Hello All, Jurriaan writes, ...The popularisation of associative, analogic thinking and rapid communication, as a substitute for systematic theoretisation, particularly in the social sciences, basically means the forward march of various forms of pragmatism as the dominant epistemic paradigm. ...
Doyle, You bring up Postmodernism, and your being against associative, analogical thinking. I think Postmodernism is quite different from a connectionist theory of the brain. The appeal of connectionism at least for me is really how it can make association work so well in some sense. I don't think it is as simple as you draw conclusions about. I have read a lot of Lakoff for example whom I agree is very interesting writer, and having a lot to offer a leftist. Lakoff emphasizes metaphor in almost everything he writes. How else could one take metaphor but association of diverse concepts to explain other things? For me the reason I am interested in the Neuroscience is to get a handle on the labor processes in 'brain-work'. Because I am engaged in trying to express myself in visual media. Now if I take seriously what I just have read in Hacker. My typical way of expressing myself, 'brain-work', is Cartesian sounding. I think Hacker suggests there is a lot of work to be done about such interpenetrations of a mind/body theory into one's every day consciousness. How does one throw off a serious confusion in one's concepts? I don't advocate a thorough going removal of all offending 'Cartesian' thoughts. I don't think Wittgenstein is that useful to a leftist. I think Hacker may have a point that a suitable theory is not available to 'conceptualize' what the labor process is all about that I am fond of calling 'brain' work. I could see this as being a ripe area for the left to do some interesting economic analysis in the old Marxist political economy sense. For example, where Michael Perelman writes about Intellectual Property, there is something in his look at corporate ownership these days which a Cartesian view probably undergirds in the corporate world-view. That area is such a really rich area of the current global economy one has to feel this is where a lot of serious economics could be done. And a non-confused look at these things would be wonderful for the left to bring out. thanks, enjoyed your remarks, very stimulating, Doyle
