Does philosophy have a heuristic value
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Does philosophy have a heuristic value
 
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Dear Friammers, Often in FRIAM I have been called upon to defend philosophy as an important part of the scientific enterprise Recently, on research gate, somebody posed the following question:
The discussion (such as it is) can be found at : It seemed only to confirm the questioner’s fears that philosophers of science are neither the generals who set the battle nor the diplomats that make the peace, but are merely the scavengers that bicker over the spoils of war. . . N I think we can do better. See you next week. Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com |
Re: Does philosophy have a heuristic value
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Nice paper, roger. I posted it to the thread. Any chance I will see you next Friday? N Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Roger Critchlow http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ptb;view=text;rgn=main;idno=6959004.0001.003 Most biologists are philosophically and biologically incoherent on this subject. -- rec -- On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 9:38 AM, Nick Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:
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Re: Does philosophy have a heuristic value
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To Roger and Nick, That idea has been on the backburner of Biology for 5 decades or more. The greatest problem in the 70’s and later was Statistics which tended to dismiss anything outside of a curve. It started after the second war when an unusual coincidence of scientific minds started talking. Soviets and Americans when strange Tick-Borne plagues started emerging in the middle east, Russia, Crimea and parts of Africa. I was just a kid doing my first MSc when I met Harry Hoogstraal at an Acarology Workshop at OSU. What did I know, nothing. What the hell. He was Jimmy Carter’s science advisor, I was told later . And the de facto head of the NAMRU facility outside Cairo. Anyway he was checking on students in the lab one night I was the only nightowl and we chatted over microscopes. He asked me what I thought happened to all the parasites of the Woolly Rhino when it died out, it was a big source of blood in an Arctic Landscape? ( I was working on Moose Ticks at the time) What he was after was an answer to the stream of life question, did they die or simply find new real estate? I returned to Canada and only brought it up a few times usually when very drunk, spoiling for a fight or a real argument. Bits and pieces accumulated over time spared from the statisticians. Then totally ignored during all the subsequent eras of utter confusion and money grubbing. Mostly entomologists were the first to notice something did not fit the consensus narrative. Then microbiologists who were asked to help out and they saw the same principals with better tools. Evo-Devo made a great set of contributions not mentioned directly in the paper. This is a disturbing topic when examined carefully. Philosophers rarely examine parasites on carcasses of the dead, let alone count them. They see only what they expect. They were always averse to the smell of science. So my answer is No not usually. Since it stinks. The bias appears to originate in our simple minds that can not cope with more than 3 dimensions . A living system need not be so limited for that matter neither is mathematics (see Snarks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snark_(graph_theory ). Darwin is now a relic fought over by fools. I count Dawkins among the fools, he started out well but soon degenerated into a strange demented warrior against Theists. I love the discussions and even though I can not always respond I look forward to reading. vib From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Nick Thompson Nice paper, roger. I posted it to the thread. Any chance I will see you next Friday? N Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ From: Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Roger Critchlow http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ptb;view=text;rgn=main;idno=6959004.0001.003 Most biologists are philosophically and biologically incoherent on this subject. -- rec -- On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 9:38 AM, Nick Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:
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Re: Does philosophy have a heuristic value
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Doesn't the phrasing of these question indicate a misunderstanding of what philosophy brings to the table in the context of science? If THAT is the question, then the answer is that it depends on what the philosophers are doing. If we use the term "philosophers" very loosely, surely many individuals who would call themselves "philosophers" have contributed insights into biology, and every other field... but that probably isn't the question. The question is probably something like: Why should I give a shit what philosophers say about MY science, the one I am busy practicing? On the one hand, if the philosophers claim to be answering scientific (i.e., empirical) questions, from their arm chairs, then it might be fine to ignore them. Though surely they will sometimes come up with interesting ideas that turn out to be right, they might not do so with unusual consistency. On the other hand, if the philosophers are familiar with large swaths of your field, and are pointing out inconsistencies, or pulling together conclusions, at a larger-scale than is likely to be possible for researchers stuck in small silos, then they might well contribute to very important advances. So, do you trust that philosophers can "solve" scientific problems... probably not. Do you trust that some number of philosophers in a field will help you to identify and clarify issues, and thereby improve the pace of progress... probably yes, if you can get philosophers who understand that to be their role. ----------- Eric P. Charles, Ph.D. Lab Manager Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning American University, Hurst Hall Room 203A 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20016 phone: (202) 885-3867 fax: (202) 885-1190 email: [hidden email] On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 1:47 PM, Vladimyr Burachynsky <[hidden email]> wrote:
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