Science And The External World

Science, by its very nature, can only deal with repeatable observations of the natural world: the external world of matter outside of my mind.  A significant issue arises when one tries to use science to verify the existence of the external world, however.  To even conduct scientific experiments to begin with, there must already be an external world to observe.  Knowledge that an external world exists must by necessity precede application of the scientific method, or at least someone must act as if there is one to conduct science.

The scientific method cannot demonstrate that the external world exists, much less that my perceptions of the external world represent the world of matter as it actually is.  The limitations of the scientific method are numerous, severe, and foundational.  Does this mean we are without ability to verify the very existence of an external world?  No, this is not the case.  The irrational folly of scientism is not and cannot be our epistemic savior here, or, indeed, anywhere else.

Logic and immediate experience with my sense of touch, not a scientific experiment, prove to me that something physical exists outside of my body.  My sense of touch registers physical sensations, and logic proves that I cannot experience physical sensations apart from the existence of some sort of matter.  It follows, necessarily, that wherever I experience physical sensations there is matter outside of my consciousness.  It is this fact that enables me to identify when I am awake and not dreaming, for dreams themselves can only involve the interior of my consciousness [1].  Since this knowledge of the external world’s existence is more foundational than the limited knowledge obtainable through the scientific method, since the latter rests completely upon the former, without it the entirety of science is an exercise in futility.

Science can be subjectively fascinating, and we can certainly appreciate the technological results it affords us.  But does it--can it--tell us anything at all about reality besides the fact that in the present we perceive certain phenomena in the natural world?  No.  It cannot even prove that the external world exists!  Many western delusions would vanish if this truth was acknowledged more universally.

Logic (and its numeric extension mathematics) and introspection are beyond the borders of science, as are linguistics, history, ethics, aesthetics, and much of metaphysics and theology.  It is not that these things are currently beyond the reach of science but will one day be illuminated by the scientific method.  Many of them, including the metaphysics of the external world, are inherently outside of science and must be verified using other methods.  There will never be a day when the scientific method itself can verify the existence of matter; the existence of matter is a prerequisite to using the scientific method.


[1].  See here:
  A.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/dreams-and-consciousness.html
  B.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/06/distinguishing-dreams-from-waking.html