Open Letter To Singring

Singring, you and others there are arguing a philosophy of science. You apparently are not familiar with the foundations of science in basic principles of logic and rational thought: The First Principles.

For compactness, the First Principles will be stated, then their source will be outlined, and finally their foundational properties for science will be stated.

The First Principles are these:

1. The Intuitive Principles.

These principles, while not provable, are known to be valid intuitively.

a. Identity. If it is true, then it is true; if it exists, then it exists.

b. Non-Contradiction. If it is true, then it cannot be false; if it exists, it cannot NOT exist.

c. Excluded Middle. A (singular, unity) concept cannot be somewhat true and somewhat false; a (singular, unity) thing cannot somewhat exist and somewhat not exist.

d. Cause and effect. Every effect has a cause that is both necessary and sufficient, as well as prior to and greater than the effect.

e. Cogito (Descartes). Because I doubt my own doubt, it is true that I think; because I think (truth), I must exist (fact)[While the premises behind the Cogito might be discredited, the Cogito, as a First Principle is hard to deny without denying one's own existence].

2. The Probabilistic Principles.
These Principles seem to encompass both truth and existence.

a. The Immutability of math throughout the universe.

b. The Immutability of physical law throughout the universe.

c. The mutability of all levels of verifiability (Godel's laws).

3. The Presuppositional Principles.
These principles are declared either as empirical constraints, or as part of a worldview.

a. No form of reality exists that cannot be either observed and measured directly or by the use of instrumentation.

b. No Singularities (temporary violations) exist in the physical laws of the universe.

4. The Principle of Rational Thought; Skepticism; and Rational Deniability
These two principles demonstrate the philosophical tension between the Rational Empiricists and the Anti-Rationalists.

a. No premise should be accepted without evidence.
( This is the Principle of Rational Thought, and the basis for “skepticism”: Hume, Russell, Ayer)

b. Existence of evidence via intuition is denied.
(This is the basis for Anti-Rationalism: Nietzsche)(Notice that deniability is declared true as a rational premise, which premise requires the intuition of its truth; so intuition is denied via the use of intuition, which is a paradoxical process to Rationalists – but not to Anti-Rationalists who deny that paradox exists).

5. The Principles of Evidence
Evidence is demanded by Rationalists and Skeptics. Anti-Rationalists deny all basis for evidence, except (paradoxically) Darwinism; Anti-Rationalists also deny paradox, having denied the First Principles due to their intuitive basis. So the following principles are Rational principles only, and are not necessarily accepted by the Anti-Rationalists.

a. All evidence ultimately devolves to the First Principles and is therefore intuitively based.

b. “Universals” can be assumed valid without proof. These include Mathematics, Logic, and Language (a syllogistic form of logic deriving from the First Principle of Cause and Effect). (Notice that this is an intuited principle).

c. Empirical evidence:

1. Physical; Sensate only: Therefore, measurable.

2. Local (inductive)

3. Repeatable (deductive)

4. Universality cannot be proven so must be assumed (intuited, based upon probability, which can be increased by numerous replications of tests)

5. Validity is probabilistic only (intuited, based upon statistical probability, which can be increased by numerous replications of tests)

6. Assumes the validity of the Presuppositional Principles, # 3 above.

7. Valid Empirical evidence can be falsified, but has not been. (Popper).

Source of the First Principles
Observation of the operation and charateristics of the universe has been observed for millenia, and these principles seem to be consistent. However they are not obtainable through the means of experimental empiricism. For example it cannot be proven conclusively that mathematical principles are consistent across the universe, but it can intuited that the universe would be different than it is were they not consistent. Intuitions such as this are the basis for understanding and accepting the First Principles.

The Philosophy of Empirical Science
The philosophy of empirical, experimental science presupposes the First Principles; they are unspoken axioms. If any of the First Principles is found to fail for some reason, that failure reflects on scientific knowledge, because the value of that knowledge is dependent upon the truth of those principles. The obverse is not the case: failure of any scientific concept has no affect upon the First Principles. The First Principles are not subject to empirical study or validation.

The First Principles are axiomatic precursors to logic, rationality, mathematics and empirical science. These principles are as close to Truth as fallible humans can get. Science on the other hand produces contingent hypotheses which are subject to falsification as future experimental results might produce. Science does not ever produce truth, it produces contingent factoids, based on material inputs only.

Science, therefore cannot produce evidence that satisfies the stipulations of Philophical Materialism, which is a necessary adjunct of Atheism.