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Memorial Health offers free mammograms to uninsured and underinsured women and men in October
The Springfield Memorial Foundation covers the cost of the mammograms for eligible patients.
Costa’s coffee shops return to profit with iced drinks and matcha on the menu
Costa Limited reports operating profit of £20m in year to 31 December 2025 after losses of £13.5m in 2024
Some Democrats, Scarred by 2024, Take a Harder Line on Trans Athletes
Democrats competing in historically conservative territory in the midterms are more aggressively responding to Republican attacks casting them as extreme.
Quaint Florida waterfront downtown has grown with endless activities
This town is full of history, memories, small businesses and family fun, making it the perfect place to take visitors any time of year.
Business Weekly Agenda for October 4
Events for the Greater Berks business community.
Hawai’i Small Businesses urged to complete Federal Reserve Credit Survey by Nov. 13
The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is encouraging Hawai‘i small businesses to take part in the Federal Reserve’s 2026 Small Business Credit Survey, now open through Nov. 13.
Michigan State suffers 31-3 loss at Wisconsin
MADISON, WI. (WLNS) — The Michigan State football team suffered its third straight loss in its first Big Ten road game of the season, falling 31-3 at Wisconsin Saturday. This is the first time since the 2024 season that MSU failed to score a touchdown in a game. The Spartans have scored a combined 26 […]
Health Policy Watch | COVID-19 drops out of world’s top 10 causes of death for first time since pandemic began
The virus directly killed an estimated 0.9 million people in 2023, ranking 14th, as global life expectancy climbed back to near its pre-pandemic level.
Women are turning to testosterone, but what does the science actually say?
A recent BBC report described women posing as men to obtain testosterone gel, hoping to improve their menopause symptoms because female testosterone products are not easily available to them. But why ...
Zach Bryan wears 'Free Palestine' shirt at Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium
Country music star Zach Bryan signaled his support with a 'Free Palestine' shirt at Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium, a venue that recently banned rapper Macklemore over his efforts to do the same.
Orange County restaurants shut down by health inspectors (Sept. 24-Oct. 1)
There were 15 restaurants and food establishments ordered closed by Orange County inspectors from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1.
Doctors, insurers sue Newsom over health insurance premium increases
In June, lawmakers passed a healthcare tax that could increase premiums in order to combat federal Medicaid cuts. A new lawsuit says that tax violates Proposition 35, passed by voters in 2024.
Spotify billionaire’s body scan startup has come to America
Farooq Abbasi, an investor in Neko Health, talked to Equity about the hot health tech company and what's next for it.
Former Toronto Blue Jays Farmhand Led MLB in Hits in 2026
Otto Lopez began his career in the Blue Jays organization before getting designated for assignment in 2024.
What happened to Seattle’s dinosaurs at the Pacific Science Center?
A triceratops and stegosaurus, which have waded in PacSci’s now-empty reflecting pool for 35 years, were removed this month.
New interactive tool tracks private equity investments in health care across U.S.
A new interactive tool launched on Tuesday, Sept. 8, offers policymakers, researchers, journalists and the public a state-by-state look at private equity investments in U.S. health care.
Business moves in and around downtown
The Railyard changes hands, books replace flowers, and Bus Stop moves across the street.
Top Rutgers Health officials shielded from NJ conflict of interest law
Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a law exempting top Rutgers Health officials from revealing payments earned from its affiliate, RWJ Barnabas.
Topeka cafe to be featured on Gordon Ramsey's 'Kitchen Nightmares'
Topeka's Bradley's Corner Cafe will be featured on FOX's "Kitchen Nightmares" as Gordon Ramsay visits the local spot.
In New Hampshire Senate race, the Democrat faces an unusually tough time
The race’s competitiveness is somewhat surprising in a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris carried by 2.8 percentage points in 2024.
Madison Square Garden Entertainment (NYSE:MSGE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen
Wall Street Zen raised Madison Square Garden Entertainment from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday.
HIGHLIGHTS: Wall vs. Midland Christian
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Midland Christian hosted Wall and the Mustangs handed the Hawks their first loss since December 2024. With the win, Midland Christian wrapped up non-district play with a 3-3 record, and next week they begin district play on the road against Fort Worth Christian. Watch the video above for the highlights.
