Rober M Pirsig argues that the law of gravitation is a ghost and his logic behind this claim is almost irrefutable. He says if you think about the idea of ghost, science says it exists only in mind of those people, who believe in it. And the same goes with almost all of the scientific theory. They exist only in our mind.
But, that's where Niraj feels, Pirsig is missing something. One's thought doesn't matter to anybody or you can say doesn't matter at all, until and unless, that is reflected in any of his actions. Now you can test the following hypotheses by believing them to be true and base any of your action, which will need one's existence or other.
1. The ghost of dead people does exist.
2. The ghost of law of gravitation does exist.
Niraj knows its very hard to test first hypothesis, so for all practical purpose, only go for testing the other one. And, obviously you realise that this ghost does exist or still, this isn't a ghost at all.
Still, Pirsig is right on other occasions. Like when he says that the people who claim that they know for sure that ghosts exist and the advance physicist, who claim to understand the true nature of universe (ie. space-time curves etc) are basically same kind of people. Both of them are giving hypotheses for something that will explain what they have observed. But, their hypothesis is beyond comprehension to a normal person like Niraj, who is unable to determine the truth in either of hypotheses.
But, then some can say that space-time curve is just an extension of the basic principles we understand perfectly, then Niraj would point out that many such seemingly incomprehendable theories has originated from the same basic principles and been proved false in the due course.
To use criteria like its-obvious-and-makes-sense for deciding what is truth and what is not in a fact is blasphemy. This is because of the simple reason that if we assume that there is an absolute truth, then it will not be affected by our understanding of it. So ultimately, to Niraj an advance physicist and an uneducated villager - on some ground - stand on the same platform.
But, that's where Niraj feels, Pirsig is missing something. One's thought doesn't matter to anybody or you can say doesn't matter at all, until and unless, that is reflected in any of his actions. Now you can test the following hypotheses by believing them to be true and base any of your action, which will need one's existence or other.
1. The ghost of dead people does exist.
2. The ghost of law of gravitation does exist.
Niraj knows its very hard to test first hypothesis, so for all practical purpose, only go for testing the other one. And, obviously you realise that this ghost does exist or still, this isn't a ghost at all.
Still, Pirsig is right on other occasions. Like when he says that the people who claim that they know for sure that ghosts exist and the advance physicist, who claim to understand the true nature of universe (ie. space-time curves etc) are basically same kind of people. Both of them are giving hypotheses for something that will explain what they have observed. But, their hypothesis is beyond comprehension to a normal person like Niraj, who is unable to determine the truth in either of hypotheses.
But, then some can say that space-time curve is just an extension of the basic principles we understand perfectly, then Niraj would point out that many such seemingly incomprehendable theories has originated from the same basic principles and been proved false in the due course.
To use criteria like its-obvious-and-makes-sense for deciding what is truth and what is not in a fact is blasphemy. This is because of the simple reason that if we assume that there is an absolute truth, then it will not be affected by our understanding of it. So ultimately, to Niraj an advance physicist and an uneducated villager - on some ground - stand on the same platform.
posted by Zepster at 5:22 AM
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