[lit-ideas] Geary-Pavlov Experiment
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:08:06 EST
MEMPHIS, Tennessee. Ministry of Metaphysics. Prof. Geary has set an
experiment 'to refute Pavlov'. "My inspiration has been Grice". As is well
known,
Pavlov conditioned his dog to salivate on the hearing of a bell. "I
wanted," said Geary, "to explore an idea by a student of mine -- the idea of a
'true alarm'." Geary has in mind the idea of factivity. "A false alarm we all
know what it is, but this student of mine keeps talking of a true alarm,
otiosely". "So, I deviced an unpavlovian experiement". Remains of the
interview:
Interviewer: Unpavlovian?
Geary. Yes. The idea is to uncondition those dogs. What we do (with the
help of my student) is ring the bells but provide no food.
Speranza: We soon found that the dogs kept salivating.
Interviewer: Because they took, er, the 'false' alarm, to be a 'true' one?
Geary and Speranza: Eggsactly.
Geary. But by the third week ...
Speranza -- and a half. Third and a half week.
Geary. Whatever. Erin Holder kept the log. We found the dogs had stopped
salivating.
Interviewer: As if they _knew_ or learned that no food was 'in view'.
Geary. "In view" is a matter of speaking. We kept the dogs hidden from
view. A lot of regulations with the Society for the Protection of Animals these
days. In any case, the tubes we applied to the dogs's throats were not
harmful.
Holden: No. It was easy to install them.
Interviewer: Are you publishing your results?
Geary: Yes, in lit-ideas, for Andreas Ramos to comment. He likes _cats_.
------------------------------------------------------------ Speranza,
etc.
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