In the philosophy of science, empiricism is the principle emphasizing that conclusions should be drawn based upon experimental evidence. Empiricism depends quite a bit upon knowledge gained from sensory experience (Psillos and Curd 129-138). It is also known as sense experience and gives primary importance to evidence gathered with the help of the “senses” and which is obtained by observation or as a result of experiments conducted (Pickett 585). It is a crucial component of the scientific method that demands all hypotheses and theories to be tested with corresponding observations in the natural world, instead of relying solely on intuition, reasoning or revelation.
If the scientific community at large agrees on a certain principle, statement or theory as being scientifically accurate, a general agreement on the matter is implied. This broad-based implied agreement is called scientific consensus. It is generally achieved by the availability of a tremendous amount of empirical evidence supporting the theory in question, extensive reasoning and discussions at conferences, repeatability of results by different scientists, the process of peer review and the lack of proof against the idea or theory. Falsifiability is another vital part of the scientific method. It represents the prospect that a statement, hypothesis or a theory in the scientific context can be proven to be false, if there is evidence available that is contrary to the claims made by them. Falsifiability is particularly important because it provides the option to falsify existing theories as new evidence turns up through improved means of observation as technology advances, thus allowing science to be an efficient self-correcting mechanism in the ultimate progress towards truth.
Young-earth creationism is a good example of a controversial claim that does not have strong empirical evidence to support it. It is the belief that the earth was created by a creator or a God and is no more than ten thousand years old. There is a vast amount of biological, geological and astronomical evidence that refutes this claim. Another important reason why the hypothesis of Young-earth creationism does not follow the philosophy of science is that it is not falsifiable. Young-earth creationism is built on the Omphalos hypothesis which states that God created the world no later than ten thousand years ago, but replete with signs and evidence of its age being much greater (Gosse). The problem with this hypothesis is that no matter how much concrete evidence is gathered to show that the age of the earth is exponentially greater than a few thousand years, it is not falsifiable. A hypothesis or theory that is neither backed by a large amount of empirical evidence nor falsifiable is pseudoscientific and unhelpful in the path towards seeking the truth.
Works Cited
Gosse, Philip Henry. Omphalos: An Attempt To Untie The Geological Knot. With Fifty-Six Illustrations On Wood. London: N.p., 1857. Print.
Pickett, Joseph P. The American Heritage Dictionary Of The English Language. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. Print.
Psillos, Stathis and Martin Curd. The Routledge Companion To Philosophy Of Science. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