Small Business Administration Update on New Rules for Small Business Size Standards - Law Offices of Snell & Wilmer
By Brett W. Johnson, Carrie Schaffer, and Hannah Wolf1 Recently, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provided notice of a proposed rule, Small Business Size Standards, that would fundamentally restructure how the federal government defines a “small business.” The rule proposes new size standards for 338 industry groups and industries.2 On that same day, the […]
Layoffs, Closures Planned at Newport Healthcare, Clarvida, Comprehensive Life Resources
A slew of youth behavioral health programs are closing, resulting in a wave of layoffs. Comprehensive Life Resources, Newport Healthcare and
Tonight’s ‘Dateline’ episode involves former Kansas doctor sentenced in 1989 rape
A case with ties to Kansas will be under the “Dateline” spotlight in Friday night’s episode on KSN.
San Bernardino County restaurants shut down by health inspectors, Sept. 24-Oct. 1
One facility was ordered to close.
Scoop: Renovus preps two pharma services companies for sale
The processes would launch in a robust deal market.
Health problems reported after Colorado cannabis vaporizer recall
Maui Wowie and Grape Gorilla vapes were recalled after a lab found methylene chloride. Now Colorado regulators are fielding health reports.
Summit County Health Department to host free drive-thru vaccine clinics
The clinics will offer flu and COVID-19 vaccines to anyone, regardless of insurance status. No appointment is necessary, and residents can stay in their vehicles while they receive their vaccines.
11 Philadelphia business owners accused of defrauding WIC program of nearly $1M
Eleven Philadelphia business owners were charged in connection with a fraud scheme involving the WIC program, according to the attorney general.
What the Protect College Sports Act would mean for Wisconsin schools and athletes
The Protect College Sports Act would reshape how college sports are governed under the NCAA in the NIL era.
White Sox Announcer John Schriffen’s Status With Team Uncertain
Schriffen has been the TV voice of the White Sox since 2024.
MultiCare Health System to launch new health plan
Tacoma, Wash.-based MultiCare Health System is set to launch its own health plan next year, the organization
Your health insurance premiums may take a big jump in 2027
Many consumers are likely on the hook for an increase of about 10% or more in 2027, experts said.
Sauer completes spice brands sale to Minnesota company
Minnesota food flavoring company The Watkins Co. has completed its acquisition of Richmond's Sauer Brands' spice and seasoning business.
Alabama Politics This Week with Dale Jackson & Mecca Musick | Special Guest Assoc Atty Gen. Stanley Woodward, Jr.
Former NFL great DeSean Jackson comes to UAlbany on Saturday
With no college coaching experience, Jackson took over a Delaware State program that went 1-11 in 2024. Jackson is 11-6 with the Hornets of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference,
Area Events & Entertainment Community Calendar
Oct. 1 - Veterans Coffee & Conversation at the Eagles Club - begins at 10 a.m. Oct. 1 - Karaoke at Hy-Da Way at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 1 - Bingo at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School Oct. 2 - Merrill’s …
Original Xbox Version of Halo: Combat Evolved Made Available to Play in a Browser
The original Xbox version of Halo: Combat Evolved has been made available to play in a web browser.
New Donor Fund Aims to Ease Costs for Harvard’s Club Sports Teams
New Donor Fund Aims to Ease Costs for Harvard’s Club Sports Teams
One Jackson area restaurant fails three health inspections in two weeks
Four Jackson area facilities including a high school and a theater failed health inspections in September 2026.
"It's Genius!" Adam Smith Amazed By AFC Bournemouth's Recruitment Model
Adam Smith has admitted he still cannot work out how Bournemouth's recruitment team repeatedly finds top young talent. The long-serving defender explains why the squad now trusts the club to replace key departures, praises Kroupi and Rayan, and reveals why the Cherries' model gives them an edge.
Person Behind Viral AI-Generated Fallout: New York Game Hauls It Offline, Says Bethesda Issued Cease and Desist
The person behind a viral AI-generated Fallout: New York game has pulled it offline after receiving a cease and desist from Bethesda.
Massive Ryan Gravenberch worry coming out, Liverpool have a problem
Liverpool have a problem here. There's a massive worry coming out with Ryan Gravenberch and it threatens to disrupt the Reds' plans.Ryan Gravenberch was on top of the world in 2024/25. The midfielder ...
The science behind Wisconsin’s changing fall colors
(WFRV) — There’s a colorful presence happening on trees all over the state of Wisconsin. Trees that were once one shade of green are now transitioning into multiple shades of yellow, or…
Baltimore Fishbowl | Are there enough women in Maryland politics?
