All- Awfully early on a Saturday for this. :) Allen Esterson asked: "Does not the superseding of Newtonian mechanics and theory of gravitation by Einsteinian relativity theory provide an illustration that science is not *inherently* circular?"
Well. *inherently* could lead to interesting tangents here! I'll bite a little and say that it may depend in a very real sense on how you define that word. In one sense, science isn't inherently anything because it is the cognizers who think and have *inheritence* (I'm not being flippant- I actually think therein lies part of the solution, or cop-out, if you prefer). Science doesn't have inherent characteristics except those imposed in the inherent limitations of the participants. Assuming, thinking in realms like systems theory, that the theoreticians are sufficiently large and/or develop sufficient cognitive advantage, the resultant product itself could easily be argued to rise above any such limitations of fixed or limited parameters. The library is more intelligent than any single reader. In all honesty, I think I'd proceed to draw Wittgenstein into this and talk about the language problems/games being played. Sometimes it is difficult not to utilize the power of abstraction to argue our way into corners that we can't seem to find our way out of. Unless one is willing to stop for a moment and recognize that the corner doesn't exist. So the *inherent* limitation isn't in our ability to conceptualize correct solutions or understandings of the world we (science) observe. If I might tangent for a moment, "If a student is sufficiently confused by my drivel or tangential thinking in my class one could argue to that student I appear a blithering idiot or that the world/phenomenon I'm explaining seems impenetrable. That failure of student to cognize or follow my proves neither." Next. Tim PS- Thanks to whomever started this. It is a brief break from a weekend of conducting interviews. :) _______________________________ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." - Albert Pike --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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