On 04/22/2013 06:53 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > And is it possible that this neurological structure literally co-evolved > with language itself? [...] How much does sharing some > basic language (structure?) get involved in empathic understanding?
Yes, it's entirely possible that they happened to evolve together. But it may not be necessary that they will/would always evolve together. Personally, I think sharing basic language _requires_ the ability to empathize, to put yourself in another's position. Without that ability, we devolve into silly arguments like the Chinese room or the existence of consciousness-less zombies. > What I think we are both talking about is: 1) Taking a(n educated?) > guess that involves causal relations; 2) Formulating a way to test this > guess by *doing something*; 3) Doing something; 4) Observing the > results; 5) Recording the results; 6) repeat any/all of 1,2,3,4,5 > until 5 matches 1 (excluding the obvious cheat of simply adjusting 5 to > match 1, also practiced for the purpose of gaining future funding but > generally frowned upon) > [...] > Hypothesis generation and testing combined with repeatability (by > others) is all I mean by "the Scientific Method". I think you do too? I don't include hypothesis generation. We could classify scientists into different types, at least "minimal" vs. "sophisticated". And if we did that, then the sophisticated ones would develop clear hypotheses and then test them with a reality-bifurcating experiment. But I think there are "street scientists" who spend their lives bifurcating reality without ever pausing to yap about what they've demonstrated. And to keep the conversation simple, it is my intention to focus on these "minimal" scientists. Well, the point of the conversation I wanted to have was about science WITHOUT language, if such is possible. If you have a way to show me how a hypothesis can be an _action_ as opposed to a thought or something that's is primarily represented in written or spoken form, then we can talk about a "science" that includes non-lingual hypotheses and, of course, non-lingual experimentation. -- glen =><= Hail Eris! ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
