More specifically, why are sciences (physics, chemistry, engineering, et al) so well-trusted while other subjects (sociology, economics, politics) tend to be less trusted? What is asked would require a book chapter or even an entire book. What I’ll give is an answer furnished by the philosophers, but rarely applies to philosophy itself. It is the notion of Justified True Belief ,* or JTB. This means you can justify your assertion (i.e. prove it based on accepted knowledge and logic), you establish it is true (thus not refutable), and you believe it. This is not quite how it is discussed in philosophy discussions. In most, one begins with the belief, then proves it’s true by some justification, which has a broad interpretation. What we have presented is how JTB works in the classroom. There we are presented with the truth (e.g. proposition), followed by its justification (e.g. proof, experiment), and finally, the student believes it. In scientific research, the process often begins
Random thoughts and used ideas