Today, we are exploring the concepts of the “possible” and “impossible” and their important role in cognition, particularly in the sciences.
The Possible
We must first establish the proper meaning of “possible”. I think many people, including many in science, do not grasp the meaning of this concept. Even though it is an important concept in science and all other spheres of thought.
Here is the definition of possible that I am using in this article:
Relating to a claim for which there is some evidence for. A claim is possible if some evidence exists to support it being true and there is none that proves that it is not true.
A claim is possible if you can find some evidence to support it.
The claim does not have to be proven true, there simply needs to be some evidence in favor of it. I consider a theory which is proven possible as it meets the above criteria.
In order to take any claim seriously, you should first establish that the claim is at least possible. There must be some amount of evidence that supports the claim. There must be a reason that the claim is potentially true. That the claim being made matches the fact of reality. If you cannot do this, then your claim is arbitrary. There is no way to connect it back to reality of any kind.
Something is not “possible” simply because one cannot think why it is not true. One has to have a reason we should consider it to be true.
“X is possible” means:
That according to the context of my knowledge, there is some evidence that X is true and none that proves that it is not true.
Note that there may not be very much evidence that supports X, but there must be at least some evidence.
The evidence might not be very conclusive, and the truth of X may still need to be verified. Tt least I have established the possibility of the claim. At least I have established some reason to believe that the claim might be valid.
Let’s take an example.
I wonder if humans might have evolved via a process of natural selection from some other species. I have not yet established that this is possible. It is just speculation. That I have guessed that this might be the case is not the same as establishing that it is possible. A guess in the absence of evidence does not establish that something is possible.
So, I then try to find evidence that would suggest such a thing. What kind of evidence might show this? I could look for evidence that ancient apes had primitive versions of some features humans have and that over time, later species of apes developed versions of these features that are ever closer to the version of those features shared by humans.
For instance, I could look at the skull of some very ancient apes. I might notice that these skulls have brain cases larger than some of their earlier relatives. These brain cases are larger than some other human relatives. However, their brain cases are not as large as the brain cases possessed by human skulls. I may then notice that later species of apes have still larger brain cases. And later generations have still larger brain cases than that.
And so on, so that the closer these species get to humans in time, the larger the brain cases possessed by these apes and the more human like their brain cases are.
What would this show? It suggests that as time progresses, that the successive species of apes are becoming more and more like humans in terms of their brain cases. We can say the same about other skeletal structures and parts of their genome! We can show that over time, we see apes that are developing increasingly human-like pelvises, for instance.
Therefore, it seems possible that man evolved from an ape! I have not simply asserted that it is so because I imagine it is so. I have concluded that it might be so, based on some evidence that seems to suggest this.
Am I certain of this? No, I might not be. I might think that this is not very conclusive yet. However, I have some reason, based on evidence, to think that it might be true. I have a basis for my belief that man evolved from these earlier species of apes.
Of course, in the modern age, we have now proven beyond all rational doubt humans did indeed evolve from other apes and that humans are still apes! We have so much evidence for this that it would be perverse to suggest that we did not evolve from apes. Sadly, this does not stop millions of Creationists from asserting that we did not evolve from apes.
However, suppose that I simply declare that man evolved from apes. Suppose that I have no evidence of any kind to suggest that this is true. I just assert that it is so because I simply believe it to be so, based on faith.
This is speculation. It is not the same as establishing that something is possible. You have no reason, no evidence, to believe it might be true. One cannot base an argument solely on speculation. Then you have simply asserted it on faith.
