• Question: how do you know that this is all tru? according to philosophy you cant prove it...?

    Asked by abbieholden96 to Hitesh, Hywel, Mae, Nik, Tiffany on 14 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Nicola Ibberson

      Nicola Ibberson answered on 14 Jun 2012:

      How do we know that anything is true? Well, we weigh up all the things we know about it, and compare it to the other things that could explain it instead and we come to a decision. Basically, science is all about weighing up the available evidence and having lots of different research groups doing lots and lots of experiments using complex maths and calculations to determine the likelihood of the idea (or theory) being correct.

      Sometimes, we get bad science, and this happens when people only present the evidence that supports the idea that they want to be true, and hide away the evidence that shows their idea to be false. You have to learn as a scientist to tell the difference between ‘good science’ and ‘bad science’.

      All science could potentially be disproven, and we must always expect the unexpected as scientists and be prepared to adapt to change.

    • Photo: Hywel Owen

      Hywel Owen answered on 14 Jun 2012:

      You’re absolutely right that a set of observations about the world can have an essentially infinite number of explanations – Gottfried Leibniz and David Hume pointed this out over 200 years ago, and Karl Popper stated it more clearly in the 20th Century.

      We could *imagine* that the Universe is run by a demon who controls every atom at whim, and who also planted a load of bones on the ground to try to fool us that the dinosaurs existed: that would be consistent with everything we see and feel. Similarly, the whole Universe (and this conversation) could all be a figment of your imagination planted in your mind by an evil monkey robot! But let’s face it, neither of those situations seems very likely!

      The simpler explanation, that the Universe fits together in a sensible way, is much more likely, and science proceeds on that basis. ‘Theory’ is just a word for a model that tries to explain what’s going on in a way that lets you predict other things. If the prediction is right – if it’s backed up by observation, by experiment – then we know the model is valid. If experiment disagrees, then the theory is wrong or has to be changed.

      The scientific procedure is how we know that the world is made of atoms, that evolution is true, that homeopathy doesn’t work, that ghosts and ESP almost certainly aren’t real. All these facts fit together in a sensible way, backed up by an almost endless set of interlocking measurements and observations.

      As Nicola says, you can get led astray by cherry-picking only the experiments that agree with your preconceptions, and everyone is susceptible to that.

      The great scientist of the 20th century, Richard Feynman, puts it very well. This is worth a watch:

    • Photo: Hitesh Dave

      Hitesh Dave answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      You need to balance and think of the positive and negative aspects of the theory…and when you see more positive aspects on..you feel its true..

    • Photo: Tiffany Taylor

      Tiffany Taylor answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Like you say – technically, science can only ever disprove a prediction, not prove it. Science must always be prepared to adjust it’s views based on new evidence. That’s why it’s not biased and always has the potential to move forward.

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