SCIENCE IS NOT OBJECTIVE
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The debate resolution is "Science is not objective."
This debate will follow the 3 rules of Civil Debate. - https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/376
Civil Debate - Rule One: You cannot redefine truth.
Civil Debate - Rule Two: Do not disqualify your opponent.
Civil Debate - Rule Three: Only your opponent can award points.
Each participant will award and/or deduct up to 6 points to their opponent per round with the stipulation that points can never go below zero. The judge will award "arguments" (3 points) to the participant with the highest points tally at the end of the debate. In the event of a tie, no vote will be registered by the judge.
First round will be PRO's opening argument and definitions and CON's opportunity to challenge definitions and present counter-arguments.
Second round will be PRO optionally awarding points to CON for round one and modifying arguments to address concerns identified by CON and CON optionally awarding points to PRO for their response and modifying arguments to address PRO's points.
Third round will be the same as the second round with the addition of closing arguments.
Fourth round will be for points assignment/deduction and tally only.
If points are awarded or deducted (including a note for "no points"), CON will note points in the same round and PRO will note points at the beginning of the round following the arguments/comments that are being judged.
However, I would argue that the nature of science itself transcends our mere thought.
For example, 1,000 years ago, we lacked enough effort in science to truly know whether the earth had Sun rotating around it or not. So in terms of our scientific thought, we believed that earth was in the center. However, the scientific truth was that Earth rotated around the Sun rather than the other way around. Our personal interpretation of science differs in stark contrast to the true ideals of what science precisely is.
Let me give you an example. Say we had a perfectly balanced coin on both sides with no bias towards either. We conduct a scientific experiment and postulate that it will resemble very close to 50% chance because that is how we designed the coin. If our result was close, with thousands of trials conducted and no outside forces enacted, it's clear to see that the perfectly balanced coin was designed extremely well. Now let's say we had very very bad luck, and it somehow landed 100 heads in a row.
This is a miracle. It's near impossible.
But as scientists analyze the result, they realize that 100 heads in a row is just as likely as exactly 50 heads and 50 tails, or the perfect 50% result.
They would continue doing more testing and see if anything has biased the result (perhaps some kind of magnetic field, gravitational force, etc.). The human interpretation is just merely the explanation for why the events happened the way they did.
The science of how balanced the coin is, is objective, because the coin has a certain level which it can be balanced at.
Even a baby could flip the coin over and perhaps recognize heads and tails if they were designed to attract attention from a baby. Even animals with lesser intelligence may be able to recognize this idea.
And there needs not to be recognition for something to occur either.
If we are not actually there to observe the coin fall to the ground, it will still fall to the ground, and it will still either be heads or tails, even if scientists say they changed their mind and maybe the coin was vaporized by some completely unexplainable event.
If Science was subjective, then the coin's results would only depend on what scientists interpret and it wouldn't matter if it actually landed heads or tails.
The purpose of science is to get rid of personal bias and false interpretations of events that occur.
If I take exactly one step, that is scientifically one step, scientists cannot call it 1,000 steps or 0 steps and declare it the truth.
No one will agree with the scientists. The result must be able to be produced time and time again.
As such, it is clear from events that actually occur, that science is objective rather than subjective.
I will stand by my original idea and extrapolate a scenario that can prove science is objective, not based on mere thought.
He had brought up to attention that even the most trusted studies are backed by only humans. I will note that he failed to refute that even other animals can understand a coin's heads and tails.
I will extend this further. It has been known with the Chinese Room Thought Experiment (CRTE) that Machines are merely processing tasks, not truly understanding anything. Let me explain.
In the CRTE, a man who does not know Chinese merely follows instructions to output a result matching an input. But he is not truly thinking at all. He does not understand Chinese. Even if the experiment was to scientifically "prove" if he actually knew Chinese or not, on the surface, we could not tell the difference of a native Chinese speaker and his actual self.
However, the lack of information here does not mean science is subjective.