The challenges facing women in politics in Maryland, and how they've made gains but where they've fall short, is the subject of the latest episode of the Maryland Now podcast
2026 Western & Southcentral Region Fall Meetings: A Summary of Business
FRA 2026 Western Region Fall Meeting September 16–18, 2026 | Eagle Crest Resort, Redmond, Oregon The Forest Resources Association Western Region gathered September 16–18 at Eagle Crest Resort in…
BLINK announces headline performance ahead of 2026 festival
There are 92 participating artists this year, representing 20 countries. Thirty artists hail from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
Feds probe Adam Kinzinger’s Kalshi bets on Biden pardons
Kinzinger allegedly made the trades in December 2024, betting that he would receive a pardon from then-President Joe Biden.
Opus 5.5 loves to tell you 'this matters' (and other AI writing tells)
Opus 5.5’s biggest tell is the word “dependable,” which pops up 23 times more often than in human samples.
Vikings Add Another Former Saints Running Back With Audric Estime
The 2024 fifth-round pick brings more depth to Minnesota's depleted backfield.
N.C.'s only open House race is a toss-up
Jennifer Balkcom is a former Democrat who said she first voted for a Republican in 2016. Jamie Ager is the Democratic candidate and is the CEO of a sustainable meat family farm in Fairview.
DFL Statement on Premium Hikes: Lisa Demuth's Support for Trump Health Care Cuts Should Concern Every Minnesotan
Lisa Demuth praised Trump’s health care cuts, called them“good for Minnesota,” and said she was “really grateful” for them ST. PAUL — Today, the Minnesota DFL released the following statement after the Minnesota Department of Commerce announced new health care premium increases – with an average increase of 17.4% – which come after the Trump […]
How Washington Funded the Politicization of Science
Over the last half-decade, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on projects designed to influence academic policies, both in the sciences and other disciplines. The aim was to foster a progressive conception of social justice in these fields. In pursuit of this end, the foundation earmarked nearly a million dollars for a project titled “Creating Inclusive Scientific Societies through Policies and Practices,” over a million for a project on “Faculty Online Learning Communities for Gender Equity,” and over $2 million to foster “racial equity focused departmental change.” Through a public records request, I’ve obtained the proposals and progress reports for dozens of NSF grants designed to promote social justice. Although funding for these grants was eventually halted by the Trump administration, the projects illustrate an important facet of recent higher-education policy. Many of the university policies that promised “social transformation” didn’t arise in a vacuum. They were actively encouraged by outside funders—often by the federal government itself. Subscribe Accreditation—the peer-review process which enables universities to receive federal grants and student loans—has recently become a policy battleground, with accreditors wielding significant power over both universities and academic disciplines. In 2020, when Oregon Health and Science University’s medical school issued an extensive diversity action plan—which promised “consequences” for employees who failed to support “DEI, anti-racism and social justice”—it specifically pointed to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the medical-school accrediting body, to justify the overhaul. The NSF actively promoted DEI-focused accreditation policies. The proposal for a $1.2 million program on promoting “community engagement” in STEM, which I obtained through a records request, notes that the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology was exploring changes to its criteria “that would incorporate JEDI [justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion].” The proposal promised to “support broader JEDI efforts in the general criteria for engineering.” Another grant funded a conference designed to “identify and share best practices and strategies to integrate IDEA principles in accreditation criteria”—referring to an acronym that stands for “inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.” Scholarly societies have become another flashpoint in debates over higher education. Critics argue that many of these societies, which have the power to shape entire disciplines, have become increasingly politicized. Again, through its giving, the NSF played a role in promoting this politicization. In one million-dollar grant that received funding in 2024, a group of psychologists proposed a series of social-justice reforms to the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. The proposal, which I obtained via a records request, asserts that “[r]edistributing resources (such as moving different people into leadership roles) is not enough” and that the society’s “governance structures do not yet reflect its stated values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Its solution: review and rework the society’s criteria for leadership development, academic awards, conferences, and publications. Adjusting review criteria informed by “intersectionality” designed to fight “epistemic exclusion” is an easy way to introduce de facto ideological litmus tests into the peer-review process. For many of the grants I obtained, such litmus tests seem to be the point. “Academic departments are racialized social systems that produce and sustain the byproducts of systemic racism,” a proposal for a $2.7 million project funded in 2024 asserts, promising to develop “departmentally-focused change efforts that cultivate values, assumptions, and behaviors that advance racial equity.” The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s million-dollar “I-ADVANCE” project, which effectively created a small DEI bureaucracy on campus, promised to Embed 28 ADVANCE faculty fellows in STEM departments” to amplify its equity goals. Another $1.2 million project promised to create “faculty online learning communities,” made up of scientists at universities around the country, that would eventually build department-level diversity action plans. “Ultimately,” the proposal asserts, perhaps more perceptively than its authors realized, “both organizational change and intersectionality frameworks deal with power.” Indeed, such grants confer a great deal of power to administrators and scholar-activists, who can even use the mere availability of funding as a tool to advance their causes. That history is worth remembering amid today’s debate over federal involvement in higher education: Washington has been shaping university priorities for years, including by financing efforts to instill progressive ideas about race, gender, and equity into academic institutions—and many of the policies those grants encouraged remain embedded within universities long after the federal money has stopped flowing. John D. Sailer is the director of higher education policy and a senior fellow at Manhattan Institute. Share
Renewable Energy Super PAC Targets 7 Republicans With $15 Million War Chest
Most of the Republicans, such as Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, are incumbents in districts that President Trump won comfortably in 2024.
