Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.meta,sci.philosophy.tech,comp.ai.philosophy
From: ohgs@chatham.demon.co.uk (Oliver Sparrow)
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!news.mathworks.com!hookup!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!pipex!peernews.demon.co.uk!chatham.demon.co.uk!ohgs
Subject: Re: The P-word: sci intellectual no-no
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 11:32:51 +0000
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.philosophy.meta:16393 sci.philosophy.tech:16806 comp.ai.philosophy:25499

"Science" is used in a strange manner in this article. The sociobiology 
(and self-organising systems) to which the author refers are themselves
the products of science. I note no obvious difficulties in the social
sciences in "coming to terms with" the concept of power; indeed, economics
is founded upon the embodimnet of choice and the ability to choose - power -
in a pluralist social system.

The author might like to try Richard North's book*, "Life on a Modern Planet". 
He considers the environmental debate and the political forces therewithin
in the context of technological and economic capability, arguing cogently that
survival depends on harnessing knowledge, not on blurring the lenses which 
allow us to see matters with some clarity.

(*Manchester UP ISBN 0-7190-4566-5) 1995

The idea that "the East" has some intuitive channel to absolute wisdom is
a common but a flawed one. Those who pursue it should (a) spend some time
there and (b) consider which societies are best satisfying their own
aspirations and what paradigm it it that they are following. The areas 
which have shown strong economic growth and corresponding social progress  - 
as measured either by attainment and longeivity or by satisfaction ratings 
- Japan, the Little Tigers, Thailand, Malaysia - are the paradigm for the 
newly revivified societies: Viet Nam, China, Indonesia, India. The tools which
they use are those of business, science, of rationality applied in the pursuit 
of human ends. That this may lead to market externalities that must be 
corrected by active intervention does not tell us of the "timeless wisdom" of 
those societies which have not yet hit these constraints, but the 
ineffectiveness of their institutions in preventing them from exercising these 
options.

_________________________________________________

  Oliver Sparrow
  ohgs@chatham.demon.co.uk
