An apologist for any unscientific belief is likely to declare sooner or later that ‘Science does not have all the answers.’ Since nobody in the history of modern science has ever said it does, we could dismiss this objection for the irrelevancy that it is and move on to more pertinent issues. However, we may suppose that the apologist is actually objecting, not to an imagined claim by scientists that they have all the answers, but to an inferred claim by the skeptic that no other answers are worth considering.
It does seem reasonable for a critical thinker to inquire whether such a claim, were it explicitly made, could be justified. Should we restrict our quest for answers to those susceptible to scientific validation, or might we learn something useful from other epistemological venues? Are we being unduly narrow-minded to suppose that whatever is unscientific is not credible?
Let us examine the alternatives with our minds as open as we can keep them in good faith.
We might first ask the apologist: If science does not have all the answers, but it is acknowledged to have some of them, then who has the rest of them? The response of course will depend on the apologist and what belief or belief system he or she is defending. It might be suggested that alternative answers are to be found in the Bible or another sacred book; or in the writings of ancient Eastern mystics; or in the insights of the world’s great poets, playwrights, or novelists; or in the wisdom of some philosopher, famous or obscure; or in a horoscope; or in the reflections of one or more theologians; or in something else; or in all the above or some subset thereof.
To be sure, all those sources will provide answers. To be just as sure, though, they cannot all be true answers. We are inescapably obliged to discern, among the countless sources of nonscientific answers, which ones we should believe and which ones we should ignore. How are we to do that, assuming that our primary concern is to believe true answers and disbelieve falsehoods, and considering also that we don’t have time to investigate them all, no matter how keen our desire to be open to all possibilities?
Let us digress a bit to examine that concern....
