Nick, At times I think so — hence my motivation to learn more. At other times absolutely not because I reject his sieve as being to exclusionary.
A conundrum. davew On Sat, Mar 7, 2020, at 5:10 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Dave, > > What you write below is awfully Peircean, no? > > Nicholas Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology > Clark University > [email protected] > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ > > > > *From:* Friam <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Prof David West > *Sent:* Saturday, March 7, 2020 2:15 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Acid epistemology - restarting a previous conversation > > Steve, > > I really hope that I have not advanced any of the three types of false > dichotomy you note. > > I cite "authority" or "dead white guys" only because I think they have > expressed an idea in a manner far more eloquently than I am able to express > it, and my intent is never to say "this is so" but to always say, "if we take > this seriously, these questions seem to arise, and might answers to those > questions lead to interesting explorations and conversations?" > > I would plead guilty to holding "rigorous science" to the same > deconstructionist analysis as "vigorously asserted religion." But I would > expect that analysis to reveal that "Science" does indeed have its dogma and > that interferes with its own professed value system and "Method;" while > "Religion" is almost totally Dogma and that creates so much interference that > what little "method" is lost in the noise. > > Is there a way to sift and sort a plethora of "radical ideas" into those > worth further consideration and those that can safely be dismissed out of > hand. Pushing them through the sieve of "established science" is not > sufficient. > > davew > > On Thu, Mar 5, 2020, at 8:01 PM, Steven A Smith wrote: >> Dave - >> As for me, I'm not irritated with your keeping these discussions going. >> I *am* irritated with the larger (cross-domain, national/global) discussion >> of "Truthiness" and the various bimodal fallacies introduced thereby. >> Science and the Scientific Method, for example, have built into them a >> certain kind of contingency which is as absolute as Religion's *lack of >> contingency* (Absolute Truth). This leads >> Creationists/PseudoSciencers/AntiSciencers/FlatEarthers/Deniers to use the >> truism from science "It's just a theory" as a bludgeon to beat out a hole in >> the conversation to plop down their received-knowledge and/or made-up-shit >> into, as if it were made of the same stuff as what it is displacing. >> Conversely (and I think this is where you are prone to harp), the >> Establishment (you pick your domain: Science, Religion, Politics, Society >> and subdomain:Physics/Chemistry/Biology, Ibrahamic/Vedic/Pagan/Animist, >> Red/White/Blue/Green/Purple, Authoritarian/Libertine/Egalitarian/Anarchic) >> vs radical/progressive views on the same subjects yields a whole other >> false-dichotomy. >> 1. Just because an established authority said it doesn't make it right. >> 2. Just because an established authority said it doesn't make it *wrong*. >> 3. Just because all scientific breakthroughs were presaged by "radical >> ideas" doesn't mean that all "radical ideas" represent incipient genius. >> Yet I often hear these arguments (barely concealed?) in the larger >> discourse... >> I will try to follow this up with some questions/observations about >> PostModernism and a reflection on the ways it has been "weaponized" by the >> unlikely? folks like Stephen Bannon? >> - Steve >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove >> > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
