Abstraction Imperils Empiricism

Abstractions Turned Obfuscations > Emphasis > Don't Let the Simulation's Beauty Convince You It's Real
We live in a world of abstractions built on abstractions. These simulations take us further from reality and make empirical verification increasingly difficult.

 The World as a Black Box

The World is a Black Box > Example/Illustration > A Chess Metaphor for Understanding Physics Through Science
Two metaphors for the scientific method and the human condition for understanding reality.

 Scientists Have Faith

Scientists have Faith > Similarity > Science Faith
That the world can be understood rationally.

 Einstein's Biggest Blunder

Einstein's Cosmological Constant > Similarity > Einstein's "Biggest Blunder"
Two tellings of the story of the cosmological constant.

 Critical Theory is an Art, Not a Science

Summary of Postmodernism > Concession > The Problem with the Term "Music Theory"
Critical Theory and Postmodernism frame themselves as science with absolutist position that there are no absolutes and all knowledge is subject to relativity. Robert Greenberg's explanation of why "Music Theory" is not theory, but art, serves as an excellent retort to the postmodernist intellectual snobbery.

 Using Philosophy to Know the World Doesn't Work

Science Virtue and its Impact on History > Emphasis > Lear on Why there only seven planets.
The philosopher Hegel thought he proved through philosophy that there were only seven planets, Shakespeare's King Lear things the same, and thus would make a very good fool.