[lit-ideas] Re: Nietzsche & truth
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 17:07:21 +0900
On 2005/01/20, at 23:46, Robert Paul wrote:
> One might wonder what defending a position in this case would amount=20=
> to. What
> grounds other than aesthetic would there be for preferring one=20
> narrative over
> another?
An answer I use with my students is borrowed from Noam Chomsky (from=20
_Syntactic Structures_ as I recall). The trick is that putting aside=20
the quest for Truth with a capital T does not preclude the use of=20
evidence to choose between better and worse theories (some of which may=20=
be framed as stories).
Chomsky describes three distinct views of scientific method, treating=20
each, as an engineer might, as a black box, with identifiable inputs=20
and outputs.
These are
1) Discovery procedures: Input=3Ddata, Output =3D Truth. (This model is=20=
demonstrably false.)
2) Decision procedures: Input =3D data + one theory, Output=3D Decision:=20=
Theory is Right or Wrong. (This model is superior to the first, but=20
still inaccurate.)
3) Evaluation procedures: Input=3D data+ at least two theories, Output=3D =
a=20
judgment that, given the data in hand, one theory is better than the=20
other=81\fits more of them better, accounts for more detail, explains=20
sequence as well as classification...lots of possible criteria.
Model 3) suggests that capital-T Truth, if it exists at all, is a limit=20=
which human knowledge approaches asymptotically, never quite reaching=20=
it.
I find this model appealing. It seems much more faithful to what=20
scientists and other serious scholars do, improving our understanding=20
without for a moment claiming that we finally know it all. It is also=20
consistent with the theological position to which I came around age=20
fourteen, when reading a collection of translated extracts from various=20=
scriptures, I stumbled across a piece attributed to "the second=20
Isaiah."
"The Lord said to Cyrus the Persian, 'Shall the clay say to the potter,=20=
what makest thou? Let the potsherds speak to the other potsherds.'"
Later on, while training to work on a telephone crisis line, I was=20
reminded of this passage when one of the missionaries teaching the=20
course said, "Remember you're not God. Just do the best you can."
Sound advice, I thought. Still do.
John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email John.McCreery@xxxxxxxxxxxx
"Making Symbols is Our Business"
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
