>>> Miles Jackson <
Charles Brown wrote:
> CB: How is this non-scientific ? One makes observations about the
texts
> and words. One gathers these facts as evidence, and one proves a
theory
> about the meaning and ideas.
So philosophers 2000 years ago were doing science?
^^^^^ CB: Yes,some of them. The people who built the pyramids in Egypt, before the philosophers in Greece. Imhotep the Egyptian physician did science. Hunters and gathers 10 of thousands of years ago were doing science. See Levi-Strauss on the vast botanical knowledge of "primitive" peoples. Materialism. Lets call it materialism if that will help you. Modern nor ancient Europeans didn't discover science.
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If your definition of science is that loose, then sure, all knowledge is based on science.
^^^^^^ CB: No , not all. Astrology is not science. Fortune telling is not science. Some religious procedures are not scientific. Even some "scientists" don't do science. What's the name of the University of Michigan psychologist who fudged data on plenaria worms ? McConnell ?
"Loose" is a loaded word. It's more general than you were thinking. You seem to be thinking of modern guys in Europe in white lab coats or something. The problem is your definition is too narrow, not that mine is too loose. Mine is general.
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--Let's follow this logic further: a hunting and gathering tribe invents and passes along from generation to generation knowledge about how to make a sturdy fishing net. Are they doing science?
^^^^ CB: Yes, see above. Check out _Les Pensees Sauvage_ by Claude Levi-Strauss. The hunters and gatherers know about stars too.
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My point is this: scientific knowledge is a very specific form of knowledge that has emerged under very special sociohistorical conditions. Humans in many societies throughout history have created and passed along knowledge. In only some of those societies has that knowledge been generated by formal scientific methods.
^^^^^ CB: Call it materialism if that helps you. Observations of objective reality, hypothesizing generalizations and testing the hypothesis in practice. Marx's theses on Feuerbach gives a definition of science.
Marxist materialist philosophy is scientific philosophy fully articulated.
^^^^^
Miles