AspiringRationalist: thank you for your reply. It has caused me to rethink what I wrote and hopefully be less wrong.
You and I agree that there is no special difference between observations before an experiment and after and experiment. It is not observation that makes an experiment scientific. It is also not the conjecture before an experiment that makes it scientific. It is the conjecture including the condition of its refutation that makes it scientific. My prior example would be better stated (as science) with: ‘if I repeatedly and earnestly try to jump that fence and do not, it is provisionally true that I cannot.’
AspiringRationalist: thank you for your reply. It has caused me to rethink what I wrote and hopefully be less wrong.
You and I agree that there is no special difference between observations before an experiment and after and experiment. It is not observation that makes an experiment scientific. It is also not the conjecture before an experiment that makes it scientific. It is the conjecture including the condition of its refutation that makes it scientific. My prior example would be better stated (as science) with: ‘if I repeatedly and earnestly try to jump that fence and do not, it is provisionally true that I cannot.’