Abstract
In this paper, we assess the extent to which contemporary observations of black holes---particularly those of the LIGO-Virgo and Event Horizon Telescope Collaborations---are ``theory laden''. General relativistic assumptions enter into the methods of both experiments through the use of simulations of black hole spacetimes. This includes numerical relativity simulations in the case of LIGO-Virgo and general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the case of the Event Horizon Telescope. We argue that simulations play an ``ampliative'' role in both experiments, and that this role is problematically circular in the former case, but not the latter.
