From: Jonathan B. Marder (jonathan.marder@newmail.net)
Date: Sat Jan 18 2003 - 16:29:20 GMT
Hi everyone who has been involved in the "Solidarity Truth" thread and
related discussions.
It will come as no surprise to Platt to hear me state my opinion that truth
is largely something arrived at by agreement rather than an absolute. My
position is embodied by the one-liner TRUE IS AN ADJECTIVE - which reminds
one to always ask "true to what?"
My main reason for chiming in here is to tackle this philosophical edificice
called objectivity. It is oft said that truth is objective, and that
objectivity is the basis of science and other academic pursuits.
Objectivity is a sacred, Platonistic ideal, but how do you prove it? My own
experience of academia is that you don't.
The first benchmark test of scientific "truth" is reproducibility.
Hypotheses rise and fall on this simple pragmatic test. The reporting of
data and the conditions under which they were obtained is a major component
of most scientific papers - we can call this the pragmatic, Arisotelian
part.
The second major component of a scientific paper is the attempt to
"understand" how the data fit in with current and/or proposed theories -
this is the Platonic part. In this, one has to argue that the observations
concur with (are "true to") the proposed hypotheses. Anyone engaged in
research quickly learns that while inconsistent proposals must deemed
"invalid" (untrue) , there remain an unlimited number of valid proposals
that may be made. This was mentioned in ZAMM, and given as the motivation
for young Phaedrus to leave science.
The main mechanism I know of by which academia "judges" the above issues is
the peer review process. Matt's term "solidarity truth" seems to be
consistent with this process. My only proviso is to add that while one
particular theory may be the most popular (the current dogma), academia is
rather democratic and "valid" alternative theories are respected. Often, a
minority view eventually becomes the new dogma.
Thus, I find the idea of "Objective, Absolute, Truth" unrelated to real
world concerns . I know I have said most of what is in this post before, and
apologise to everyone who remembers and doesn't need reminding.
All the best,
Jonathan
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