Science Forums 2

[HydrogenBond]

The empirical mentality often leads to stereo typing, which is why I don't particularly like this approach to reality. If you look at any social stereo type, these are based on some loose empirical evidence, without full control of reason. One can usually show a few data points or sometimes even a trend, in members of a group, and then try to lump everyone empirically. The age of reason tried to get rid of this, but it has made a comeback thanks to some areas of science.

Empirical is like margarine, which has to claim it tastes like rational butter to get people to buy it. Butter or reason never claims to taste like margarine, since butter is the standard for taste. But if we pitch butter is not good for you, margarine is better, people will put aside common sense, and buy into empirical stereo types because they think this reflects the new butter standard.

When I look at an atheist or a religious person, common sense says there is not a on-off switch, or all or not, at work. That is an empirical margarine stereo type. Most people exist somewhere in the middle, having both features to various degrees. One can go to church on Sunday, but live the rest of the week just like an atheist in terms of reality output. One should judges a tree by the fruit it bares, which is the butter standard, not by a margarine standard of an on-off stereo type.

The on-off stereo type is what make margarine appear to taste as good as butter, since reason has a probability of 1.0 and is a sure thing, which the margarine stereo type pretends to be. One has to go back to butter every now to help one see that empirical margarine is only a substitute spread.