>
>Justin wrote:
>
> > Because it would have to be be a miracle if the scientific theories we
>use
> > that work, and cohere so nicely, weren't even approximately true. Note
>that
> > this isn't a justification of a method like induction, except insofar as
> > science uses the "will work in the future" assumption. I'm talking ahout
>the
> > truth of the theories, not the jsutification of a method. The
>approximate
> > truth of the theories is the best explanation of why they work. What's
>your
> > alternative?
>
>But you're then just using "true" to mean "work"
No I'm not. I use "true" to mean "true," as understood, for less, by Tarksi. For each sentence "p" in a scientific theory, "P" is true if and only if p.
so that, though you can
>have good reasons (this would require that 'solipsism of the present
>moment'
>not be entailed in the premises you're arguing from) for believing a theory
>is "true," these are not reasons enabling you to reasonably believe it will
>be "true" in the future.
Well, there's the usual paradox involved in falliblusm, I believe that each of my beliefs are true, and I believe that some of them aren't. But thsi is a problem for rationality, not truth.
>
>I pointed to an alternative. Treat the obviousness ("it would have to be a
>miracle" etc.) of the truth content of modern science as making the
>skeptical conclusion entailed in its scientific materialist ontological
>premises a reductio ad absurdum and then find a way of changing the
>premises
>which sublates the obvious truth while eliminating the obvious absurdity.
>
>
Personally, I don't try to refute "the skeptic," she doesn't exist. In
practice she is a ghostly inhabitant of philosophy departments full of
people trying to refute her. Since I no longer inhabit those departments, i
don't bother. As a pragmatistic, I help myself to the knowledge we accept in
practice, then try to expalin it. So, I'm not gonna discuss the skeptic any
more.
jks
_________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.