What, Why & How do we Know ?
Dave Snowden, of who I’m a big fan as you know, very kindly linked to a post of mine commenting on last year’s Annual Mike Jackson Lecture given by him at Hull University. [This year 2024 Mike Jackson lecture also attended by Dave Snowden] Preamble Turns out some of the things he included in last … Continue reading “The Holistic Mob”
Enough Material for a Much Better Essay / Paper / Book Chapter? Some of my more important posts are effectively becoming chapters in my thesis / book(s) although they often have much repetitive context and pre-amble. And, over the years they have gathered post notes and links by accretion, so that they have become more … Continue reading “#EMFAMBE”
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?”
Evolutionary psychology just is what happens to us. “Evolutionary Psychology” as a self-identified political “ought” interpretation of evolutionary reality and the political reaction to brand it pejoratively as “EvoPsych” are just that – identitarian political movements, not to be confused with reality. I said as much just in the title of the first long piece … Continue reading “Evolutionary Psychology – Again?”
An upcoming band at a new venue. I mentioned a couple of posts ago, my meditative release from worldly intellectual and practical concerns includes loud, intense, visceral musical experience. The moral imperative is to give it your full attention. Last night was my latest fix. The band are Avalanche Party and the venue was Toft … Continue reading “Avalanche Party at Toft House”
Ostensibly I’m re-reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in order to review the 50th Anniversary edition, but as usual I’m finding more significant note-worthy connections with my ongoing systems thinking work than there are pages in the original. The read – the story – is of course very familiar, I’m reading it for … Continue reading “50 Years of Systems and Pirsig”
There’s an assumed hypocrisy in saying one thing and doing another, but in reality, in complex situations, there is always some motivation. And as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, after Brunsson, there are good reasons, hypocrisy is an essential life skill anyway. The other way round, “Do as I do, not as I say” there’s an easy … Continue reading “Do as I Say, Not as I Do?”
When dealing with science and engineering “STEM” and other numerate bean-counter accountant & management “MBA” types it’s funny what comes up in conversation. In dialogue you might pick-up considerations like Love and Spirituality, but you won’t find those words in their spreadsheets or specifications. In sensible, real-world, day-job contexts where rubber meets the road it … Continue reading “Not Frightening the Horses”