It just means our findings were insufficient. If we were to truly investigate the background of this man, we would find that he is, in fact, not Chinese. And when this man's own "scientific rigor" is put to the test, we find that he does not know Science either: he is just matching input to output.
As an extension, a machine, which merely outputs words and letters, can nevertheless verify the truth of things.
For example, Wolframalpha and various calculators can tell us the formula for gravity, through countless experiments and extrapolating data based on neural network. It is difficult to say for sure if this is "thought", as machines cannot match our creativity and have not passed for human during the turing test. As such, the machine is less likely to emulate actual "thought" and far closer to cold heart metal Truth. While our scientific results seem to be our passed down facts and opinions, other stronger sources can verify the objectivity of science.
Let me repeat that, if science was truly subjective, then merely our thoughts would change the truth.
But our thoughts have only changed our thoughts.
What we have discovered, truly happened, regardless of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
In fact, if science was based on mere opinion, then I could hand wave away Con's entire argument.
I could say, you think science is based on everyone's opinion? That, whatever everyone thinks science is, becomes science? Then I could easily say "con's argument is not science", and invalidate his argument.
I could even say "Einstein's theory makes no sense and is garbage", throwing it away.
Finally, PRO has failed to tackle the ideals of science to get to the truth of the matter and reduce personal feelings and thoughts.
The only way he can win is to prove that even the most perfect machines, brainless and merely analyzing patterns, cannot emulate science. Because if something can prove science without using a real "brain", then science is objective.
I'm flattered by your attention.
Yeah I think I'm gonna pass on this one. Sorry for all the questions.
I'm gonna think about it for a day or two and if no one else accepts it, I probably will
And furthermore, I guarantee I will give you at least 1 point for participation.
So, if I fail to present an argument that you personally consider convincing, all you have to do to "win" the debate is to NOT grant me any points.
You really can't lose.
This is not some sort of trick.
I'm willing to openly negotiate based any definition you personally prefer.
That's why simply saying "science" isn't objective is just a bit too broad
The scientific method is a construction by people. But the findings of that method aren't dependent on the personal feelings of the people employing the method.
Feel free to propose your own personally preferred definition of "the methodologies of science".
Well, the scientific enterprise and the findings of science are pretty fundamentally different in the context of this topic. I would be willing to accept a debate titled "the findings of science are not objective." But the methodologies necessitate humans to enact them to arrive at objective conclusions.
Feel free to propose your own personally preferred definition of "science".
The broadness comes from the definition of the word science meaning different things here not from the word objective
Feel free to propose your own personally preferred definition of "objective".
So the resolution could be restated as: Science is dependent on the mind for existence/Science is not influenced by persona; feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts?
Yeah, too broad, think I'll pass.
Also, the way you want people to vote, yeah I'm not for that, no offence but I don't trust you to be objective about that...
See what I did there?
(1) Proposed definition: "science"
(s.1) "Science is systematic knowledge acquired by the application of logic to observation."[2]
Please let me know if you provisionally agree to allow common google.com definitions of words contained within these definitions.
(2) Proposed definition: "objective"
Objective: (o.1) (of a person or their judgment) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. (AND/OR) not dependent on the mind for existence; actual.[3]
(o.1a) antonyms: biased, partial, prejudiced[3]
(o.1b) antonyms: subjective[3]
For contrast, I would like to present a common definition of "subjective":
(IFF) (sj.1) Subjective: based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. (AND/OR) dependent on the mind or on an individual's perception for its existence.[8]
(sj.1a) antonyms: objective[8]
And (IFF) "subjective" is an antonym of "objective" (THEN) "objective" can not be "based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. (AND/OR) dependent on the mind or on an individual's perception for its existence."[8]
Hmm, I don't see a definition of objective here....
Mmm, seems a little too broad
Both.
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I'm interested but are you saying that the scientific enterprise doesn't exist without humans , or that the findings of science aren't objective?