Re: Pragmaticism and puritanism

Posted by Frank Wimberly-2 on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Pragmaticism-and-puritanism-tp7594748p7594760.html

There was a psychoanalytic institute in Pittsburgh.  There are very few cities that have one:  Boston, NY, Pittsburgh, Chicago, LA, Denver, Atlanta.  San Francisco, and maybe a few others.  There was a philosophy professor at Pitt (my PhD Alma Mater) named Adolph Grunbaum who wrote books and papers with titles like "Why Psychoanalysis is not Scientific".  I asked senior Psychoanalyst what the thought of Grunbaum's work.  He said that it makes as much sense to ask whether science should be more psychoanalytic as it does to ask whether psychoanalysis should be more scientific.  This surprised me because all during my education the people was around seemed to think that science was the royal road to the truth (elitists).

My conclusion was that for some people science has that meaning; for others it's religion, for others it's psychoanalysis, for others...

Why is one view more valid than the others?  Because science (actually with engineering) has made it possible to send probes to Neptune?  Depends on your goals.  

Adolph Grunbaum's brother was a Psychoanalyst, for what it's worth.

Frank

On Wed, Mar 11, 2020, 10:29 AM <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Dave,

Well, at the very least, the kind of information that would convince me to take a somewhat dodgy drug to fend off covid19. 

N

Nicholas Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
Clark University
[hidden email]
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/



-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 9:05 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Pragmaticism and puritanism

May I add — what would convince you that psychedelic experiences are worth of the same kind of investigation as "ordinary" experiences.

davew


On Wed, Mar 11, 2020, at 3:18 PM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:
> Well, I definitely privilege scientific ways of knowing more than any
> other way of knowing [†]. So I don't disagree with what you *say*. But
> it seems to me that *you* don't privilege scientific knowledge in
> these discussions. You talk a LOT about philosophy and metaphysics,
> but not much about scientific results. The recent 'round and 'round
> about "sledgehammers", Peirce's metaphysics, or whatnot, largely
> ignoring any attempts to discuss psychedelic research and medicine,
> seems to imply that you do not privilege science.
>
> So, maybe if I pull out the old saw again?  If results published in
> peer-reviewed literature and clinical trial data will NOT convince you
> that psychedelics can be used as medicine, then what WOULD convince
> you? If nothing will ever convince you, then you certainly do NOT
> privilege science.
>
>
> [†] It ain't perfect; and it ain't the only kind of knowledge. But
> it's the best we have.
>
> On 3/10/20 11:03 AM, [hidden email] wrote:
> > No, I am not sure that Dave and Glen would disagree with any of this.
>
> --
> ☣ uǝlƃ
>
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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
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
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============================================================
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
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove