@InfraBlue,
InfraBlue wrote:
Quote:Personal testimony is accepted in both courts and religions, and therefore should be sufficient.
They're sufficient for their purposes. They're not sufficient as empirical evidence.
So surveys, polls, psych exams and so forth don't count as empirical evidence? If that were true, a patient's answers to his doctor's questions should not be considered when the doctor is deciding up on a treatment. What a witness says in court would have no bearing on the judge/jury's ruling, in that case. If there's one place that's strict about evidence, it's the courtroom.
Sounds like the goalposts are being shifted a bit here. Remember, the testimonials we're talking about are about personal beliefs and no one has access to another's beliefs, so testimonials are the only possible evidence. Otherwise, your vote for candidate X would not imply that you really wanted that candidate to win the election, and the whole system collapses.
Testimonials are empirical evidence that Person A gave Answer B to Question Y.
http://www.nfstc.org/pdi/Subject01/pdi_s01_m01_01.htm