On Thu, 29 May 1997, malgosia askanas wrote:
> But is the statement "the only truths we can claim to exist are scientific
> ones" not also an ideological belief? And what is a "scientific truth"?
> The system of things accepted by scientists as "scientific truths" changes
> throughout the history of science. And what is it that convinces _you_ that
> the world is round? Is it not because you've been taught that it is
> a "scientific truth" by sources that you accept as "authoritative"?
>
> I am not making these remarks in order to question the validity of empirical
> or scientific truths. Rather, I disagree with the claim about the easy
> distinguishablitlity of truths we can in some obvious way "claim to exist"
> and others that it is supposedly futile to "agonize about". I would say that
> the only kind of truth probably not subject to much agonizing about is whether
> or not one's cat sleeps for 14 hours. Everything else is profoundly subject
> to agony, and I would perhaps argue that these agonies are the cornerstone
> of all culture, society and meaningful activity.
>
>
> -m
>
Yes I agree with you, that scientific authority is questionable, and I
do take great pleasure in doing so. Most people however, see truth as
absolute, and certain, which Derrida for example takes a very hard line
against. i appreciate that most things are subject to agony, and I am a
true Sartrean existentialist in terms of agonising. The point I was
trying to make was that we need to make a distinction ...
between certain,
absolute truths and constructed truths. How do I know that the world is
round ...? Well I've seen enough pictures from outer space to convince
me, but there are other things about science I can still question. I do
not hold Science in any high esteem, but it is hard to dispute that
things like gravity do exist ... but then I often teach my students, that
everytime you throw a ball up in the air, it is not gravity that brings
it back, but little invisible green creatures !!! ]
So sure, I think it's okay to agonise about knowledge ... it is part of
the dialectical process. Let's not talk about truth then in grand
absolutist terms.
Here's to all those fellow agonisers ... !!!!
Lubna
> But is the statement "the only truths we can claim to exist are scientific
> ones" not also an ideological belief? And what is a "scientific truth"?
> The system of things accepted by scientists as "scientific truths" changes
> throughout the history of science. And what is it that convinces _you_ that
> the world is round? Is it not because you've been taught that it is
> a "scientific truth" by sources that you accept as "authoritative"?
>
> I am not making these remarks in order to question the validity of empirical
> or scientific truths. Rather, I disagree with the claim about the easy
> distinguishablitlity of truths we can in some obvious way "claim to exist"
> and others that it is supposedly futile to "agonize about". I would say that
> the only kind of truth probably not subject to much agonizing about is whether
> or not one's cat sleeps for 14 hours. Everything else is profoundly subject
> to agony, and I would perhaps argue that these agonies are the cornerstone
> of all culture, society and meaningful activity.
>
>
> -m
>
Yes I agree with you, that scientific authority is questionable, and I
do take great pleasure in doing so. Most people however, see truth as
absolute, and certain, which Derrida for example takes a very hard line
against. i appreciate that most things are subject to agony, and I am a
true Sartrean existentialist in terms of agonising. The point I was
trying to make was that we need to make a distinction ...
between certain,
absolute truths and constructed truths. How do I know that the world is
round ...? Well I've seen enough pictures from outer space to convince
me, but there are other things about science I can still question. I do
not hold Science in any high esteem, but it is hard to dispute that
things like gravity do exist ... but then I often teach my students, that
everytime you throw a ball up in the air, it is not gravity that brings
it back, but little invisible green creatures !!! ]
So sure, I think it's okay to agonise about knowledge ... it is part of
the dialectical process. Let's not talk about truth then in grand
absolutist terms.
Here's to all those fellow agonisers ... !!!!
Lubna