I've been really enjoying the manic state of FW over the last while. I've
barely got time to read half the messages but I would never miss Ray E.
Harrell's stuff. He sees things very differently than most. He also has the
ability to slow some people down and have them think. Much of what gets
discussed on this list could be described as people playing different
language games. The words seem familiar and connectable but aren't. The
kings in chess and checkers are very different kings.
I've posted this quote before on this list but I think it deserves being
repeated. Ray, I believe, knows the advice of the physicist but is not
persuaded. He prefers the oracle.
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Ludwig Wittgenstein spent the last 18 months of his life(he knew he was
dying of cancer) writing about 'certainty'; These writings were published
after his death in the book_ On Certainty_ Blackwell, 1969.
I would like to quote a short portion that he wrote 3 days before his death:
"Is it wrong for me to be guided in my actions by the propositions of
physics? Am I to say I have no good ground for doing so? Isn't this
precisely what we call 'a good ground'?
Supposing we met people who did not regard that as a telling reason. Now,
how do we imagine this? Instead of physics, they consult an oracle. (And
for that we consider them primitive.). Is it wrong for them to consult an
oracle and be guided by it?- If we call this "wrong" aren't we using our
language game as a base from which to combat theirs?
And are we right or wrong to combat it? Of course there all all sorts of
slogans which will be used to support our proceedings.
When two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one
another, each man declares the other a fool and a heretic.
I said I would 'combat' the other man,- but wouldn't I give him reasons?
Certainly; but how far do they go? At the end of reasons comes persuasion.
(Think what happens when missionaries convert natives.)."
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