Yes, as I already mentioned, I believe the eastern mindset
(I am primarily thinking of places like China, Japan, Korea, but not
necessarily limited to these) will quite readily accept the science, but see it
as limited and not capable of explaining everything (as in my example of
probability theory being unable to explain why a particular pattern of heads
and tails shows up at a particular time).
I added Western faith based people to show that even in countries awash in
science and technology such as the US, there are many people who also see
science as a quite limited and insufficient worldview. Hence my surmise that a
physicalistic scientific mindset is limited to relative few (with even fewer of
this minority being actual scientists—and of course faith in God is also a part
of this group). As well, in the Arab world and India religion still plays a
very significant role in the population today even though they accept science
as far as it goes.
I disagree with Chris' assertion that the question is whether the scientific
minority are or are not in political power at the time. What if a scientific
minority were in political power (let’s say in the US)? What would it do?
Legislate
against belief in God? Forced education that God doesn’t exist? Take away the
children of people with a faith based worldview? (I think Dawkins would if he
could—thank God he doesn’t have any political power!) Regardless, even
totalitarian
regimes cannot necessarily change people's attitudes and beliefs (I think
history is probably replete with examples). But, for a couple of examples,
Christianity
is still alive in China (and Russia) despite systematic attempts to eliminate
it (and Fulan Gong is still kicking).
--Mike
--- On Fri, 9/12/08, Christopher D. Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Christopher D. Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [tips] Philosophical differences?
To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, September 12, 2008, 3:21 PM
Michael Smith wrote:
Wouldn't it be most people don't embrace the scientific
method as a way of knowing since there are far more people with an
eastern mindset (or a faith based one) than people with a western
scientific mindset?
Aren't people who hold a physicalistic scientific
worldview still in the minority (and will probably to remain so)?
I hardly think that the "faith-based" mindset is any more "Eastern"
than "Western." Although some of us in the ivory towers came (falsely)
to believe that there had been some seismic shift in the bases of
popular thought in perhaps the last half of the 20th century, anyone
who was paying the least attention to general elections was forcibly
shaken out of this delusion from about 1994 to the present day.
By the same token, the Japanese (which would appear to be "East") never
seemed to have any trouble appreciating the value of science and
(especially) technology, which is precisely why it was so easily and
brutally walk over most of eastern Asia during (what we called) World
War II.
And, of course, during the early Middle Ages, the Arab world was much
more amenable to the "scientific" mindset (broadly speaking) than was
Wester Europe. India was far ahead of all the world in mathematical
research at that time as well (What we call "Arabic" numerals were
actually Indian in origin.)
In short, the "scientific" mindset doesn't seem to be geographical. It
appears to be a small minority of people, potentially anywhere at any
time. The question is whether that minority happens to be "in" or "out"
of political power at a particular moment.
Chris
--
Christopher D
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Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada
416-736-2100 ex. 66164
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
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