You don't get it because you're not trying at all. You cite no experts. You begin with a judgment, based on a preconceived idea, faulty at the first level of logic, and hold to that. It's not about science vs the humanities. It's about the substance of the physical world and how we function in it as physical beings. Our beliefs are a product of that physicality and they are themselves symbolized networks of biological life. As a noted biochemist said,"biology does not stop at the neck".
Obviously, measuring is more than placing a ruler next to something. It means analysis of data, deductive and inductive reasoning, testing hypothesis, and the like. If it's physical, it's measurable; that is, belief with evidence. And what is not physical is merely belief without evidence. So if we are confined to belief, why not try to gather as much evidence for beliefs as we can? What is the history of mankind if not the gathering of evidence for beliefs? What is so taboo about wanting to do that? Why is it good to have beliefs without evidence. As I said earlier, this refusal to even examine the issue (brain=mind) is a redux of the prelate refusing to look through Galileo's telescope. I think you are just resisting the falsity of the mind-body split. I'll say that neuroscience is the most promising route of inquiry for new perspectives on aesthetic judgment, just as it is for all cognition. If science can show us how we think it can lead us to why we think. Tell me again why this is such a dangerous and censored idea. Is it the Bible? Some religious dogma? Finally, why do you and others here use gossipy anecdotes to illustrate your arguments? Doing that is a ruse, an effort to make complicated, nuanced concepts simple and everyday. Your dentist and his painless patient: My dentist has a very high speed drill, enabling many people to forego a local anesthetic. What's the point of these anecdotes? Everybody knows that a general principle is not proven or falsified by one odd exception. "Man falls 5,000 ft. from airplane and lives!" "Woman is shot five times in head and complains only of a mild headache!" "Monkey art sells for thousands!" Is this a gossip list or a open-minded thinkers' list? WC > Neuroscience is a legitimate interest and provides > important information to > physicians etc. As an important source of information about > aesthetic > judgments - I don't get it > Geoff C
