Posted by
Steve Smith on
Jul 11, 2009; 9:11pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Analytic-philosophy-Wikipedia-the-free-encyclopedia-tp3235494p3243699.html
I'm not clear on why there is such a culture clash on this list around
Philosophy, Mathematics, and Science...
I know only of one specific person on the list who has a significantly
alternate perspective.
Whether we know of them (formally) or not, there are philosophical
traditions which we are products of.
Most of us here are interested in the topics of mathematics, science,
language, etc. *because* we were exposed to these ideas and modes of
thought from an early age and from many angles. Even if we grew up in
a household where there was a modicum of magical thinking and animism
around us, the larger world, and most *any* practical-minded western
family today is going to be acting and speaking with a lot of
rational
and
empirical modes.
We got that way by being raised in a time and culture where that is
how most people (try to) understand the world. If were were trained
in mathematics or the sciences, we were almost surely trained by people
who were grounded deeply in this philosophy.
Most of us here are empiricists and rationalists, which roughly implies
that we are logical positivists. These are philosophical traditions.
Philosophy (in this case, Western tradition) is a method or system of
organizing the human experience.
Epistemology is the branch of (Western) Philosophy concerned with the
nature and the limitations of human knowledge. Metaphysics is the
branch concerned with the fundamental nature of being and the world.
Science and Mathematics reside almost exclusively within Metaphysics
and Epistimology. There are aspects of both which touch on (or are
informed by) Aesthetics and Ethics, but the meat is in the study of
knowledge and the study of the world.
Most criticism I hear (here and otherwise, explicit or implicit) seems
to come down to one of two (mis)understandings:
- Serious sounding talk about anything we don't understand is
"Philosophy" and we either therefore hold it in awe or (more often)
dismiss it. For some folks (few on this list), the same treatment is
given to "Mathematics" and "Science" for approximately the same reasons.
- The "white males" who show up most notably throughout our history
as the shapers of Philosophy (and Mathematics and Science) were
products of their social/cultural milieu and their personal failings in
the realm of human and social equality, justice, etc. do not
necessarily discredit the work that is associated with them.
Why can't we simply accept that most of us have a particular attachment
and fondness for the empirical and rational subsets of philosophy and
that the *rest* of it is mostly outside of our experience and perhaps
interest. And *within* these subdomains of Philosophy, why can't we
admit that our specific methods are derived from the more general ones
of metaphysics, epistomology, and sometimes aesthetics and ethics?
For those who have experience/interest in other systems than Western
Philosophy, I think similar things are true, with the most notable
exception (in my observation) that
empiricism and
rationality
do not play as central of a role. It seems *precisely* this which
draws many (not so many here, but many in the larger world) to other
traditions...
It is outside the scope of this particular posting to go into the
merits of
Empiricism and
Rationality _vs_
other
modes of knowledge and experience except to say that this
particular Choir (FRIAM members) who for the most part sings *only* in
the keys of
E and
R to be squabbling as if some of us
are in a completely different key when in fact, the only problem is
that few if any of us have
perfect pitch.
- Steve
I think I need to take a long Motorcycle Ride (stopping to clean my
plugs, adjust my valves, synchronize my carburators, lubricate my
chain, and tear down and rebuild my forks at least once along the
way).
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