From: ian glendinning (psybertron@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Apr 26 2005 - 10:24:49 BST
Sam,
Feyerabend I know only by indirect reference - remind me which
specific article / book you are referring to - I'd be interested.
My point of doubt / scepticism remains the "fitting the facts" concept.
ie Essentially empirical, but without "explanation".
But I'm game to learn.
Thanks
Ian
On 4/26/05, Sam Norton <elizaphanian@kohath.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Ian,
>
> > Sorry Sam, but that's not a "quibble".
> >
> > My point precisely is that "evidence" is loaded in some logical
> > positivist empirical test sense and no astronomer / scientist, however
> > genius / inspired was going to have that kind of "evidence".
> > It's the classic religious - "go on, prove me wrong" challenge -
> > utterly meaningless, based on a scientific misunderstanding about
> > "proof" - focussing only on scientific method. And as I pointed out
> > elsewhere characterising it as "Farewell to Reason" is really
> > "Farewell to old logical positivist reason, and on to new higher
> > quality reason."
>
> Have you read the Feyarabend article? I think you'd find it interesting. So
> far as I understand it, the dispute was exactly about evidence etc.
> Galileo's assertion didn't fit the available facts (because he was assuming
> perfect circles for the orbits etc) whereas the Ptolemaic system, despite
> being complex and ugly, still did. Feyarabend discusses the guiding
> assumptions (like Biblical inerrancy etc) and makes what I think is the very
> strong point that the Vatican was prepared to back down if there had been
> evidence supporting Galileo's point of view - and evidence in just the way
> that you would accept, evidence that wasn't all that long in coming forward
> (ie change some assumptions about the nature of the orbits and hey presto,
> the calculations fit). So it's not the classic religious 'prove me wrong'.
> Yes, it's still empirical, but that was the nature of the dispute, wasn't
> it?
>
> Sam
>
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