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**bgsavings** · 06-02-2010, 02:18 AM

rather they label such things as superstitious/meaningless because they are not measurable.

No, they label them as such because they are such. You're saying there is a subtle wisdom in dancing and drumming for rain and good crops, and that somehow the science of meteorology and agriculture has something to learn from the dancing drummers. I think not.

one can understand the purpose they served in a specific place & time.

Of course. That doesn't change a superstition into something else, however.

A significant portion of it grew out of the industrial revolution.

The Scientific Revolution happened two centuries earlier, and is the source of the scientific method beginning to replace myth and speculative metaphysics. The rest of your conclusions in this section do not follow, as they are based on this false premise.

Scientific concepts are still concepts. They are only more enlightened in so far as they lead to happiness and remove suffering.

Knowledge is not the same as wisdom. Science pursues knowledge, not wisdom. You are criticizing a hammer for being a really bad set of pliers.

Eventually, science will pass and people will look at our times and think, what strange customs they did out of their obsession with science!

Speculation, and spurious at that. Science isn't a belief structure, it's a process for eliminating subjectivity from human observations of the natural world. It is not a belief, any more than the fact I have an endocrine system is a belief. It is merely a fact, one that I can be aware of, or ignorant of.

Science seeks to maximize the availability and awareness of facts, and to discard ideas and practices which are not in accord with them. Hyper-skepticism of the scientific method is not warranted.

06-02-2010, 02:18 AM	#16
bgsavings Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 410 Senior Member	rather they label such things as superstitious/meaningless because they are not measurable. No, they label them as such because they are such. You're saying there is a subtle wisdom in dancing and drumming for rain and good crops, and that somehow the science of meteorology and agriculture has something to learn from the dancing drummers. I think not. one can understand the purpose they served in a specific place & time. Of course. That doesn't change a superstition into something else, however. A significant portion of it grew out of the industrial revolution. The Scientific Revolution happened two centuries earlier, and is the source of the scientific method beginning to replace myth and speculative metaphysics. The rest of your conclusions in this section do not follow, as they are based on this false premise. Scientific concepts are still concepts. They are only more enlightened in so far as they lead to happiness and remove suffering. Knowledge is not the same as wisdom. Science pursues knowledge, not wisdom. You are criticizing a hammer for being a really bad set of pliers. Eventually, science will pass and people will look at our times and think, what strange customs they did out of their obsession with science! Speculation, and spurious at that. Science isn't a belief structure, it's a process for eliminating subjectivity from human observations of the natural world. It is not a belief, any more than the fact I have an endocrine system is a belief. It is merely a fact, one that I can be aware of, or ignorant of. Science seeks to maximize the availability and awareness of facts, and to discard ideas and practices which are not in accord with them. Hyper-skepticism of the scientific method is not warranted.
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