Verification

John Mcreery (jlm@TWICS.COM)
Sat, 8 Apr 1995 16:47:41 JST

Read asks if there are any non-empirical forms of verification. I'll
go with his implication and answer "No." Whatever else that philosophers
make of it, verification is a social act in which two or more
observers agree (1) on what they perceive and (2) on its implications.
The argument that theories shape perceptions does not change this
basic situation. It only means that observers with different theories
may find themselves perceiving different things and talking past each
other with no possibility of verifying each other's statements.

John McCreery