Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA18033 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 13 Nov 2001 20:45:03 GMT Subject: Re: Debunking pseudoscience: Why horoscopes really work Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:37:08 -0500 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20011113203714.AAA5071@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.243]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 11/13/01 14:31, Dace said this-
>"Didactic" can be applied to any clear, concise statement, so it's not a
>very effective insult.
Weren't intended as an insult, whatsoever. It was intended, albeit with a
grain of sarcasm, to be precisely what it was. I know what 'didactic'
means. It means 'intended to instruct', the intent being the point, not
the fact of the instruction.
>You do make one point, though-- that science is a function of the mind-- and
>it's not so much didactic as banal.
What I said was 'science is the way the senses and the intellect work out
the world.'
Banal, in the sense of commonplace, it might be, (since its ubiquity is
obvious), but the foundational banality of it is missed and misunderstood
by people who want to discuss it as compartmentalized philosophy, which
is a useless way to look at it.
Unless you don't want it to be useful.
- Wade
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