Jim Clark wrote:
Chris is willing to infer from a generally well-founded model to the
specific case of Darwin, whereas Allen would like to see concrete
evidence with respect to Darwin.
One can only draw the best inferences possible based on the information
that is availabe. Specific concrete evidence is grand, when it exists.
When it doesn't, however, that doesn't mean all bets are off. One should
conclude (tentatively, of course, but we're all fallibilists now, yes?)
whatever seems to have been most likely, given the general information
one has. I guess this means I'm fairly Bayesian, even about history! :-)
It is interesting, I think, that this should arise in the context of a
discussion of Darwin. One of the brilliant features of Darwin's
"Origins", again in my view, is the amazing preponderance of fact and
observation to theory. A few general principles (variation, selection,
...) are buttressed by a wealth of observation.
Yes, well, natural science differs from history in that the scientist
can often simply "order up" more data that bear on one's particular
areas of interest (i.e., do an experiment). In history, however, this is
rarely the case. Historians usually have to make do with the archival
record that has survived (and that is already well-known to other
historians). It is true that new archival collections occasionally come
to light (and often revolutionize interpretations of the past when they
do), but that is very rare compared to the scientist's simply being able
to go out and make new observations -- or, in Darwin's case, to be able
write to others who he thought were positioned to make the observations
he needed and expect, due to his own eminence, to receive relatively
reliable responses in fairly short order. Darwin's correspondence
network was truly astonishing to behold. And all without e-mail! :-)
Regards,
--
Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M3J 1P3
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: 416-736-5115 ext. 66164
fax: 416-736-5814
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
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