Glen, > I agree with your gist but not your specific words. [grin]
:-) > All pursuit > of truth is science, regardless of the language. So, developing new > theories with metaphor _is_ science (as long as the theories are testable). Ok, I agree. I like your distinction (below) between coarse science vs refined/exact science. > And mathematization isn't necessary for prediction, unless you really > widen the definition of "mathematics" to mean even qualitative > distinctions like "dead" or "alive". I don't think, for example, a > physician is really describing her patient mathematically when she > hypothesizes that placing leeches on them will cure them of consumption. Hmm - in the background he will have hypotheses; knowledge which is implicit in the neural weigthing in his brain (representing the evidence he has seen and categorized). So the physician has a mathematical (probabilistic) model of the situation, albeit maybe not verbalized/symbolized. He is probably not even aware of the mathamtics his brain embodies. > hypothesis. So, science can be done without mathematics. > But it is _coarse_ science. To be refined (or complete), you definitely > need math. Truthseeking = science; we agree. Coarse science (metaphor etc) could be subsymbolic science: knowledge that exists in individual brains about the world and which can be incompletely conveyed via metaphor, the metaphor being the result of (incomplete) introspection of the scientist into his own thought processes. When you go mathematical, you make it explicit. Knowledge can be transferred exactly. You can even mechanize it, meaning that you do not rely on neural weighting of the brain to which you communicate (drawing on the other person's experience of living in the same world as you actually). Cheers, Günther -- Günther Greindl Department of Philosophy of Science University of Vienna [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.univie.ac.at/Wissenschaftstheorie/ Blog: http://dao.complexitystudies.org/ Site: http://www.complexitystudies.org/ Research Proposal: http://www.complexitystudies.org/ph.d.-thesis.html ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
