[WikiEN-l] Original research

Mon Dec 13 12:09:40 UTC 2004

Shane King wrote

> But this is exactly what I mean when I say it's a popularity contest. We
> say Einstein is believed by most physicists.

Well, if you chuck away all the reasons anyone has for believing anything,
then of course you get apparently 'foundational' problems of epistemology.
WP, however, is not here to solve those problems, which may be insoluble in
ultra-sceptical terms.  It is here to do an honest job of compiling an
encyclopedia, not to enquire itself into 'what is knowledge?'  You can look
in WP and find the various fates of Einstein's views about the photoelectric
effect, special relativity, general relativity and the EPR paradox discussed
intelligently.  On the last there is some minority view discussion on the
site, even though 'most physicists' think Einstein was wrong on that one.

Charles