Originally Posted by
Joshua Jarboe
I don't think that's true.
Critical thinking is good.
But critical thinking with no basis in reality, no evidence...doesn't seem very critical at all does it?
SKEPTICISM requires no basis in reality. If you simply don't have a position but you're not willing to adopt one because no one has made their case, that's reasonable.
Example: I'm a skeptic when it comes to Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW). I've heard the arguments, I've seen the models, I've seen the measurements. I don't buy it. Am I ready to provide a detailed computer model for my own theories? Not even close. I just don't believe in CAGW and am willing to be convinced.
I'm also a skeptic when it comes to chemtrails. If you wanted to poison people, why wouldn't you use systems we all get our drinking water from instead of defusing it through the air of an entire effing country? Whoever is running the NWO is probably totes retarded if he's doing that mang.
In propositional logic, the burden of proof is on whomever is making the proposition. The burden of proof is shifted when sufficient proof has been given that a rebuttal begins to need to be made. And at that point, the counterargument is still another proposition (in case that helps).
Throwing out some interesting stuff as a student of logic, I haven't read this whole thread (and hope to avoid it).
What you describe is empiricism, rationalism is philosophical in nature and believes that truth can be obtained without physical evidence.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalism
Aaron, you can't have it both ways, man. As a fellow scientist, I can assure you that I do understand. I just believe your thought process to be flawed. If you must distribute a chemical evenly for it to be uniform in the atmosphere, then you're bound to have different concentrations at different spots in the atmosphere, regardless of the atmospheric mixing.
As for the critical thinking line, I just like to use different word phrases to describe things.
Emotional? Hardly. Sarcastic? Totally.
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