On 11/29/2016 2:57 PM, Clark Goble wrote:
Treating thirdness as something real in the universe independent of what any particular person thinks about it is key.
That is not a new point. Scientists have always assumed that the laws of nature are "really real". Ernst Mach is the positivist who claimed that the laws of physics are *nothing but* summaries of observations. His perverse attitude warped the minds of the Vienna circlers, who warped the minds of much of 20th c philosophy. For the rest of life, Carnap continued to teach that perversion in his courses on the philosophy of science. Both Peirce and Einstein considered Mach's emphasis on observation to be useful as a guideline for clarifying the foundations. But Mach was the target of Peirce's condemnation (CP 1.129):
Find a scientific man who proposes to get along without any metaphysics -- not by any means every man who holds the ordinary reasonings of metaphysicians in scorn -- and you have found one whose doctrines are thoroughly vitiated by the crude and uncriticized metaphysics with which they are packed. We must philosophize, said the great naturalist Aristotle -- if only to avoid philosophizing. Every man of us has a metaphysics, and has to have one; and it will influence his life greatly. Far better, then, that that metaphysics should be criticized and not be allowed to run loose.
Einstein considered Mach a good experimental physicist, but "a miserable philosopher". In his Gedanken experiments, Einstein was inspired by Mach to consider what observations might support a theory of relativity -- e.g. traveling on a train that was moving at the speed of light. Mach would never approve of Gedanken experiments, and he would have denounced them vehemently. Fortunately for physics, Einstein had the courage and good sense to ignore Mach. Unfortunately, the psychologists did not have anyone of Einstein's stature to defend them. As a result, they allowed the behaviorists to destroy serious research in psychology for over half a century. John
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