[sci.physics] Scientific beliefs

KFL@MX.LCS.MIT.EDU (11/15/86)

From:  "Keith F. Lynch" <KFL@MX.LCS.MIT.EDU>

    From: rutgers!princeton!mind!harnad@Seismo.arpa (Stevan Harnad)

    > All scientific beliefs are in principle falsifiable by experiment.

    For example, I suppose, the scientific belief that all scientific
    beliefs are in principle falsifiable by experiment...

  That is not a scientific belief, but a definition.
								...Keith

harnad@mind.UUCP (Stevan Harnad) (11/19/86)

In article <247@sri-arpa.ARPA>, KFL@MX.LCS.MIT.EDU "Keith F. Lynch"
writes:
>     > "All scientific beliefs are in principle falsifiable by experiment"
>       ...is not a scientific belief, but a definition.

And what argument is there for adhering to that definition? What other
issues can be settled by proffering a definition? (This problem is at
least as old as Hume; I recommend reading Lewis Carroll on Achilles and
the Tortoise.)
-- 

Stevan Harnad                                  (609) - 921 7771
{allegra, bellcore, seismo, rutgers, packard}  !princeton!mind!harnad
harnad%mind@princeton.csnet