Rational choice is not between science and common sense; it is a choice of both, of science to master the universal, and of common sense to deal with the particular. -Bernard Lonergan
I have written of Ladyman and Ross's neopositivist commitments in terms of the separation of the context of discovery from the context of justification. Now, I want to deepen this assessment in light of Siegel's criticism of Quine. The separation hinges on the following question: where does the epistemological action take place? The neopositivists claim … Continue reading Scientific and extrascientific epistemology
In a previous post, I discussed the nature of the conflict between neopositivistic and naturalistic epistemology regarding the normative status of epistemology for science. Here, I present a compelling criticism of Quine's naturalized epistemology which suggests that shifting epistemology from philosophy to psychology does not accomplish everything Quine hoped it would. Quine's equivocation Harvey Siegel … Continue reading Quine was half right
W.V.O. Quine (left); Hans Reichenbach (right) James Ladyman and Don Ross are ambiguous about the role of epistemological justification in their endeavor to naturalize metaphysics. In my previous post, I cited the following passage from their text regarding the demarcation problem: We demarcate good science – around lines which are inevitably fuzzy near the boundary … Continue reading Is epistemology normative? Neopositivism vs naturalism
Why cognitive psychology? It might not be immediately apparent why my study of the philosophy of science devotes so much time and space to cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Why am I bothering with Iain McGilchrist, Jonathan Haidt, Daniel Kahneman, and Jordan Peterson? How, exactly, does the study of human cognition link up with philosophy of … Continue reading Cognitive psychology and the philosophy of science
Finally, the end of chapter 2 is nigh. McGilchrist finishes the chapter by drawing attention to several broader differences between the hemispheres in the following sections: Meaning and the implicit Music and time Depth Certainty Moral sense Meaning and the implicit Earlier, McGilchrist associated left hemispheric processing with abstraction rather than context, with attention to … Continue reading “What Do the Two Hemisphere’s Do,” in The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist (part III)
These reading notes cover the following sections: Context versus abstraction Individuals versus categories The personal versus the impersonal The living versus the non-living Reason versus rationality Context versus abstraction For the same reason that the right hemisphere sees things as a whole, before they have been digested into parts, it also sees each thing in … Continue reading “What Do the Two Hemispheres ‘Do'” in The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist (part II)
Jordan Peterson is not known primarily for his work as a scientist. Instead, much of the popular attention paid to him is filtered through the lens of politics, which is unfortunate. Though I must admit that I discovered him through Youtube as many other have. However, in addition to his recorded lectures and speeches, … Continue reading “Maps of Experience” in Maps of Meaning by Jordan B. Peterson
McGilchrist continues his slog through the neurological evidence for his argument. The footnotes provide 535 references for this chapter alone. I am grateful for his efforts because, undoubtedly, most of this data is beyond my ability to understand without such a commentary. He has argued up to this point that human bihemispheric neurology results in … Continue reading “What do the Two Hemispheres ‘Do'” in The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist (part I)
I did not address several important points in part I, so I will do so here. I want to strengthen McGilchrist's discussed relationship between needs, values, attention, and things, as well as highlight the distinction between Distance and Detachment. Needs, values, attention, and things McGilchrist states that the competing needs of life, both for animals and … Continue reading “Asymmetry and the Brain” in The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist (part II)
In this first chapter, McGilchrist begins laying the neurological foundation for his argument that the bihemispheric structure of the human brain results in two different ways of being in the world. The most relevant material for my purposes is McGilchrist's discussion of how various animals with a bihemispheric neurological structure provide a phylogenic precedent for … Continue reading “Asymmetry and the Brain” in The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist (part I)
Dissertating Outloud 