originally posted in:Secular Sevens
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Personally, I find the idea of simultaneous support for both religion and science wholly incompatible. Here's my thought process:
- Scientists support the [url=http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/overview_scientific_method2.gif]scientific method[/url].
- Faith-based religion conflicts with the scientific method, as religion skips/ignores steps in the scientific method.
- One cannot support the scientific method while simultaneously supporting faith-based religion.
One cannot truly support both science and religion; you're compromising your support in one or the other.
Thoughts? Explain your position.
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This discussing, particularly between Harlow and Max, raises an important philosophical point: can one simultaneously belief in two different epistemic methods? I would say 'no', for the reason that they may conflict. Harlow admits that in the case of science/empiricism conflicting with faith, then the former wins. If this is the case, however, how can any belief which is based solely on faith be rightfully considered 'knowledge'? We have no idea if this belief will be confirmed or denied by science, and since the possibility remains that it will be denied by science, we cannot be certain of any belief which we arrived at by faith. Such a belief would have the same epistemic status as any other evidence-less belief supported only by faith.