Once upon a time our view of the world around us was very different. For example, we humans had the notion that space and time were either unchangeable features of God’s universe (Newton) or a priori essential principles of reason (Kant). But then some new data was discovered that was inconsistent with these notions and Einstein decided to build a new theory that rejected the idea of the constancy of space and time. Rather than trying to fit new data into old models, he simply proposed new models. The fact that the new models contradicted all of our traditional prejudices about the way the universe worked was not an impediment to him. Likewise, modern psychologists have discovered that it is more useful to fit concepts to contexts rather than the other way around. In this approach, concepts (words) are simply events which are more or less useful in a given context. They are not gateways to an eternally anchored truth. It’s kinda like what Audubon said about birding, “When the bird and the book disagree, always believe the bird.”
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- February 2019
- January 2019
- September 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- October 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- September 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- December 2011
Categories
Meta
Leave a Reply