Doug Henwood wrote: The modeling of social life as a set of simulataneous [sic] equations is part of the problem, not part of the solution. > Doug > > -- > > Doug Henwood > Left Business Observer > 250 W 85 St > New York NY 10024-3217 > USA > +1-212-874-4020 voice > +1-212-874-3137 fax > email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html> RESPONSE: Precisely! perhaps add linear to simultaneous equations. It is arrogant, abusive, anti-scientific and represents the worst rather than best uses of abstraction--necessary to all science. Not only is it part of the problem, it is used to gloss over the root causes, dynamics and consequences--on real human beings--of other problems and in the course of it goes on to generate rather than ameliorate other critical social problems that generate real consequences on real people through bankrupt and abusive theories built upon bankrupt and abusive theoretical foundations--e.g. the recent welfare reform proposals built upon "choice theory" and neoclassical foundations and purported "axioms" of human behavior. Jim Craven *---------------------------*----------------------------------------* * James Craven * "All things have inner meaning and * * Dept of Economics * form and power." (Hopi) * * Clark College * "In this world the unseen has power." * * 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. * (Apache) * * Vancouver, Wa. 98663 * "Be satisfied with needs instead of * * (360) 992-2283 * wants." (Tenton Lakota) * * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * "The Great Spirit is always angry * * * with men who shed innocent blood." * * * (Iowa) * * * "It is no longer good enough to cry * * * peace, we must act peace, live peace, * * * and live in peace."(Shenandoah) * * * "A people without a history is like * * the wind over buffalo grass."(Lakota) * * * * "There are many paths to a meaningful sense of the natural world." * * (Blackfeet); "A shady lane breeds mud." (Hopi); * * "Strive to be a person who is never absent from an important act." * * (Osage); "Men in search of a myth will usually find one."(Pueblo) * * "Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way." * * (Blackfeet); "Some are smart but they are not wise."(Shoshone); * * "The one who tells the stories rules the world." (Hopi); * * "Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance." (Lakota); * * "The only things that need the protection of men are the things of * * men, not the things of the spirit." (Crow); "When the legends * * die, the dreams end; there is no more greatness."( Shawnee ); * * "I love a people who do not live for the love of money."(Dwamish) * * "Stolen food never satisfies hunger." (Omaha); "Man's law changes * * with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit always * * remain the same." (Crow); "It takes a whole village to raise a * * child." (Omaha); "Everything the Power does, it does in a circle."* * (Lakota); "Man has responsibility, not power."(Tuscarora) * * "With all things and in all things, we are relatives." (Lakota) * * MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION *
