Madam, – Michael O’Sullivan’s smug retort (Letters, September 13th) to Martin J Kinsella’s defence of homeopathy points up the crucial flaw in “scientific” thinking as it is practised today. The paradigm of scientific truth rests on the axiom of observation – that is to say, things are only scientifically accepted as “true” if they can be observed.
It is easy to see that, if we live in a universe in which only a small percentage of truth is observable, science is no great path to the truth. What percentage of universal truth is observable? Devout scientists believe it to be 100 per cent.
But that, of course, is a pure article of faith. – Yours, etc,