$8 million NIH grant advances research on environmental health
Related News Severe COVID-19 infection increases heart attack and stroke risk as much as having a history of heart disease, study finds October 9, 2024 New USC research center explores […]
Good science requires much more than evidence
Empiricists believe that scientific theories are true only if they make correct empirical predictions: if we can't verify these predictions, then there is no reason to expect that they tell us anything about reality. However, Professor of Philosophy at King's College David Kyle Johnson argues that this is mistaken. In response to Bas van Fraassen, who has written on this subject for the IAI, he argues that we have many reasons for believing a theory to be true, such as it being parsimonious and having large scope — qualities which have been used throughout the history of science as criteria for judging theories. In 2024, Princeton philosopher Bas van Fraassen wrote a short article for IAI News entitled “Science Does not Describe Reality: The Limits and Benefits of Explanation.” At the time, I was working on two projects (a science book and a Great Course) that, when completed, would (among other things) defend science’s ability to describe reality. I wanted to write a response to van Fraassen, but the projects demanded too much of my attention. But now that those projects are complete, I am in a position to explain the objections to van Fraassen’s thesis. Summarizing van Fraassen’s argumentIn a nutshell, his argument is this: What scientists do is make predictions based on theories and then invite others to test to see whether those predictions are borne out. “If theory T is right, result R should happen in experimental condition C.” Many think that running an experiment that shows that R happens in condition C is proof that theory T is true (and should be believed). But, van Fraassen argues, that R happened in condition C is only a reason to think that R happens in condition C. That’s the only observable, or empirical, result we can actually see, so that is all that we are really justified in believing. (The underlying theory that made that prediction still may or may not be true.) That is why he calls those who accept his position “empiricists.”Before I explain what is wrong with this position, let me explain what it gets right. What van Fraassen Gets RightFirst, a theory correctly predicting the results of an experiment is not, strictly speaking, “proof” that the theory is correct. The basic line of reasoning is this:If the theory T is true, result R should happen. Result R did happen. Thus, theory T is true.In other words:“If T then R. R. Thus, T.”This is a deductively invalid, fallacious mode of reasoning, called “affirming the consequent.” Those premises do not guarantee that the conclusion follows. “If I am in Pennsylvania, then I am in the USA. I am in the USA. Thus, I am in Pennsylvania.” Clearly that argument doesn’t guarantee its conclusion; neither does the above argument.However, science is not a deductive method of reasoning; it is an inductive one. And inductive arguments merely try to raise the probability of their conclusion, not “prove” them for certain. Thus, the fact that an experimental result doesn’t prove a theory is true is irrelevant; it’s not supposed to. That is not what scientific reasoning is about.___If the hypothesis that something exists clearly provides the best explanation for what we can observe, then the belief that it exists is what is rational.___Second, it’s also true that a single experimental result doesn’t provide enough justification to believe that a theory is true. Scientists do not come to a consensus about whether a theory is true by looking at a single experiment; they look at all the evidence to determine where the preponderance of evidence points. The mere fact that I am in the USA raises the probability that I am in Pennsylvania, but not nearly enough to conclude that I am in Pennsylvania. However, if I am also regularly encountering people wearing Eagles and Phillies hats and seeing advertisements for Founding Father tours, I probably am. In the same way, a theory successfully predicting the outcome of one experiment is not enough to conclude that it is true; but if a theory makes a wide variety of predictions that are all vindicated by multiple experiments, performed by many different groups and people, all actively trying to prove the theory false (which is what good scientific experiments are designed to do)—that is a good reason to conclude that the theory is true. In other words, if you repeatedly try to prove something false but can’t, that is a very good indication that it isn’t. The problem of underdeterminationIn reply, those whom van Fraassen calls “empiricists” often point to the “problem of underdetermination.” For any given theory that makes successful predictions about what happens in experimental conditions, there are countless other possible theories that make exactly the same predictions—and since they do, the experimental evidence in question is just as much reason to accept any of those theories as it is to accept our original one. Thus, the argument goes, we have no way of knowing whether our original theory is true, or one of the other “predictively equivalent” theories is true. SUGGESTED VIEWING How Occam's Razor changed the world With Johnjoe