How about you tell us all exactly what TIGHAR has found and recovered in its existence that is demonstrably part of a historically important aircraft. I know there's the TBD and the P38 they are interested in but have TIGHAR actually recovered them in the sense of removing them, preserving them and actually creating a permanent display for them which shows to the public why they are so historically important, as distinct from the many other private organizations and public museums in the world which have recovered, restored or preserved historically important aircraft.
I know TIGHAR is always talking things up to get funding but have they actually ever completed a project. Let me see besides the two I just mentioned there's L'Oiseau Blanc and of course the headline grabbing Earhart Electra but what else is there?
There are many stages in historic aircraft recovery. TIGHAR has participated in many different stages, both as an independent agency and as a sub-contractor for others.
Now if we are talking credulity here you might care to explain your belief in TIGHAR in comparison with their current track record.
I have arrived at my confidence in TIGHAR's integrity in the same way I have come to trust other people in my life. The judgment is a blend of several lines of thought. I like the kind of work they do; I like the way they report their results, including failures and reconsiderations; I like the way that they have promoted standards for research and preservation. I think I've gotten good returns on my investment of time and money in the organization.
Personally I just think that all avenues regarding the recovery of the Electra should be investigated. So far Nikumaroro has been visited and revisited and TIGHAR have produced nothing that constitutes its own vaunted "smoking gun".
Yes, we've noticed that and conceded that more than once, Malcolm. At what point will you accept the fact that we're aware of this circumstance?
Now I know Marty that you will now set about in true philosopher fashion to tell me that black is white and white is black,
Your understanding of my philosophy and your prediction of my future behavior is false. I am a metaphysical realist, not a nominalist.
... but you and I both know that in the end all your reply will be is more word games.
I believe that words have meanings and that learning how to make distinctions between things and terms is well worthwhile. I don't mind you making claims about what you know. When it comes to me, it's my job, not yours, to make my own knowledge claims.
So now that that approach for you is dismissed before you even start just answer the question ...
Dismissed by whom? I don't dismiss my philosophy. The fact that you possess a different set of beliefs about reality is not a cause of angst for me. I've sort of noticed already that your beliefs and mine are not congruent.
- care to explain your belief in TIGHAR in comparison with their current track record. Should be easy for you after all you are not in the least credulous are you?
I am willing to believe things under certain conditions.
As I've indicated before, I believe that it is impossible for us to know things without a prior act of faith in our senses and our powers of reasoning.
I don't believe everything I hear.
I don't believe everything I read.
I think about what I believe.
I strive to understand the conditions of the possibility of thought--in Lonergan's terms, to think about thinking, to understand understanding, to judge judgment, and evaluate values. I'm satisfied that this has given me a standpoint that is not self-referentially inconsistent. It is a stable position from which to evaluate other positions in philosophy.