>
> Even the positivist Carl Hempel says that the branches of scientific
> inquiry "may be divided into two major groups: the empirical and
> non-empirical sciences. The former seek to explore, to describe, to
> explain, and to predict the occurrences in the world we live in. their
> statements, therefore, must be checked against the facts of our experience,
> and they are acceptable only if they are properly supported by empirical
> evidence. Such evidence is objtain in many different ways: by
> experimentation, by systematic observation, by interviews or surveys, by
> psychological or clinical testing, by careful examination of documents,
> inscriptions, coins, archaeological relics, and so forth. This dependence
> on empirical evidence distinguishes the empirical sciences from the
> nonempirical sciences of logic and pure mathematics, whose propositions are
> proved without essential reference to empirical findings."
>
-- http://www.brainmortgage.com/
Among medieval and modern philosophers, anxious to establish the religious significance of God, an unfortunate habit has prevailed of paying to Him metaphysical compliments.
- Alfred North Whitehead