Testing Philosophy

[Bronzeage]

The early philosophers who tried to figure out how the universe was constructed using nothing but earth, wind, water, and fire,

...were not in substantive disagreement with modern physicists, who recognise and use the terms solid, gas, liquid, and plasma, for the exact same observable phenomena.

The early philosophers were unaware of the Bose-Einstein condensate state of matter, but I don't think we can really hold that against them - most modern observers of reality are also unaware of that material state.

Which illustrates the truism, when circumstances don't make sense, the problem is a lack of information.

 

[BH]

I can imagine back in ancient times and objection to the world being round was that water poured on a ball falls off. The world could not be a ball because the water would all fall off. This is before gravity was discovered of course. A counterargument could be that there are lakes found in mountains and the reason the water doesn't fall off the earth is because the gods place a huge mountain range all around the earth to keep the water falling off. This mountain range was just outside the reach of the sailing ships or overland traveling abilities of the day.

 

[pood]

People have known the earth was round since about 500 B.C. Probably earlier.

 

[bilby]

"The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow of the Earth on the Moon and I have more faith in the shadow than in the Church" - Robert Green Ingersol, (who, in 1873, attributes the quote to Ferdinand Magellan, though this attribution has never been confirmed)

Not only has the Earth been known to be round for a VERY long time, but the evidence can be directly seen by anyone who cares to look, once or twice a year.

 

[steve_bank]

Science was once called natural philosophy, and Einstein was steeped in philosophy. So is all of science. Many scientists just don’t know it.

Evading the question.

How would you design a test to determine if free will is true or false such that test could be repeated and the results not subject to interpretation?

You can argue that silence is philosophy, but that does not answer the basic question.

Someone on the forum in the past said philosophy owns science, I am a philosopher, therefore he is a scientist. I suggested he get himself a white lab cat and a pocket protector.

How would you test if determinism is true or false? A moral philosophy?