Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA02289 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 8 Apr 2002 20:52:41 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [137.110.248.206] From: "Grant Callaghan" <grantc4@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: memetics-digest V1 #1011 Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 12:46:30 -0700 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <LAW2-F143wmlZBv9nin00014583@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 08 Apr 2002 19:46:31.0302 (UTC) FILETIME=[14C8DA60:01C1DF36] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>>>
>>>On Sunday, April 7, 2002, at 04:33 , Jarmo Pystynen wrote:
>>>
>>>>"Have you ever realized that in the perfect state of observation you,
>>>>the
>>>>observer, you the thinker, the center cease to exist?"
>>>
>>>And I wrote not three days ago, to another, a concerningly similar-
>>>
>>>"The true act of observation is done in silence- no thoughts impede- it
>>>is a totally receptive state. And, within this state, what flows in the
>>>mind, and what processes congeal and form to bring sense to this
>>>silence, is the creative process, and, it works as well upon the field
>>>of science (and as validly) as it does upon the field of art and poetry,
>>>each with their own tools and experiences and cultures and technologies
>>>and practitioners and traditions. But it is where one takes the fruits
>>>of this silence that determines what is to be next- science or poetry.
>>>Facts or feelings."
>>>
>>>- Wade
>>>
>>I liked that description. From the quote marks around it I guess it was
>>not
>>original or was from something you wrote earlier. But I'm glad you were
>>able to pass it along anyway.
>>
>>
>>
>Wade's uber-empiricist stance borders on what Popper would have derided as
>a
>bucket theory, one of those "blank state" notions that we are empty and
>free
>from preconceived biases that filter our observations. Borrowing liberally
>from Popper, I'll use a little experiment of his that pretty much nips the
>hyperempiricist tabula rasa "bucket theory" notion in the bud.
>
>>From _Objective Knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach_(1979. Clarendon
>>Press,
>Oxford, p. 59) Popper says:
>
>(bq) "My experiment consists of asking you to *observe*, here and now. I
>hope you are all co-operating, and observing! However, I fear that at least
>some of you, instead of observing, will feel a strong urge to ask: 'WHAT do
>you want me to observe?'" (eq)
>
>Thus, it is possible that expectations or hypotheses precede observations.
>Observation is theory laden. It is not "pure". There are presuppositions
>involved and our cognitive filters (based on thought patterns we have had)
>carve our experience of reality for us. This pretty much goes back to
>Kant's
>assertion that we impose our own laws upon nature via the categories. How
>anybody with a sociobiological bias (Wade) could disagree with this Kantian
>notion is beyond me, though he implicitly hints toward the refutation of
>the
>hyperempirist approach by mention of tools, technologies, and traditions.
>Tools and technologies presuppose some theory that either goes into
>crafting
>the tool, which could serve as a filter or carver of reality. Technologies
>are complexin themselves and have a whole groundwork of theories bhind
>them.
>Traditions is a term whose presupposed theoretical biases which are
>inherent
>is self-explanatory. Traditions presuppose knowledge which has come
>bforehand and has been inherited from previous generations in a field.
>Within the lenses of this tradition one's observations are filtered.
>
>There's no silent purity. Thoughts do impede as abstraction from reality is
>an active and creative process. Observation is theory-laden.
It sounds to me like you're reading a lot into Wade's writing that isn't
really there. The term "borders on" suggests that it wasn't really what he
said. Isn't that the old straw man trick? I assert you "almost" said
something that I can easily knock down and then proceed to do it. Ahh, the
game of language -- isn't it fun!
Cheers,
Grant
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