tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post501387428402840850..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: We can see the beast....but it's been us!Anne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-5862333030395830022015-01-21T14:54:06.179-05:002015-01-21T14:54:06.179-05:00Response to DG:
It was, of course a kind of quippe...Response to DG:<br />It was, of course a kind of quipped representation of what Israel is doing, systematically, to the Palestinians. But if you think what Israel is doing doesn't qualify for the objectionable list, I doubt I could convince you of it. I guess they're just innocent little angels.<br /><br />Whether you agree or not, my message is not to pick specifically on any group, and I think that should have been clear. We're all guilty under some circumstances as history shows. And we don't seem to have a good 'scientific' basis, despite a lot of purported investment, in how to stop it.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-51293420490470192642015-01-21T14:44:22.847-05:002015-01-21T14:44:22.847-05:00Ken,
I have trouble equating well documented geno...Ken,<br /><br />I have trouble equating well documented genocides with incidental or negligent deaths in Palestine. Can you explain how you are able to do that?DGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-71965289519577948582015-01-20T16:28:55.547-05:002015-01-20T16:28:55.547-05:00Reply to Libb
I have no idea what 'physical ch...Reply to Libb<br />I have no idea what 'physical chemistry' has to do with this. I just Googled the N Chair of Social Physics and see what it basically is. Of course, reductionism to physics hasn't worked despite many similar sorts of ideas since then. The 19th Century was one in which earlier ideas of probability was shown to be highly relevant to social science (see Ian Hacking, The Taming of Chance, if you don't know it already).<br /><br />But this finds mathematical pattern but is nothing like the kind of close causal relationships--or something--that would be needed. If one wants to say that morality is a sense or emotion and hence must have a chemical basis, that isn't very helpful even if true in principle.<br /><br />I don't know specifically what Goethe suggested. But many, including leaders of his time like Herbert Spencer, tried to reduce humans, evolution, and society to the laws of physics. Again, not very useful as subsequent history shows.<br /><br />But I agree about the finger pointing. If there is science to be had that would address these issues--real science, not just professors saying so in book after book (and, I speak as a professor, so I am not just casting stones), then we'd all be better off.<br /><br />Instead, we have too many 'Darwinian' social 'scientists' simply arguing that conflict, merciless acts and the like are the natural way of the world and in that sense OK.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-59443412785407904382015-01-20T15:58:47.012-05:002015-01-20T15:58:47.012-05:00The solution to the beheading problem is to establ...The solution to the beheading problem is to establish something akin to the Nightingale Chair of Social Physics, so to work to situate morality on the basis of physical chemistry, as Goethe advised 200-years ago. So while we point fingers at the Muslims, it is ourselves that we have to fix first.Libb Thimshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09459903382449813489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-65172846128157949602015-01-19T14:35:37.344-05:002015-01-19T14:35:37.344-05:00Yes, we all have our turn. Vigilance to prevent it...Yes, we all have our turn. Vigilance to prevent it happening here, where it has and easily could again, is needed or our lives will be made miserable.<br /><br />But where is all the social 'science' we pay for and why can't it or doesn't it lead to policy that prevents this? <br /><br />A gloomy response would be that nothing like that's possible in this sort of thing. Or that people don't really want policy, world wide, that would prevent it.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-84548993811291955942015-01-19T14:26:19.722-05:002015-01-19T14:26:19.722-05:00"Charlie Hebdo is just a current example that..."Charlie Hebdo is just a current example that draws sympathy"<br /><br />Sympathy? Looks more like a media psy-op. Even the 'solidarity march' photo is fake.<br /><br />http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-17/truth-behind-cherlie-hebdo-solidarity-photo-op<br /><br />Incidentally, France has the least 'freedom of expression' among all western countries. You can test it by criticizing a French organization in your blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com