The Presupposed Ignorance of the Real World as a Good Reason to be Sceptically Detached from the Claims of Near Dogmatic Certitude in the Empirical Sciences.

The Empirical sciences are based upon the inductive method which is used to obtain some scientific knowledge of the world. Yet the empirical sciences and the inductive method is based upon the presupposed ignorance of the academy with regard to all science explanations of the real world. For there was a time when science either did not exist, or was not well developed, and then a time of some better constructed science which contained more certitude concerning the nature of the universe.

But even with all of the progress in science in the many fields of enquiry, there is always that fundamental presupposition of ignorance prior to the use of the inductive method. Such ignorance is only ever partially removed through science theory, but only in a manner that allows one to be detached from the claims of certitude in the science academy. Such detachment is preferred when one notes that empirical models are proposed and tested without certitude of proof of any scientific theory.

The lack of proof of any empirical model infers all empirical science contains within it a necessary subjective judgement of the scientist in relation to science models. For what is not proven is never known to be true, though what is not proven may be either true or false, or partially true and false. As any theory, and perhaps all theories are at least partially false, all theories have some tendency towards certitude of knowledge accompanied by the fundamental assumed ignorance of the real world that can never be overcome. For the falsity contained within any theory infers the scientist does not know that part of reality within the theory that is false. For only that which is true within a theory grants the scientist some knowledge of the physical world.

The fundamental presumed ignorance of the real world is never removed by the empirical sciences, for no empirical theory is ever proven true. Therefore, because there is always a latent, or implied ignorance associated with any and all empirically based theories, the empirical sciences always have in some manner, a tendency to refer back to the initial, pre-scientific, presumed ignorance which is never fully resolved.

The real lack of certitude within the empirical sciences does allow one to remain sceptically detached from any empirical theory, whilst recognising the proper and limited contribution the empirical sciences have made to human knowledge. Such a detachment of certitude and subjective opinion with regard to the veracity of empirical theories is of much benefit to the scientist and to the Christian believer alike. For when one is detached, one is more able to think outside the restrictions of any particular theory or any associated number of theories to note that - 

1) such theories are never proven and may be false

and 

2) problems within science that have not been resolved may in fact be caused by the inadequacy, or falsity within existing theories.

One way to correctly deal with the strengths and weaknesses of the empirical sciences is to apply a moderate realist approach to the value of knowledge obtained through empirical theories. For example, using the models proposed by empirical science to obtain knowledge of the physical world, one may offer the following general answers to the question - what is X?

Answer 1) - we don't know what X is comprehensively for there will always be something within X that is unknown, or suspected to be unknown, or not known to be knowable.

Answer 2) - we know apprehensively what X is as an intelligible understanding of the thing known.

Answer 3) - we know the theory that accounts for some, or many observations directly related to X. And through the theory we come to know something of the physical thing by analogy.

Answer 4) - we know diverse theories with diverse explanations of the same X. And we know the diverse theories provide an intellectual framework in which we can develop an intellectual, or mathematical model of the physical thing.

Answer 5) - we know we are not to know everything about a physical thing through empirical based theory. So we know we only know about X in part and don't know about X in part.

Conclusion - The above discussion and answers indicate there is good reason to be sceptically detached from claims of certitude of empirical science when the science itself tends towards only a limited and analogical knowledge of any physical thing.