On 21 May 2017 00:32, "John Clark" <johnkcl...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, May 20, 2017 David Nyman <david.ny...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > physics itself, whether considered in terms of its observable component or > the abstract theory invoked in explanation of those observables, need make > no theoretical reference to truth. > In physics a theory is never proven true, the best we can do is say it hasn't been proven false because at least so far physical observation is the same as the prediction made by the theory within certain specified tolerances. You can prove a scientific theory is false, however you can never prove one is true, but at least the currency in valuing a theory is grounded in physical reality. In contrast when we say a pure mathematical statement is true we mean it can be derived from a set of axioms picked by human beings. Euclid built his geometry on 5 axioms, he picked the 5 he did because of a physical fact, the spacetime that Euclid lived in was flat, or almost flat, if it were curved his fifth axiom would have been different. My point is that physics leads and mathematics follows. > > > Truth in this sense is an epistemological concept; i.e. it is in the > domain of a theory of knowledge, not ontology. > If you take intelligent beings out of the mix then theories are neither true nor false because there are no theories. > > > So of course in terms of correspondence with the facts, which is the > criterion of truth in this sense, the relevant "facts" will be grounded in > physical observables. > I agree. > > > But that correspondence can hardly be seen as another physical observable > over and above the facts to which it refers. > If we're talking e pistemology a mere observation is not knowledge, it's just data. A mirror jiggling at a specific time at the LIGO observatory is mere data, but a gravitational wave from 2 merging Black Holes as predicted by Einstein arriving at LIGO at that specific time is knowledge, perhaps even wisdom. Nice :) David John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
