On Tue, 8 Aug 2000, Susan Brassfield wrote:
> > One small bit of editing by the Kansas board has been overlooked. The
> >board changed the definition of science from "the search for natural
> >explanations" the wording preferred by the National Academy of
> >Sciences to the search for logical explanations.
> the search for logical explanations is *philosophy* the search for natural
> explanations is *science*. Logic floats on premises. Something that seems
> perfectly logical may not be the case. (All men must die. Socrates is a
> woman. Therefore Socrates will never die.)
Susan,
As a philosopher, and emphatically not a working scientist, allow me to make
two comments.
Your "perfectly logical" example above is perfectly invalid. Your first
premise is "All men [p] must die [q]," which is equivalent to "All p are
q." Then your second premise is "Socrates [r] is a woman [s]," which is
equivalent to "All r is s." You now have four terms in your syllogism,
meaning that you cannot derive any conclusion at all; in fact, you have no
coherent argument whatsoever. You should have stopped with your
observation that logic floats on premises.
But this is a quibble. I agree wholeheartedly with your substantive
point.
By far, the most puzzling aspect to me of the entire Kansas curriculum
proposal was this change from "natural explanations" to "logical
explanations." Anyone who thinks scientific explanation involves, at some
point, observation and experiment -- experiential contact with the
external world -- has to be aghast at this shift. On the other hand, if
someone believes scientific explanation consists in the manipulation of
the syntactical relations between formal symbols, they are likely to be
pleased with the change in wording. Logic has no empirical content
whatsoever; I can provide all sorts of logically valid accounts that are
utterly false when applied to the natural world. Logic is a kind of
language game -- a set of rules for playing with abstract symbols (and
yes, I have to teach the stuff each semester). Is this really what science
does? Not even in Kansas, I hope.
Tom Pearson
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Thomas D. Pearson
Department of History & Philosophy
The University of Texas-Pan American
Edinburg, Texas
e-mail: pearson@panam1.panam.edu
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