Re: Truth and power

To frame this as ontology versus epistemology elides the distinction between science and politics -- a distinction which is itself tenuous at best. We need to win an argument. I will grant that science is our ally. It will not suffice. Politics says majority rules. This means power (which, you will readily admit, often allows bad science to triumph over good) decides. But politics contains a countervailing principle. Majority rule has always been treated with suspicion because opinions differ and it has long been recognized that some degree of respect for the diversity of opinion is necessary to avoid the error into which majority opinion is liable to fall. This, in my view, is the lesson of Plato's parable of the cave. Plato is not saying merely that we cannot, with certainty, know what is real (though he is saying that). He is also saying that we dare not embrace what most regard as real, because the opinion of the many does not deserve that level of credence. Plato is skeptical, not just about what we think we know (epistemological skepticism), but about what is actually real (ontological skepticism). It is no argument against this view that there are some matters as to which science provides irrefutable evidence. That does not mean (as Errant in this thread points out) that science can provide such evidence with regard to every contested issue. Science cannot make politics unnecessary. Even if some politically contested issues ought, in principle, to be resolved on a scientific basis, many fundamental issues about social policy would still remain. Our issue -- the place of boylove in our social system -- is, I would argue, one such issue. Yes, there is science supporting the idea that boylove is not the social evil it is claimed to be. But we will not win, if we win, based on the idea that boylove is socially beneficial. We will win, if we do win, based on the argument that humans of all ages should be free to choose their sexual attachments and detachments without government interference. Limited government is not a theory based on our limited capacity for attaining true knowledge. It is based on respect for our unlimited capacity for exercising human agency. hugzu ;-p