McFadden As an example of underdetermination, philosophers often offer this example. The evidence of fossils seems to provide reason to conclude that the universe is quite old; ancient fossils are what the “ancient universe” hypothesis predicts. But it’s also possible that God created an ancient-looking universe 200 years ago, complete with a “fake” fossil record for us to find, to make it look old. The existence of fossils is what that theory predicts too. So, the argument goes, the fossil record can’t be used as evidence that the universe is ancient; the fossil record supports the “200-year-old ancient-looking universe” theory just as much. The problem of underdetermination points out that, for any theory with supporting evidence, we could invent another completely different theory that predicts exactly the same evidence, and thus undermine that evidence’s ability to support the original theory.But this “argument from underdetermination” betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what scientific reasoning is and how it works. To explain, let me use another rather strange (but very real and commonly discussed) philosophical thought experiment called “The Grue Problem.” The “Grue” ProblemSuppose I want to know what color emeralds are, so I observe a few, see that they all appear green, and form the theory that “all emeralds are green.” I thus predict that the next 100 emeralds I find will also appear to be green. And let’s say that happens, and so I thus conclude that my theory that all emeralds are green is true. Now, one might rightly point out that I don’t know for sure that all emeralds are green—I have not seen them all. Maybe some I haven’t found yet are blue. Fair enough. After all, we used to think that all swans were white, until we found some black ones. But let’s say that I go on a quest and collect every emerald in the universe—and, for the sake of the argument, let’s say I can do this, and can even know that I have every one of them. So, I collect them all, look at them all, and verify that they all appear green. Can’t I now rightly conclude that all emeralds are green?Inspired by the problem of underdetermination, a friend might argue that I cannot.Sure, they all appear green now—but there could be another kind of color called “grue.” Something is grue if it is green up to a certain point in time, but then spontaneously turns blue. And there could be an infinite number of “shades” of grue. Something that is one shade of grue will turn blue at noon today, but something that is another shade of grue will turn blue at noon tomorrow, etc. So yes, the emeralds appear green now; and since they haven’t turned blue yet, they are not some “past” shade of grue. But they might be some “future” shade of grue (e.g., they may turn blue at noon tomorrow). And since all future shades of grue are consistent with “being green up to this point in time,” the evidence you have is completely consistent with the notion that all emeralds are some future shade of grue, rather than green. Indeed, that they would appear green until now is what the “some future shade of grue” hypothesis predicts. So, we have just as much reason to conclude that all emeralds are some shade of grue as we do to conclude that they are green.You’re probably thinking “It’s not equally possible that the emeralds are grue; they are obviously green.” You are right! But explaining why your instinctive reaction to my friend’s argument is correct will help inform why van Fraassen’s “empiricist” is wrong and science actually does describe reality.The main mistake my friend makes is in thinking that the “empirical evidence” (of all the emeralds appearing green) is (or even should be) all I am using to draw the conclusion that all emeralds are green. It is not. I am also considering known facts about how colors typically work; things don’t usually change color, and when they do, they don’t do so suddenly, without cause, and all at once. So, even though the simple evidence of the emeralds all appearing green up to this point is consistent with them being some future shade of grue—that is even what the grue hypothesis “predicts”—it is still exceedingly unlikely that they are. The hypothesis that they are green is much more likely. Understanding science refutes the problem of underdetermination The misunderstanding about science that the “empiricist” pointing to “the problem of underdetermination” makes is similar to the one that my friend made. Science is not just about considering experimental evidence; in fact, it’s not even just about considering empirical evidence. As Ernan McMullin and many other philosophers of science have pointed out, the inference that makes science is “inference to the best explanation” (sometimes called “abduction” or “retroduction” by McMullin). While, depending on the circumstances, scientists use many different kinds of reasoning, science as a whole is, simply put, the process of considering multiple competing explanations and comparing them to certain criteria—explanatory criteria (the kinds of things explanations must be and do, by definition, to be a good explanation)—to see which explanation is the best.And these criteria do not deal only with empirical results. Yes, successful predictions raise the probability of a hypothesis, but it’s also the case that the more new assumptions a theory makes, the less likely