[lbo-talk] science, objectivity, truth, taste and tolerance

ravi gadfly at exitleft.org
Mon Oct 2 08:00:18 PDT 2006


At around 1/10/06 1:16 pm, Michael Catolico wrote:
> in the thread on Faulkner Jerry Monaco wrote:
>
>> [...]I have again come to the conclusion that there is no
>> way we can argue over art -- we can explicate, praise, react, hope to
>> reveal, and help to experience but rarely if ever convince someone out of
>> their own confirmed taste.
>
> it's fairly disheartening to me when i read this kind of perspective -
> particularly among progressives. to me it's akin to saying "ultimately
> there's no arguing with folks over the validity of science. if you
> choose to believe that astrology is superior to astronomy for explaining
> the nature of the universe, so be it. truth is really relative and a
> matter of taste."
>

Since this is a statement or position that comes up predictably on LBO, I think I will start using my quota to make one post each day, asking this same question over and over, until someone answers it. I am not trying to be difficult or clever. Perhaps there is an answer which I have thus far not found. I think getting this nailed down should be one of the top priorities of any left/progressive/liberal programme.

Now my question(s):

Can you or someone:

a) Define "truth"? In such a way that it can be used in common

reasoning? (this rules out, I think, such things as the deflationary

theory, while leaving intact correspondence theories... you may

consider this arguable, and I am willing to pursue that debate if

necessary -- in fact it seems to me scientism requires a sort of

deflationary approach/faith in science).

b) Can you then show me that this truth is not relative but objective or

at least universal? Not in terms of particulars but in universal

scope?

c) How do you define "superior"? Do you really think that astronomy is

superior to astrology (for explaining the nature of the universe) in

every sense? How do you expect to demonstrate that conclusively?

d) What does superiority have to do with truth? Ptolemaic system of

planetary motion were probably superior to whatever it replaced. Does

that make it "true"? Is Reimann geometry true?

e) What is meant by "validity" (of science)? Valid in what sense? In

representing "truth"? In being "superior"? Or just in the mundane

sense of being more reliable than a few other systems?

f) Can you define "science"?

g) When we abandon one system of explanation for another because the

latter is more parsimonious or more elegant (easier to work with,

etc), is this because the latter is more "true"? Or is it just a

matter of "taste? (a preference for parsimony, elegance, etc).

Thank you for any light you can throw on this. My tone is not intended to be combative but at worst defensive (since I do believe that the tolerance that defines a [true] progressive is a good thing; and does not *necessarily* lead to the gas chambers as bogeyman arguments attempt to show).

--ravi

-- Support something better than yourself: ;-) PeTA: http://www.peta.org/ GreenPeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/ If you have nothing better to do: http://platosbeard.org/



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