineering. In that specific sense it is demonstrable and different than most concepts of "God". It can for instance be "tested in the lab" and subjected to "trials".

When we get to "cause/effect" relationships in cosmology however, forgetaboutit. :) It will always be an "act of faith" on the part of the "believer" since nobody can really demonstrate such cause/effect relationships in the lab, and no tangible products use "dark energy" in their design, nor will they ever. :)

I do believe that some branches of empirical physics can completely eliminate a need for "faith", but most "how did we get here" theories will always and forever be an "act of faith" on the part of the "believer" IMO. That's my two cents anyway. ;)
 
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