And you mean to say you have to take out a tape measure before you know the distance from Toronto to Windsor? Why wont an accurate road map do with those things at the side that tell you distance between major cities? Even saves you doing any math. If you really must have your tape measure to have discursive knowledge or scientific knowledge isnt there the problem of determining exactly where the border is of Windsor and Toronto, problems about Metro versus Toronto proper...what point u are imaginging you start at and end up with in each city.and on and on....Oh this is all so complicated it makes my head spin.....lol We will need to fund a summer project for student scientists to get discursive knowledge on this. Is this Habermas or Alice in Wonderland talking?
Cheers, Ken Hanly
----- Original Message ----- From: Kenneth MacKendrick <kenneth.mackendrick at utoronto.ca> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 3:35 AM Subject: Re: Ethical foundations of the left
> At 09:40 PM 7/25/01 -0500, you wrote:
> >Sounds as if you are geographically challenged if you think Ulan Bator is
> >the capital of Mongolia is hypothetical knowledge. By the way what is
> >hypothetical knowledge? Is it knowledge of hypotheses or knowledge of
> >propositions of the form "if x then y" ie. hypotheticals?
>
> From a theoretical perspective, hypothetical knowledge is knowledge that
> is assumed in a prescientific situation (like my total ignorance of
> geography yet my determination to supply directions). In other words,
> knowledge only counts as knowledge if it has been discursively determined.
>
> How far is it from Toronto to Winsdor?
> About 385km.
> That's prescientific knowledge, it is hypothetical in the sense that I
> haven't actually done the math and geography.
> It takes about 2 hours by car.
> That's prescientific knowledge too.
>
> Until we hire the tapemeasure brigade to sort out the distance... we're
> stuck with a guess.
>
> I believe the distance is about 385km.
> The government knows that the distance is 383km.
> I intuitively think that it takes about 2 hours by car.
> The police know that it takes just under four hours.
>
> And I'm still working on that Searle and Austin post.
>
> ken
>
>
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