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Avocados, Abstract Ideas, and Categories

  • 24-02-2008 4:58pm
    #1
    coberst
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26 ✭


    Avocados, Abstract Ideas, and Categories

    I plan to have friends over this evening and will go to the market this afternoon to find some ripe avocadoes. Selecting avocadoes that can be served immediately is a difficult task.

    Ripe avocado is a literal idea and science is an abstract idea. An abstract idea is a complex neural network consisting of literal concepts and other abstract concepts.

    Is psychology a science? It all depends upon how you categorize science. If the natural sciences are the only sciences then psychology would not be a science. If the social sciences are science then psychology is a science. If human sciences are a science then psychology is a science. Where does one go for authority for such matters? I suggest that you go to the philosophy of science for your answer.

    Wiki advises me that philosophy of science studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of all domains of knowledge that seek to be included within those prestigious halls of science. This includes both the natural and human sciences. “In this respect, the philosophy of science is closely related to epistemology and metaphysics.”

    Robert Schenk tries to answer the question ‘Is economics a science?’ in a copyright article at: http://ingrimayne.com/econ/Introduction/Overview1.html

    In this article Schenk recognizes that this question has been argued for over a century without a clear winner. He further argues that to provide a legitimate answer to this question about economics that one must have the ability to answer such questions as:
    What does "invisible hand" mean, what was Malthus opinion regarding population growth, what was Poppers judgment regarding this question, and what does scarcity, choice, and self-interest mean to economics.

    I started this search under the assumption that I could give good evidence to support a clear necessary and sufficient condition for any domain of knowledge to be judged a science. After searching Google and scratching my head I have decided that the question “What is science?” is, in fact, a value judgment.

    Is value an abstract idea?

    Is this question “what is science?” a matter of fact or a matter of value judgment?



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