Michael Smith wrote: > > Wouldn't it be most people don't embrace the scientific method as a > way of knowing since there are far more people with an eastern mindset > (or a faith based one) than people with a western scientific mindset? > Aren't people who hold a physicalistic scientific worldview still in > the minority (and will probably to remain so)? > I hardly think that the "faith-based" mindset is any more "Eastern" than "Western." Although some of us in the ivory towers came (falsely) to believe that there had been some seismic shift in the bases of popular thought in perhaps the last half of the 20th century, anyone who was paying the least attention to general elections was forcibly shaken out of this delusion from about 1994 to the present day.
By the same token, the Japanese (which would appear to be "East") never seemed to have any trouble appreciating the value of science and (especially) technology, which is precisely why it was so easily and brutally walk over most of eastern Asia during (what we called) World War II. And, of course, during the early Middle Ages, the Arab world was much more amenable to the "scientific" mindset (broadly speaking) than was Wester Europe. India was far ahead of all the world in mathematical research at that time as well (What we call "Arabic" numerals were actually Indian in origin.) In short, the "scientific" mindset doesn't seem to be geographical. It appears to be a small minority of people, potentially anywhere at any time. The question is whether that minority happens to be "in" or "out" of political power at a particular moment. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
