Science:

The tool of the philosophy of rationalism is called science.

Science is any system of knowledge that is concerned with the physical world and its phenomena and entails unbiased observations and/or systematic experimentation. In general, a science involves a pursuit of knowledge covering general truths or the operations of fundamental laws of nature.

Science is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge, but it provides something that other philosophies often fail to provide, concrete results. Science is a ``candle in the dark'' to illuminate irrational beliefs or superstitions.

Scientific Method:

Of course, the main occupation of a scientist is problem solving with the goal of understanding the Universe. To achieve this goal, a scientist applies the scientific method. The scientific method is the rigorous standard of procedure and discussion that sets reason over irrational belief. The process has four steps:

observation/experimentation
deduction
hypothesis
falsification Note the special emphasis on falsification, not verification. A powerful hypothesis is one that is actually highly vulnerable to falsification and that can be tested in many ways.

The keystone to science is proof or evidence/data, which is not to be confused with certainty. Except in pure mathematics, nothing is known for certain (although much is certainly false). Central to the scientific method is a system of logic.

Principle of Falsification:

Being unrestricted, scientific theories cannot be verified by any possible accumulation of observational evidence. The formation of hypothesis is a creative process of the imagination and is not a passive reaction to observed regularities. A scientific test consists in a persevering search for negative, falsifying instances. If a hypothesis survives continuing and serious attempts to falsify it, then it has ``proved its mettle'' and can be provisionally accepted, but it can never be established conclusively.

Later corroboration generates a series of hypothesis into a scientific theory.

Thus, the core element of a scientific hypothesis is that it must be capable of being proven false. For example, the hypothesis that ``atoms move because they are pushed by small, invisible, immaterial demons'' is pseudo-science since the existence of the demons cannot be proven false (i.e. cannot be tested at all).

John, have a look at this site and tell me what kind of "knowledge" scientology is based on.

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/superstition.html Science and other kinds of knowledge
a) Religious Knowledge
b) Artistic/Mystic Knowledge
c) Scientific Knowledge I would like to discuss further scientific teachings of Hubbard with you. Do you have any that you feel particularly strongly about?

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