Marxism and Logic and Science and Comic Books

[Charles Jannuzi]

Carrol writes:
>Several years ago there was an >interesting discussion on PEN-L >as to what
the German word for >"science" meant in cultivated >German of the
>second half of the 19th century -- >that is the meaning which would be
>relevant in examining the claims of >Marx and Engels to be practicing
>science. I don't remember what >conclusion if any the PEN-L >thread came
to.

Like a ghost something like the full thread title has come back to LBO Talk.

I suspect that what we so easily call 'scientists' today are really mostly
just technicians. They do experiments under supervision with about as much
thought as a lab technician gives to your urine specimen. And if you go back
far enough they were alchemists and apothecaries.

I'm going to re-read the Magic Mountain this year and let you know if I get
any insights from Thomas Mann. Also, I remember an interesting monograph
back in the 70s authored by Piaget that attempted to classify the sciences.
If I remember, he had a three-part structure: natural sciences, the sciences
of 'man', and the formal sciences. The fog of time.
I'll have to look through the Jannuzi collection to see if I still have that
book, after 15 changes of residence anything is possible.

Charles Jannuzi