The Importance of Personal Experience (+Facts, Statistics and Opinions)

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Why and how did Einstein discover The Theory of Relativity? Was it based on statistics or experience or just because he was a genius not bound to either?

 

by Montresor

Another element enters our discussion. The ability to take experience and statistics and arrive at new ideas. I think this last is of equal importance to the first two. We can be hampered by our experiences and we can be misled by statistics. However if we have the ability to reason we can take our experiences and with the use of statistics add in the experiences of others and arrive at a new theory. If that can be tested then we have a new fact to add to our knowledge.

From this my thinking is that experience and statistics are of equal importance but it is what we are able to do with them that is the most important thing.

I bet a lot of cave men/women saw fire and felt its warmth, saw round logs and stones rolling down a hill but it took one with the ability to see further, to see the ways in which these could be applied to their own lives to make use of them.

 

Drew:

If you had paid attention to the very 'research' (aka. Opinion pieces) you cited, you would realize that the scientists you quoted believe that the concept of race is both superficial and inappropriate to categorize the human species. I'm not sure if I subscribe to such a theory, but I'm willing to speak their language just for the sake of making an argument, while appeasing you.

Are populations of varying biogeographical origin are equal? Do they have the same mean 'potential' in all aspects of life? If so, is this belief supported by facts and statistics?

Fantastic deflection. As to those who are bitching that race vs. race has nothing to do with this thread, you're incorrect. 'Feel good' egalitarian beliefs that liberals such as Drew tend to hold are not conclusively supported by any hard data or fact. Yet this doesn't stop them from holding to such beliefs.

 

@Ghaldring: Whatever you want to think about the equality or inequality of race is fine, but we're way off-topic, aren't we? If you want to argue about whether one race is inherently smarter than another, and whether the burden of proof should lie in proving the affirmative or the negative, start another thread. (Just don't be surprised when I don't join you there.)

I think that we shouldn't be pitting statistics and experience against each other, actually. In order to make a plausible argument about anything, you really need both. If the statistics (raw data) countermand your experience (common sense), something is usually wrong. The discussion that follows shouldn't be about which is more important. They are both important. The discussion should be about how we reconcile the data with common sense. Data is what it is. It makes no judgments, has no bias, and makes no inherent arguments. Judgments, bias, and arguments are a function of interpretation, which falls under the category of common sense. Common sense (aside from not being very common) is every inch as important as data.

 

@Drew: How very true.
Both personal experience and statistics are useful on their own, but are best when used together. Statistics can be wrong, or simply made up. Comparing them to personal experience is something we do naturally (e.g you see a statistic that says x is more likely then y, yet you know from experience this is not the case.) However the process works both ways and statistics can cause you do doubt personal experience.

Is one better then the other? The situation will dictate.
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