Not really. And that would not make it a source of objective truth anyway.
I do not depend on them. When they are not supported by what I already know then I check up on them.
It is true that testimony is important. How else are we to know even the results of scientific inquiry we haven’t done ourselves unless it is by the testimony of others. But there is big difference between religion and science because I know that science is backed up by written procedures anyone can follow to get the same results no matter what they want or believe. And I can check up on them and I have done so on this forum even when I had the testimony of a scientific expert in the field.
Like I said. Testimony is not worthless. It is just not enough for a reasonable expectation for other people to agree. But in conjunction with corroborating evidence (which by itself may not be enough), testimony can be enough. Such as…
- Checking their credentials or evidence of their reliability in regards to the specific nature of the claim.
- Other scientists checking that they do in fact get the same results.
- Data from other types of inquiry agreeing with those claims.
Exactly!
The fact is that testimony does not give people a reasonable expectation that others accept something as true. This is more than obvious because every person who claims the testimonies of their religion is true are simultaneously rejecting the testimonies of other people for a contrary religion.
rejected. That is not testimony. I do not accept your use of metaphors to twist things around to that degree.
But in fact, it has been demonstrated that what “your eyes tell you” is also not a source of objective truth. Psychologist have shown that your eyes actually don’t tell you anything, it is your own brain passing the signals from the eyes through an interpretive filter of your own beliefs which tells you what you see. Again that is personal experience and there is nothing objective about it.
Does this mean we do not rely on it. Of course not. Our own subjective experience is our immediate contact with reality. If we see a unicorn for ourselves then we are going to believe unicorns exist. Absolutely. But that does not make it objective truth. Your experience does not provide one shred of reasonable expectation that others should accept the truth of your claim that unicorns exist.