virus: Re: Faith and truth in science

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Wed, 10 Feb 1999 01:48:28 -0800

TheHermit wrote:

>There is nothing fundamentally wrong from postulating that the universe is
a
>strange, unknown and unknowable environment except in our immediate
>vicinity. We can then analyse the environment in our immediate vicinity and
>develop a rational system to describe our immediate environment. We can
then
>make the inductive step that all of the universe works the same way as our
>localised model. As and when we discover phenomena which confute our
>hypothesis, we simply modify our model of the localised universe to bring
it
>into alignment with this new information. As anyone with a smattering of
>exposure to science will recognise, this is the very basis of the
scientific
>method. As anyone with a slight exposure to the philosophy of science will
>recognise, this is the basis of the philosophy of science. As anyone with
>common sense will recognise, this does not take "faith".

What is the difference between an "inductive step" and a "leap of faith"? The style of the gait or the length of the stride?

-Prof. Tim