it is to be true; every new assumption presents an opportunity for the theory to be false. (The fewer assumptions a theory makes, the simpler or “more parsimonious” it is said to be.) Likewise, the more existing evidence a theory contradicts, the less likely it is, because in order for a theory to be true, every piece of evidence it contradicts has to be somehow faulty. (The fewer established theories a new theory contradicts, the more “conservative” it is said to be.) And, obviously, the more something explains, the better explanation it is. (This is called having “scope.”) If a theory raises unanswerable questions, it’s not expanding our understanding, and thus is not wide-scoping. Scientists consider all these things when deciding which theory to accept, because the theory that adheres best to these explanatory criteria is most likely to be true.___the mere fact that a theory’s predictive success is why it “sticks around” or “becomes accepted” in the scientific community is not a reason to be skeptical about its truth.___The reason the grue hypothesis is no good is because it invents an entirely new kind of color—not just a new shade, but an entirely different category of color (a different way colors work)—and thus is not parsimonious. It raises unanswerable questions about how and why emeralds would just spontaneously change from green to blue (and thus does not have wide scope). And it contradicts what is already well established about how color works (and thus is unconservative).The theories that the problem of underdetermination points to do the same thing. Yes, the theory that God created an “ancient-looking universe” (complete with an ancient-looking fossil record) two hundred years ago is also consistent with the empirical evidence (of a fossil record) that presently exists; but that theory is monumentally unparsimonious (it requires many extra assumptions about infinite entities) and not wide-scoping (it raises unanswerable questions about why God would do such a thing). So, I can rationally conclude that it is false.Indeed, the history of science includes many examples of theories that were rejected because they lacked parsimony and/or scope, even before their falsity (and the truth of their competing theory) was confirmed by observation. As I point out in my book, geocentrism was rejected by the scientific community because it lacked parsimony, almost 200 years before the observation of parallax confirmed that the Earth moves around the sun. And the continuum theory of matter was completely rejected by 1860, because it couldn’t explain chemical reactions or organize matter into a periodic table, even though the experiments that eventually confirmed atomic theory weren’t even proposed until the 1870s. Solving the best of a bad lot problemIn response, the “empiricists” are likely to object, this time pointing to the “best of a bad lot” problem. “We have no reason to conclude that an explanation that has been shown to be better than others is true because we have no guarantee that the true theory was among those that we were considering.” If you have a “lot” (a collection) of poor explanations, even the best one is not true.The responses to this problem, however, are numerous. Peter Lipton argues that the set of hypotheses that scientists consider are not just randomly selected and thus unlikely to contain a theory that is true; they use existing knowledge to home in on what is most likely to be true. A doctor trying to explain abdominal pain is not going to bother wondering whether demons are causing it; they are going to stick with things like appendicitis and kidney stones, because they are most likely. Further, despite its name, inference to the best explanation is not just the process of comparing hypotheses and accepting the best one; we also want one that is a good explanation in its own right. If it’s not, we are going to keep looking until we find an explanation that is. And while that process does not guarantee that we will come across the exact truth, it’s very likely that the theory that emerges as the best will be at least approximately true, and thus we will be justified in believing it. And lastly, as I point out in my book, although many theories not based in scientific evidence (like geocentrism and continuum theory) have been completely overturned, science almost always progresses by the refinement of scientifically established theories—not their replacement. (Although our sun is not the center of the universe, heliocentrism was our first step in understanding the Earth’s true place in the universe.) So even if a theory we accept today may not be completely right, accepting it is a step on the journey toward the complete truth. The example of atomic theoryNow, it’s worth pointing out that most empiricists are not skeptical of all scientific theories; they are only skeptical of the ones that hypothesize the existence of “unobservables.” It’s not like they think that round Earth, heliocentrism, and germ theory are just useful (but untrue) “instruments” for making predictions about how to most efficiently navigate the seas, predict planetary motion, and treat diseases. They admit that the Earth actually is round, that the planets revolve around the sun, and that germs exist and cause disease. These facts and entities can be observed; the theories that suggest they exist are true. It’s