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EMPIRICAL SENSES

7/28/2018

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There is a great misunderstanding about the meaning of the word “empirical”.  It is an adjective, indicating that something is “based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic”.  By observation or experience means that the knowledge is obtained through the physical senses of one’s sense organs.  We have a multiple number of sense organs not only the five which were indicated by Aristotle , sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, some animals can sense electrical or magnetic fields.  Internal sensors send signals to the brain such as itch and pain, which are not always caused by external stimuli.  Here we are concerned with those sensors that give us knowledge about the environment we live in and therefor tells us about the reality of our existence.  When we talk about a sixth sense, we usually mean an imaginary capacity to sense a realm outside the ones we observe as real.
 
Individual senses are not perfect and sometimes wrongly interpreted or impaired and therefor we cannot consider anecdotal information as real but only that which is observed or experienced in general.  Gravity is real, an empirical fact, because we can observe it and experience it, even if we don’t know what it actually is, it exists and is part of our reality.
 
What am I trying to get at? To prove that something is true and real we must demand empirical evidence to accept it. There is no other way. Philosophy and Logic can lead to a great discovery but they are only suggestions or guesses until we can confirm it by empirical means. Some of these suggestions and logical conclusions have been empirically proven and are then accepted as fact, but many are disproven or are still waiting.
 
Emperical is an adjective, it is not a verb or a noun, it cannot be false or imperfect by itself, it indicates the method by which knowledge is obtained, through the only senses by which we are connected to the reality of the environment we live in.  These senses have been cleverly extended and given us a greater capacity to observe and experience to extend our knowledge.
 
Some people, such as psychics and parapsychologist insist that some people have ESP, extra sensory perception.  Many have been researching and investigating for more than a century but none have been able to provide convincing empirical evidence that it exists.  Many claims have been made. They have been investigated by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and found wanted or debunked.  No evidence of a so-called 6th sense exists. In itself that is not proof that it doesn’t exist, perhaps it does, but until it is proven to exist one cannot use it to advance true knowledge. It is still a speculation.
 
The same is the case with religion, which frustrates many theists.  Religious philosophy and logic, often very well put together, all start with the premise that a supernatural realm exists and then take it from there. We must however insist that they first provide empirical evidence that it does. The only method we have, to arrive at the truth, is through our well known existing senses. Things like “look around you” and “ the universe is finely tuned, therefor…….” do not do it and are also easily dismissed by applying logical arguments. Other attempts to use new scientific discoveries, such as in particle physics, by misinterpreting or misunderstanding the principles behind it, have also failed so far.
 
The conclusion we must make that ESP, Parapsychology, Supernaturalism, Numerologism, Religions (all of them), Ghosts, Spirits, Souls, Goblins, Superstitions, Aliens and so on, although they could be existing, must be put on the shelf until any of them are empirically, scientifically proven to exist, before we continue to believe in them.

 
 

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PROOF OF EXISTENCE

7/9/2018

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There are so many beliefs in this world, not only religious, but also non-religious ones, such as beliefs in astrology, UFOlogy, psychic ability (ESP), NDEs, conspiracy theories, numerology, ghosts, and more, which depend on the existence of a supernatural realm that  it  needs to be proven to exist before one can accept these beliefs as being true. We employ the following ‘methods’ to discover reality.
 
Science
Scientific, empirical (verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic), testable and observable methods, are the best means for determining what is real and what is imaginary. By using our senses and extensions thereof, using various technologies, we embark upon an ongoing, accelerating process that is self-correcting whenever new discoveries are made. As an example, we are able to observe gravity and measure its properties, and although we don’t yet fully understand it we do have definite proof of its existence.
 
There is a considerable amount of pseudo science where real science findings are distorted and misrepresented. Unwarranted conclusions are drawn or one theory is chosen out of many others so one must carefully check the sources to see if they are reliable and generally accepted by most of the academia as “proof.”
 
Philosophy
Philosophical speculations and theories which could lead to experiments, and great discoveries are, in themselves, not proof of anything until scientifically verified. Many philosophical ideas have turned out to be viable but many have not and must be disregarded. Ancient philosophers have given us great insights but their lack of scientific knowledge produced unviable philosophies, in many cases, such as the geocentric model of the cosmos proposed by Aristotle and Ptolemy.
 
Faith
Faith, which is belief in speculations and suppositions created in the brains of human subjects, is not reality. Humans have evolved a strong desire (instinct), an evolutionarily useful trait, to develop rituals to influence the powerful natural forces and to predict the future through heavenly observations. Rituals, such as praying and offering among many others, attempt to counter the fear of death and to promote wishful thinking. They are founded in emotions rather than knowledge.
 
Illusions
Illusions are distortions of the senses. There are many forms of illusions. There are optical and auditory illusions which sometimes are taken to be real and used as “proof” of the supernatural.
 
Delusions
Delusions are held with strong convictions even when superior evidence to the contrary is presented, Cognitive dissonance also plays a role here. Dreams, hallucinations (which can be natural or drug induced), spiritual experiences, mass-hypnoses, mass- hysteria and other delusions are perceived as “reality” but they are not proof of the existence of the supernatural.

In conclusion, the scientific method is the only method available to tease out reality. Before we accept any speculation requiring a supernatural explanation, we should first find scientific proof through the scientific method that this speculated phenomena exists. Otherwise, although philosophy is a useful endeavor that can lead to scientific discovery, we waste our time on Faith, Illusions and Delusions. We have no substitute for the scientific method.

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