[lit-ideas] What Is This Thing Called ...
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 14:37:33 EDT
Donal McEvoy taking (surprise, surprise) a neo-Popperian stance, writes:
>The same [as what Geary was saying] is true of "science":
>for we cannot say what science is except by taking an
>ultimately normative view of what makes something 'valuable' from a
>certain perspective -- in Popper's view it being testability
>-falsifiablity by observation that underpins the character of science].
This reminds me of Chalmers' book, "What is this thing called science",
itself a parody of the Porter song now featured in the great recent movie
"De-Lovely" (Lyrics below, plus reviews of Chalmers' book from amazon). It
would
seem that for _any_ (concept) x, then any answer "what is x" is 'meta-x'. This
may lead persons into depression, or something?
Cheers,
JL
---
Bm7-5 A7 Gdim Dm
What is this thing called love?
Fdim E7 Bm7-5 A
This funny thing called love?
A7 Gdim Dm
Just who can solve its mystery?
Fdim E7 Bm7-5 A
Why should it make a fool of me?
Am D7 Am7 D7 G
I saw you there one wonderful day;
F Dm7 E
You took my heart and threw it away.
E7 A Gdim A7 Dm
That's why I ask the Lawd up in Heaven above
Fdim E7 Bm7-5 A
What is this thing called love?
WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED 'SCIENCE'
by David Chalmers
This new edition of Chalmers's highly regarded and widely read
work-translated into fifteen languages-is extensively rewritten and
reorganized,
reflecting the experience of the author, his colleagues, and correspondents in
twenty
years of teaching from the previous edition. Significant additions are new
chapters on the Bayesian approach to science, the new experimentalism, the
nature of scientific laws, and the realism/anti-realism debate. An ideal
introduction to scientific method, Chalmers's work is both accessible to
beginners
and a valuable resource for advanced students and scholars.
Introduction to the Scientific Method, May 9, 2002
Chalmers's book is the widely read and well-received classical and basic
introduction to the epistemology of science. Though this book has important
insights that can be applied to the quantitative studies in social science, it
is
essentially an introduction to the philosophy of natural sciences. Basic
concepts and important thinkers are dealt with in order in separate chapters
and
at the end of each chapter a critique is provided and entries for further
reading are provided. The latest edition of the book includes an extensive
chapter on Feyerabend and his radical agenda. Besides this the themes covered
in
the book include observation, experiment, induction, falsification, Kuhn,
Popper, Bayes, realism and anti-realism. It is a handy reference work for
graduate students and scholars alike who would like to know more about the
selection process of hypotheses, how and why hypotheses can be rejected, how
important a framework is for any "scientific" research, what it means to have
a
paradigm shift et cetera. All in all, it is a seminal introduction to the
scientific method.
What is this thing called Philosophy of Science?, May 17, 2002
"Philosophy of science ... pointlessly scholastic activity which is liable
to confuse the budding scientist" - Matthew Stewart, 'The Truth about
Everything'. Once upon a time, the wisest men in the land turned their
thoughts to
the vexed question of how it is possible for farriers to shoe horses
(actually,
what they asked was: in what sense, if any, is it meaningful to say that
'farriers' 'shoe' 'horses'?). Some said that you nail specially shaped lumps
of
iron on the extremities located at the four corners, and if one drops off you
replace it with another, hopefully longer-lasting; but this was dismissed by
almost all the wise men as too pedestrian for words. One of the wise men won
fame by pointing out that there was a time when people got by without ever
shoeing their horses. Those people, he said, would have been quite unable to
perceive why the moderns put dead weights on their horses' hooves (even
though, of course, they were just as smart as us). This was called the
incomprehensibility of paranickels. It was received with jubilation throughout
the land,
especially by those who thought that shoeing horses was rather a vulgar
business, boringly technical and probably involving difficult sums; now they
knew
the secret and didn't have to bother. Another wise man made his name by
questioning how far the farriers could be said to be shoeing horses at all.
Perhaps, he speculated, they and their customers only think that's what
they're
doing, or agree among themselves to say so; anyway, nailing shoes to horses'
heads ought to work just as well. The greatest influence on cultured folk came
from radical thinkers who doubted whether there were such things as 'horses'
and 'horseshoes'; or, if by chance there were, whether 'shoeing horses' might
not be better characterized as 'horsing shoes'. This was agreed by one and
all to be clever and humorous and (because it was written mostly in French)
deep as well. By this time, since it was clear that a learned consensus on the
farriers' art was nowhere in sight, it was suspected by some of the wise men,
and by many who had caught snatches of the argument, that the farriers must
be doing something wrong. This was called the epistemological crisis of the
post-Enlightenment ferrous hegemony, and before long it was received wisdom in
all the land. Simple country pomos would tell you about it at the drop of a
hat. The farriers found this exasperating. One reportedly said that a
philosophy of horse-shoeing is about as useful to farriers as ornithology is
to
birds. But he was a bongo-player and part-time Nobel laureate; that was just
the
kind of thing he said. As to this book, it is nicely written and provides a
solid, readable if uninspired introduction to the current state of play. Many
readers will find it useful for filling in the background, bringing the story
up to date, and yielding quality material for cocktail-party conversations.
It is best read in conjunction with the same author's 'Science and Its
Fabrication'. Of course, you must also read the wise men's original works
(don't
worry, we're not talking Wittgenstein here). But whatever you do, younkers,
never go near a smithy: to this day, the farriers can still be seen there
shamelessly nailing on lumps of iron, just as they always did.
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