Blade_Runner wrote:
Apparently science did nothing to help you with reading comprehension. I don't think anyone would accuse me of subjecting you to my religious viewpoint by simply asking some questions.
How do you know a growth inside a woman is insentient? Can you prove that? How do you know that the existence of a soul is unprovable? Just because science has not yet provided empirical evidence one way or the other, who's to say one day it won't?
It is not possible that science alone has taught us everything we know. Aesthetic experience, subjective experience, cathartic experience, observation, cognition, the school of hard knocks, trial and error are some of the paths to knowledge in which scientific methods do not apply.
Science cannot explain why ice is slick, but you can experience how slick it is. When you ride a bicycle, it stays upright, but science cannot explain why. You can see through a glass window, but science cannot explain why. Newtons laws of gravity did not teach us to walk or avoid jumping off of cliffs. Science cannot explain where an idea comes from, or dreams, or an epiphany, or the nature of consciousness and self-awareness.
The truth is that very little of the decisions we make, the choices we make or the actions we take are based on the application of scientific laws. Logic and reason apply to very few of our decisions or actions.
Apparently science did nothing to help you with re... (
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OK, I'll type slower. S C I E N C E means knowledge. That is the meaning of the word.
Science etymology definition
Etymology 1. From Middle English science, scyence, borrowed from Old French science, escience, from Latin scientia (“knowledge”), from sciens, the present participle stem of scire (“to know”).
OK? You cannot KNOW a truth without knowledge.
Then next, I do not accuse you of anything. I have assumed from the posture of your argument that you oppose a woman's choice to abort an unwanted pregnancy. If I am incorrect, I apologize. If I am correct, then what I said still stands. Further, from your argument, the religious basis of your view cannot be separated from the points you make. Therefore, it follows that the overriding consideration in your view hinges on your religious outlook. So, it is evident that you are applying your religious standards to a nonsubscriber's life choices.
I have to assume it is not science you lack confidence in but in the ability to apply the scientific method to things you see as unproven or disadvantageous to your argument.
The scientific method can be applied to all instances of enquirey. Sometimes, there is insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion but the logic still applies. The scientific method only applies to inquirey. You may certainly experience a thing without applying the scientific method but if you choose to learn why your experience happened as it did, the scientific principle is the only approach that can lead to understanding.
I've already addressed the insentience issue so I'll say simply, without a functioning central nervous system, sentience, in the human sense is not possible.
As for your "science can't", you are incorrect in almost all of the examples you raise. I'll just address one of the physical instances. Ice is slick because it is water and a micro thin film of water appears as a result of the friction and pressure placed on the ice by things moving over it.
Finally, science knows what separates self awareness from consciousness and so does every person who has undergone surgery using a new class of anesthetic derived from the valium group of drugs... even if they don't realize they know it. The drugs shut off short term memory and while the patient remains 100% conscious, he has no awareness of himself or of what is happening to him.
Self awareness is a trick of short term memory. I can speak positively of the experience because I have applied scientific principles to researching how it occurs, how the anesthetic works and why doctors refer to the effect as short term amnesia. I experienced the effect first hand and was astounded to discover I could dress myself for going out in the winter as carry on a conversation with a nurse while having absolutely no awareness of myself, dressing or conversing with the nurse until the instant Self awareness returned, in the middle of the afore mentioned situation.