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Ray, Owing to hurricane Irene, I will be in the air at the time of this week's meeting. Please go ahead without me. Peter On Aug 30, 2011, at 7:57 PM, Ray F. Cowan wrote: > Hi Gentlemen, > > This week we'll hold our LQS meeting on Thursday, September 1, at 2:00 PM > Eastern. We'll take round-table reports and discuss Chapter 1 of the book > Peter mentioned last week: David Deutsch, "The Beginning of Infinity." > > Here are some quotes from Chapter 1 that I found interesting (there were > many more): > > "How do we know? One of the most remarkable things about science is the > contrast between the enormous reach and power of our best theories and > the precarious, local means by which we create them." > > "Scientific explanations are about reality, most of which does not consist > of anyone\u2019s experiences." > > "Discovering a new explanation is inherently an act of creativity." > > "Such ideas do not create themselves, nor can they be mechanically derived > from anything: they have to be guessed \u2013 after which they can be > criticized and tested." > > "But the real key to science is that our explanatory theories -- which > include those interpretations -- can be improved, through conjecture, > criticism and testing." > > "To this day, most courses in the philosophy of knowledge teach that > knowledge is some form of justified, true belief, where 'justified' > means designated as true (or at least 'probable') by reference to some > authoritative source or touchstone of knowledge." > > "The opposing position -- namely the recognition that there are no > authoritative sources of knowledge, nor any reliable means of justifying > ideas as being true or probable -- is called fallibilism." > > "Fallibilists expect even their best and most fundamental explanations to > contain misconceptions in addition to truth, and so they are predisposed > to try to change them for the better." > > "The quest for authority led empiricists to downplay and even stigmatize > conjecture, the real source of all our theories." > > "Thus, although scientific theories are not derived from experience, they > can be tested by experience -- by observation or experiment." > > "Instrumentalism is one of many ways of denying realism, the commonsense, > and true, doctrine that the physical world really exists, and is accessible > to rational inquiry." > > "Just as conflicting predictions are the occasion for experiment and > observation, so conflicting ideas in a broader sense are the occasion for > all rational thought and inquiry." > > "Good explanations are often strikingly simple or elegant." > > "The best explanations are the ones that are most constrained by existing > knowledge -- including other good explanations as well as other knowledge > of the phenomena to be explained." > > "Now we shall see how this explanation-based conception of science answers > the question that I asked above: how do we know so much about unfamiliar > aspects of reality?" > > "The theory [axis-tilt of the Earth] reaches out, as it were, from its finite > origins inside one brain that has been affected only by scraps of patchy > evidence from a small part of one hemisphere of one planet -- to infinity. > This reach of explanations is another meaning of 'the beginning of infinity'. > It is the ability of some of them to solve problems beyond those that they > were created to solve." > > "Realism The idea that the physical world exists in reality, and that > knowledge of it can exist too." > > "The real source of our theories is conjecture, and the real source of our > knowledge is conjecture alternating with criticism. We create theories by > rearranging, combining, altering and adding to existing ideas with the > intention of improving upon them." > > "Feeling insignificant because the universe is large has exactly the same > logic as feeling inadequate for not being a cow. Or a herd of cows. The > universe is not there to overwhelm us; it is our home, and our resource. > The bigger the better." > > "But they certainly do not experience such reflections as a result. I > mention this because I often hear scientific research described in rather > a bleak way, suggesting that it is mostly mindless toil." > > "After all, computers play chess mindlessly -- by exhaustively searching the > consequences of all possible moves -- but humans achieve a similar-looking > functionality in a completely different way, by creative and enjoyable > thought." > > As usual, our call-in number the local ReadyTalk access number for your > country (US: 866-740-1260, or check www.readytalk.com). Access code > is 3144955. > > Thank you, > > --Ray >