Shared Cultural Values?

Just a quickie. This is a quote from Alasdair MacIntyre’s 1977 Essay “Epistemological Crises, Dramatic Narrative, and the Philosophy of Science” (Offline PDF copy, original copyright acknowledged.) “Consider what it is to share a culture. It is to share schemata which are at one and the same time constitutive of and normative for intelligible action … Continue reading “Shared Cultural Values?”

Objective Rationality vs Intuitive Knowledge (again) @alomshaha @nfanget

Alom Shaha @alomshaha tweeted – Claude Lévi-Strauss wrote “Le Scientifique n’est pas une personne qui donne les bonnes réponses, mais celui qui pose les bonnes questions.” Nicolas Fanget @nfanget tweeted translation as “Scientists aren’t people who give the right answers, but ask the right questions.” Reminded me of Einstein / Nietzsche / MacGilchrist / MacIntyre – We are worshiping … Continue reading “Objective Rationality vs Intuitive Knowledge (again) @alomshaha @nfanget”

Joining up more dots

This post primarily about Al MacIntyre (and its comment thread) have been important several times, in joining up to both philosophy of consciousness and neuroscience topics. A re-read to day, thanks to a recorded hit means I notice some additional dots to join up. The philosophical collections on consciousness in the previous post but one, … Continue reading “Joining up more dots”

Kenan Malik – The Dream of Reason Part II

Somewhat begrudgingly I noted that the Kenan Malik I was reading was very good. In fact having now finished it, I can say it is truly excellent, probably the only disappointment is that his conclusion primes us for an exhilarating ride, without risking giving any advice on the best strategy. I was sceptical at the … Continue reading “Kenan Malik – The Dream of Reason Part II”

17 days no post

That’s some hiatus, due mainly to travel and work pressures. New York, San Diego, Washington, now Brisbane and next Perth … Out on the streets, in a bar, seeing a band on only one night in the whole – PiL at the Hammerstein NYC. Been reading a lot in travel time – though not as … Continue reading “17 days no post”

Wisdom of Elders

Wisdom has been a topic of Psybertron since the beginning. Several different initiatives trying to move the focus from narrow definitions of knowledge (of so-called objective facts, etc) to wider understanding of how the world really works, and what is …. for the best, for the world and humanity within it. Cosmic man. Of course … Continue reading “Wisdom of Elders”

Haidt’s Happiness

As a practitioner of positive psychology (and an atheist) Jonathan Haidt’s “The Happiness Hypothesis” reads at times like a spiritual self-help book, and in a sense it is, but it is supported by a mass of academic and scientific references. The Psybertron agenda has been on evolutionary psychology as a description of both epistemology (what … Continue reading “Haidt’s Happiness”