> Date sent: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 09:07:22 -0700 (PDT)
> Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rahul Mahajan)
> To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [PEN-L:5102] Re: one last...
> James Craven:
>
> >8) The only test of theory is prediction; if the theory is sound
> >this will be reflected in the accuracy of prediction; individual
> >assumptions need not be supported empirically or inductively as if
> >they are sound they will lead to deductively and predictively "valid"
> >conclusions and predictions; Libertarians who claim to follow
> >"positivism" and "objectivism" are "deductivist" and do not see
> >induction and deduction as two sides of the same coin--cognition;
> >Concepts such as racism, sexism, power, history are too squishy,
> >cannot be operationalized and mathematically modelled and further are
> >not real forces in shaping real-world exchanges and phenomena and are
> >therefore not worthy of being discussed;
>
> This makes little sense to me. All of science is done by taking the basic
> underpinnings (axioms, equations of motion, etc.), deducing consequences of
> them, then empirically testing those consequences. This is the only way to
> do it. The eq.'s of motion themselves cannot be "directly" tested -- they
> can only be tested by their results.
>
> In what imaginable sense is this specific to libertarianism?
>
> Rahul Mahajan
>
response:
Where do those purported axioms come from? The positivists assert
that I can merely assert of postulate a priori (with no inductive
methods and process leading to and supporting those generalizations)
and if they yield a theory that has "predictive validity", then not
only the theory is assumed to be "valid" but also the assuptions that
were employed to construct the theory are assumed to be validated as
well.
first problem: Suppose I want to conclude (for ideological,
religious, vested interest etc purposes) that A = C; then I merely
assert a priori, the assumptions (axioms) necessary to "deductively"
arrive at A = C (A =B, B = C); then I go to contrived data and
theoretical and data sources, employ contrived methodologies that
"prove" my prediction was correct and then voila I have "validated"
my theory and its assumptions through my prediction.
Another problem is that a prediction can be partly intuitive and not
necessarily flow from a theory, the prediction can be near accurate
and that says nothing about the "validity" of the theory--or its core
assumptions--only something about my luck and intuition;
Another problem is that many phenomena operate in the real-world that
can be qualified but not necessarily "quantified" without a great
deal of highly restrictive assumptions that effectively gut out the
essence of what is being modelled--racism, institutions, racism,
sexism, imperialism, power etc. The task of science is not merely to
predict it is to get below the surface to the essence of phenomena
for the purposes of prediction and transformation, manipulation etc.
In other words science also involves qualifying as well as
quantifying and delineating, analyzing and explaining the essence of
phenomena--separating the pepper from the flyshit. This notion that
the only purpose--and test--of science is prediction is very limited
and myopic; this narrow definition of the purposes of science and the
ultimate test of theoretical validity (a priori deductivist) has
very real ideological purposes and very real-world consequences on
very real people.
Jim Craven
*---------------------------*----------------------------------------*
* James Craven * "All things have inner meaning and *
* Dept of Economics * form and power." (Hopi) *
* Clark College * "In this world the unseen has power." *
* 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. * (Apache) *
* Vancouver, Wa. 98663 * "Be satisfied with needs instead of *
* (360) 992-2283 * wants." (Tenton Lakota) *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] * "The Great Spirit is always angry *
* * with men who shed innocent blood." *
* * (Iowa) *
* * "It is no longer good enough to cry *
* * peace, we must act peace, live peace, *
* * and live in peace."(Shenandoah) *
* * "A people without a history is like *
* the wind over buffalo grass."(Lakota) *
* *
* "There are many paths to a meaningful sense of the natural world." *
* (Blackfeet); "A shady lane breeds mud." (Hopi); *
* "Strive to be a person who is never absent from an important act." *
* (Osage); "Men in search of a myth will usually find one."(Pueblo) *
* "Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way." *
* (Blackfeet); "Some are smart but they are not wise."(Shoshone); *
* "The one who tells the stories rules the world." (Hopi); *
* "Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance." (Lakota); *
* "The only things that need the protection of men are the things of *
* men, not the things of the spirit." (Crow); "When the legends *
* die, the dreams end; there is no more greatness."( Shawnee ); *
* "I love a people who do not live for the love of money."(Dwamish) *
* "Stolen food never satisfies hunger." (Omaha); "Man's law changes *
* with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit always *
* remain the same." (Crow); "It takes a whole village to raise a *
* child." (Omaha); "Everything the Power does, it does in a circle."*
* (Lakota); "Man has responsibility, not power."(Tuscarora) *
* "With all things and in all things, we are relatives." (Lakota) *
* MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION *
