"Hey Joe, this brand of probiotic worked well for me. You should give it a try."
After hearing that, should Joe then look for meta-analyses of the effectiveness of different probiotic brands, or does he have defeasible justification for trying it out? Maybe you'll say a search for meta-analyses is too stringent, but that you could at least look at anonymous reviews on Amazon. Fine. Then go look at collections of anonymous anecdotal reports in the N-Back community.
You keep trying to describe a form of rigid empiricism, as-if I don't actually know or care about epistemology. I did a concentration in philosophy of science in undergrad, and was an editor/reviewer for an entry on the philosophy of science in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I'm not unfamiliar with empiricism.
Joe should ignore unproven therapies, particularly when accompanied by grandiose claims, and especially when the proponent refuses point-blank to substantiate said claims. Probiotics are another good example of an unproven therapy, but with substantially more evidence against their efficacy. Joe should certainly read meta-analyses about such things, and avoid quackery -- and others should avoid spreading quackery.
This is an example of hearsay and anecodote:
"Hey Joe, this brand of probiotic worked well for me. You should give it a try."
After hearing that, should Joe then look for meta-analyses of the effectiveness of different probiotic brands, or does he have defeasible justification for trying it out? Maybe you'll say a search for meta-analyses is too stringent, but that you could at least look at anonymous reviews on Amazon. Fine. Then go look at collections of anonymous anecdotal reports in the N-Back community.
You keep trying to describe a form of rigid empiricism, as-if I don't actually know or care about epistemology. I did a concentration in philosophy of science in undergrad, and was an editor/reviewer for an entry on the philosophy of science in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I'm not unfamiliar with empiricism.