From: Walpurgis (walpurg@myrealbox.com)
Date: Fri Jul 26 2002 - 05:59:40 MDT
On 26 Jul 2002 at 11:13, Jonathan Davis wrote:
> > How is it Dawkins thinks that scientists can talk about
> > sociological, political, philosophical and psychological ideas -
> > outside of their own expertise - whereas social scientists and
> > artists cannot discuss scientific ideas outside of their fields?
> > What gives scientists
> the
> > ability to do this?
>
> I am not sure what has inspired this tangent.
The Dawkins article. Read the last paragraph.
> Here is a primer on Memes by Susan Blackmore that you might find
> interesting and educational:
>
> http://www.ukpoliticsmisc.org.uk/usenet_evidence/memes.htm
Read it thanks.
> > At least, this is how many academics (or "academics"?) see it.
>
> I do not know how you can speak for all academics.
I said "many academics" not "all academics". If you want to find out who, try
contacting any social sciences of philosophy dept. at any university.
Don't be so concerned with what I'vep ut forward here. I find academic dismissal of
memes to be arrogant. But I also find Dawkins worship to be quite funny too.
> > The failures to unite this gap between scientific, low-level,
> > explanations and high level humanities explanations has problematic
> > political implications. This is evidenced postmodern theories as
> > discussed, or by the common notion that nation-states are separable,
> > not part of a unified biosphere, which leads to disastrous policies
> > regarding pollution control.
>
> I broadly agree with you on this. The questions is, how does one
> unify? Which one adapts?
Who knows?
Walpurgis
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