Religion
In reply to the discussion: This Question will Assume That There is a God [View all]tama
(9,137 posts)'Assuming a premise' is standard scientific practice. E.g. there's lot of math and physics petitio principii Rieman Hypothesis; assuming that RH holds and taking it as premise, even though it has not been formally proven.
Assuming a premise is standard operation in theory building, and comparative evaluation of theories, which is prerequisite for scientific ability to self-correct and change premises. It can be huge and mind boggingly complex operation in field as complex as whole of theoretical physics, when trying to identify the premise or premises that lead to problems between GR and QM instead of unified theory, and searching for premises that would allow to construct a unified theory.
Just out of curiosity I did a little search, and found this nugget saying that most basic axiom of science, petitio principii, is:
http://cgranade.blogspot.fi/2006/11/most-basic-premise.html