When we request each other to provide evidence in an argument, should we be referring to source papers that contain original data, or is referring to authorities good enough?
Well that would depend in the first instance on how obscure and how contentious the issue is. Would anyone bother to give a reference for (let's say) the claim that granite is an igneous rock? First one would just assert it, if challenged one would point out that it's in all the textbooks and everyone believes it, finally one might actually start marshaling data.
After all, a real scientific paper wouldn't give references or arguments for
that, so unless someone is inclined to doubt it, why should I?
If it's good enough, when and why is that the case?
I guess it's good enough when the other person thinks it's good enough.
Is scientific knowledge the set of all source data in the literature, or is it the set of inferences and conclusions that have been generally agreed upon by the scientific community, based on those data?
It's
mainly the inferences.
Consider for example the law that "like charges repel". This is an inductive inference that goes beyond the data points that support it. And the same can be said of any general law. If this wasn't scientific knowledge, if we confined the concept to data points about past events, then apart from anything else scientific knowledge would have no practical value.
If and when I get concrete answers about that, I can ask more concrete questions like: if I'm not a nerdy book-worm whose primary interest is learning about the natural world, how do I participate in your democracy?
Well maybe you don't. I have never studied Japanese, so I don't take part in discussions of what the Japanese word for "watermelon" is.
Or more generally, how do you expect a general public who is not necessarily compelled by knowledge to interact with you?
Well, no-one is obliged to. But people who want to express an opinion should either study the subject, or defer to the people who have, or ask them questions and learn from them.
Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.