We can only explain something using a scientific theroy that we already know. Science is what we (already) know. How about occurences that no one is (yet) educated enough to explain scientifically? My point is that out of all the things and phenomena in this universe, science can only explain to a certain extent. For example, it cannot scientifically explain life after death, astrological predictions or horoscopes, vodoo & occult, spirits & ghosts and the like. Just because we are not educated to explain it by a theory that scientists already know, are we justified in rejecting such theories or occurrences? What about things that cannot be explained by science, but that do really exist? Such unexplained things/para-normal activity in the world/universe remind us we have a lot more to learn, right?
2006-10-19 12:38:29 · 5 answers · asked by Calculus 5 in Social Science ➔ Other - Social Science
You are asking a question I like. The theroetical capacity of science is to understand how the measurable world works, the world that appears to our five senses. The first point you make is that there are aspects of that world that science does not yet understand. Science may have hypotheses about these thhings but it doesn't really know. Animals, for example, knew the tsunami was coming and got out of its way. How? Same with earthquakes. Birds fly away before quakes. How do they know?The answer is in principle knowable to science, but science doesn't know yet.
Science is particularly weak with non-replicable phenomena -- things it can't bring into "laboratory conditions" and "test" because there is no way to measure or predict when they will occur. Things like telekinesis, the Near-Death Experience, and spontaneous past-life recall in deja-vu situations. You can't make them happen, you can't experiment with them, so science can't grasp them. But thousands, if not millions, of people have experienced them. Or for a personal example, sometimes I see a light around a person (like a halo). What is it, why does it only appear sometimes to my mind, and why only around som people when others are in the same environment? Not a science question, but my spirituality offers an language for such things.
And then there are the phenomena you mention which do not belong to the measurable universe. You can go into the Vedas about astrology and about the beings from the non-material realm whom we call ghosts and about whom we are betweeen lives here on earth and about the true nature of reality. And you can go on your own inner journey through meditation, etc. Science can measure what happens in our brain waves when we meditate, and psychology can describe and provide a language for the inner feelings that may arise, but that it all. These disciplines do not have the tools for exploring a realm of mind that is not measurable, predictable, or observable from the outside, but can be felt, experienced, and intuitively known from within.
2006-10-20 19:23:34 · answer #1 · answered by MBK 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
A healthy skepticism is a good thing. I was about to buy your ideas until you got to astrology, horospoces, vodoo, occult and spirits and paranormal.
I am not a fan of science at all. But on the other hand I am not going to lend legitimacy to superstition and down right fraud.
Why believe a phenomena just because. Give me some reason to believe. So far the gurus, wizards, shamans, and charlatans can't do that.
All of the things you mentioned exist alright enough. They exist in the minds of gullible people.
2006-10-19 20:06:30 · answer #2 · answered by barrettins 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Whether it's true or not, many people believe in God. Many people have blind faith.
We do have a lot more to learn. Paranorman activity in the universe and mind threatens the views of the believers in the Lord and therefore would not be accepted, even if more people thought it a priority to study and learn about.
I am a Unitarian Universalist, so I do not agree or disagree, but I respect your thoughts as well as those opposed to you.
2006-10-19 19:45:58 · answer #3 · answered by pandora the cat 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This isn't a matter of correct or incorrect. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe. Some people choose to believe only what they themselves can see, while others choose their beliefs on faith. Most people I have met choose to keep an open mind because they (and I) believe that we can't know everything.
2006-10-19 19:47:53 · answer #4 · answered by Krash 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
NO...JUST BECAUSE IT CANT BE EXPLAINED DOESNT MAKE IT ANY LESS REAL.
2006-10-19 19:47:17 · answer #5 · answered by bigmommy240 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