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Realism Vs Phenomenalism

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When considering the nature of certainty, there are several ways to approach the subject. The two main viewpoints on this issue (at least in the abstract) are scientific realism and phenomenalism. What separates the two concepts is the validity of human perception on anything. However, both ideas are not invalid with the closest approximation of an answer to the question lying somewhere in between them. Evaluating the various aspects that determine certainty will require determining the validity of the following statement: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. To begin, the concept of scientific realism states that the world exists independent of, and differently from, how humans perceive it. Instead, everything in the universe is just its atoms arranged in a certain order devoid of any subjective properties. This viewpoint allows the statement to work since new evidence can disprove a false claim and challenges the assumptions of the first question. Therefore, the only thing that can be certain in the absence of evidence is just that and nothing more since it would be scientifically unrealistic. As a result, this viewpoint sidesteps part of the question but lends insight into the other part. …show more content…

Following that thought process, everything is a series of experiences and exploring absolutes that no one can experience is pointless. In addition, phenomenalism would look at the statement and the prompt and say since no one perceives the evidence, or a false claim, certainty exists outside of perception. However, the problem with this idea is that it provides no drive to determine whether something is truly absent, a claim is true, or if the evidence is out there. Therefore, this way of thinking does not lend much insight into the prompt and avoids evaluating any assumptions built into the

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