Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA06437 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 27 Mar 2001 12:45:19 +0100 Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 11:47:47 +0100 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: The Demise of a Meme Message-ID: <20010327114747.B1417@reborntechnology.co.uk> References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745D1D@inchna.stir.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.15i In-Reply-To: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745D1D@inchna.stir.ac.uk>; from v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk on Tue, Mar 27, 2001 at 10:45:17AM +0100 From: Robin Faichney <robin@reborntechnology.co.uk> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On Tue, Mar 27, 2001 at 10:45:17AM +0100, Vincent Campbell wrote:
> >
> What I mean is you must have some way to test different value
> judgements against each other. Only science, of the different approaches we
> have to this kind of dilemma, offers the hope of a testing process which may
> be value free (note the qualifications here).
Science is, indeed, value free. That's why we need something other than
science to help us handle values.
> >> Otherwise you end up either in a fence-sitting position refusing
> to judge
> > >> anything, and thus unable to act, or you must end up with a cultural
> > >> relativism where anything goes, and everything is of equal merit-
> > whether
> > >> that be meditation or mass human sacrifice.
> >
> <Maybe you could explain how such laudable values (or any others)
> can be
> > derived from science.>
> >
> I think the emphasis should be the other way round- why should
> anyone derive their values from any belief system which eschews empirical
> testing?
This is about "could", not "should". I claim you can't derive values
from science. Regardless of the desireability of deriving them from
anything else. Now show me how you can.
> Science is explicitly about this, hence its capacity to, at least
> potentially, resolve disputes.
It can resolve disputes about facts, not those about values.
-- Robin Faichney Get your Meta-Information from http://www.ii01.org (CAUTION: contains philosophy, may cause heads to spin)=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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