Philosophy in the Flesh

Embodied cognitive science, language, and the outside world.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• philosophy
• embodiment
• lakoff
• johnson

[wonderist]

"science is about general patterns"

Ah! You got so close. Science is about prediction. The foundation of this prediction is statistics, which is how patterns come in. But ultimately it's about making predictions that either are accurate or inaccurate. Without the ability to predict, science would be as useless as astrology.

[redliterocket4]

prediction of general patterns, no? do you disagree that science alwyas leaves out the strange cases, the stuff way out on the edge of the curve that we simply can't explain? no need to, really. science is still quite useful for predicting the outcome of certain patterns most of the time.

[wonderist]

It's called Occam's Razor, leaving out the fringe ideas. You consider them, you just don't support them until they have evidence.

BTW: It is easy to see patterns. Try a Rorschach test (spelling?). But to make predictions from patterns requires hypotheses and evidence, so science is about prediction, not merely patterns.

[redliterocket4]

I wasn't so much talking about fringe ideas as I was about specific and uncommon events. The general truths of science don't seem to be "laws of nature," they seem more like habits. So for instance, there is a theory of mental health, but each schizophrenic is a unique case whose situation cannot always be squeezed to fit into the general theory.

[tyrbolo]

Mea Culpa. It suddenly occurred to me that you have

no real experience (raising a child, living in a

country where you don't speak the language, etc.)

Forced into reading instead of being you wander in

Maya unable to see the answers in your own answer

above. Keep trying.

[redliterocket4]

true enough.

[easilywow]

I like what you say about thought being inherently constructive and that in having this constructive thought we do not see the world as it is. However...you say that this makes it so that we cannot behold "truth" because truth would be what is beyond our constructive and intentional thought. I see your point and partially agree, but I think it's unfair to place truth in this sort of intangible place beyond our direct experience of the world. Truth is part of and can be found in the construction.

[kurtrosenwinkel]

That was fantastic. It's good to see someone questioning the classical ungrounded symbolic viewpoint. It's really a whole new way to conceive of language processing.

[soelvihaavik]

An excellent string of thought you made there, it helped me as a new student in these issues to get a better understanding of what Chomsky is actually saying with regards to language and thought. I've also followed the latest cat fight between Pinker and Lakoff, though I have yet to grasp the details in their arguments... Anyway, thanks for the video, and keep them coming, please!