<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body> Carrol, you worked really hard to misread me that badly. So I won't even argue. But you're right about me and Plato. Can't stand the fellow. Joanna Carrol Cox wrote: <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid44DAA29A.93608ABF@ilstu.edu"> <pre wrap=""> Miles Jackson wrote: </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">joanna wrote: </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap=""> Miles Jackson wrote: </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">. In contrast, recent research on hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women has shown that the "pump em with estrogen" strategy has no positive therapeutic effects and actually increases a woman's risk of ovarian cancer. </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap="">But Miles, when estrogen therapy was introduced, there were lots of tests that demonstrated it was the best thing since sliced bread. </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap="">Yes, and it was through continued scientific research that we discovered that the original research was flawed. This is a wonderful example of the self-correcting nature of scientific work, not a reason to be skeptical of scientific research! </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap=""> Joanna's argument would lead us to sneer at physics because Newton failed to develop general relativity. And it is not just science in the narrow sense that grows _only_ through error and the correction of error (and correction depends on _first_ practicing on the basis of assuming as true what later turns out to be false). All human knowledge ultimately grows out of human practice, and human practice is honey-combed with error. It is no objection whatever to modern medicine to list the errors that are made. Joanna hates Plato, but her argument here is grounded in a Platonic concept of knowledge. Plato claimed that a mathematician wasn't a mathematician when he was committing an error. Joanna claims that physicians aren't physicians when they are committing an error. Carrol </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Miles ___________________________________ <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</a> </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap="">___________________________________ <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</a> </pre> </blockquote> </body> </html>