only when theories start hypothesizing the existence of unobservables—like electrons, or quantum fields—that can’t be observed directly, that we should start doubting the theories’ truth. And to be fair to van Fraassen, in this published work, he doesn’t really say that we should doubt the truth of such theories. Only that scientific reasoning does not rationally force us to accept them as true. Skepticism, or agnosticism, he argues, is warranted. SUGGESTED READING Science is based in metaphor By Andrew Reynolds But the history of atomic theory throws a monkey wrench into that argument. Atoms used to be unobservable; again, scientists first accepted the theory that they exist because it had such grandiose explanatory power. But then atoms were seen with electron microscopes. They thus moved into the category of the observable. But this didn’t substantially change anything about what scientists were justified in believing; it certainly didn’t change any “atomic skeptics’” minds. It just confirmed what everyone already knew! If the hypothesis that something exists clearly provides the best explanation for what we can observe, then the belief that it exists is what is rational. The fact that the thing itself is not technically observable does not make doubting its existence rational.What’s more, the atoms were seen with an electron microscope. But electrons are themselves unobservable. How can an electron microscope reveal an atom if electrons are not real? This leads us to what is famously known as Hilary Putnam’s “miracle argument.” It’s (not) a miraclePhilosopher Hilary Putnam’s miracle argument is somewhat famous. Basically, he argued that a scientific theory being able to repeatedly make successful predictions—even about unobservables—without being at least approximately true would require a “miracle.” In other words, it would be such an improbable occurrence that it could not rationally be believed—the better explanation for why scientific theories about unobservables make the right predictions is because the unobservable entities and structures they hypothesize exist.Van Fraassen has addressed this argument. Indeed, in his original article, where he references Alison Gopnik’s point about orgasms not being “necessary for procreation” even though the desire for orgasm “drives the creation of progeny,” he is pointing to his own argument about how organisms are not naturally selected by evolution to get true beliefs; to the extent that belief-forming processes are selected for, the ones that are selected are the ones that are useful for survival—not the ones that produce true beliefs. In the same way, van Fraassen argues, scientific theories are accepted, not because they are true, but because they aren’t falsified; they make successful predictions; that’s what makes them “stick around.” So, the fact that they make successful predictions (and thus became accepted) is not a reason to think they are true.This argument is similar to C. S. Lewis’s “argument from reason,” which he used to argue against evolution: “The truth of evolution undercuts our ability to know that it is true.” Lewis’ argument famously failed; Elizabeth Anscombe, by Lewis’s own admission, demolished Lewis in a debate on the topic, and I have explained elsewhere why modified versions of the argument fail as well. In short, it’s because it fails to recognize that a belief-forming process can make an organism more likely to survive because it reliably produces true beliefs. It is therefore not the case that beliefs generated by naturally selected belief-forming processes are automatically false or unjustified.In the same way, the reason a theory “sticks around” could be because it’s not falsified, because it “makes correct predictions.” But the reason it makes correct predictions is most likely because it is true. (In pointing this out, I am echoing the arguments of Musgrave, Lipton, Psillos, and Kitcher, who refuted van Fraassen’s argument and analogy long before his 2024 article.) It would be a huge coincidence that it could do so without being true. And that is the point of Putnam’s miracle argument. Thus, contrary to van Fraassen’s suggestion, the mere fact that a theory’s predictive success is why it “sticks around” or “becomes accepted” in the scientific community is not a reason to be skeptical about its truth. ConclusionLet me close by saying something about the fact that empiricists don’t doubt the truth of all scientific theories, just the ones that hypothesize unobservables. In today’s society, this theory is dangerous to espouse publicly. The nuance between being skeptical about all of science, and just the highly technical theories about unobservables, is guaranteed to be lost to the average reader. And there is so much unjustified skepticism and doubt about the findings of science and experts that a headline like “Science Does Not Describe Reality” could easily fuel the anti-science movement, worsen climate change denial and cause the next pandemic.This is why I believe it was important to still respond to van Fraassen’s article, a full two years after he wrote it. Not only, as I have argued, does it represent a philosophically inaccurate view of how scientific reasoning works and what scientific reasoning can do, but it is a dangerous view to boot. It should thus be rejected.
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