From: Horse (horse@darkstar.uk.net)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 02:20:42 GMT
Hi Glenn
On 5 Jan 2003 at 21:38, Horse wrote:
> On a happier note though positivism/scientism does appear to be
> losing much of it's appeal because for most people it has very little to say and
> attempts to degrade many activities which most hold in high regard as meaningless.
> Philosophy, art, music, etc.
The request was made that I should support the above statement.
It's fairly obvious that I was referring to Logical Positivism and the two terms are often
used to refer to the same thing. If you don't accept this, then read the entry for Logical
Positivism in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy:
logical positivism, also called positivism.....
Whilst it may be true that some people do still follow the doctrine of Logical Positivism
the continued mass acceptance of these ideas didn't occur and the overall concept has
been in decline for many years. If it had been of higher value than later advances in the
philosophy of science then it would have fared better - but it didn't. So ultimately it has
little to say to most people.
For a definition of degrade see:
www.dictionary.com
Degrade: To reduce in grade, rank, or status; demote.
To me this just seems so obvious that little elaboration is required.
One of the aims of Logical Positivism was to effectively put science at the top of the
heap. This was, I believe, in response to continental philosophy and the high status of
Metaphysics. In order to do this other non-verifiable activities were reduced in status.
Metaphysics was effectively regarded as 'bunk', ethics reduced to emotivism and
aesthetics to, well.... take your pick really. Overall, philosophy was seen as a means to
analyse language. If that isn't a demotion then I don't know what is!
Art and Music are effectively in the same class. Although they may be enjoyed by many
they are essentially meaningless (in the technical, non-verifiable sense) and thus
provide little knowledge about the world. As they provide little knowledge about the
world compared to Science then they are of a lower order when it comes to the aims of
Logical Positivism i.e. explaining the world. Again a demotion.
So Logical Positivism is losing (in fact, has lost) much of it's appeal because it has little
to say and does attempt to degrade (i.e. reduce in grade, rank, or status; demote) many
activities which most hold in high regard as meaningless. Philosophy, art, music, etc.
Horse
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