From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Sun Nov 14 1999 - 09:04:29 MST
While Sokal's well-publicized nuking of postmodernist BS is a laudable
exercise, it by no means establishes the irrelevancy of the traditional
questions addressed by the humanities. Saying that science and technology
exist in a world of "utility" apart and immune from the fuzzy-edged questions
addressed by philosophy and the arts is just as dangerous as the
postmodernist subjectivist melt-down.
Science and technology can tell you the "is", but the scientific method,
standing alone, cannot tell you the "ought". Ultimately, science and
technology will provide us with a complete list of what we CAN do, but we'll
still have to face the question of what we OUGHT to do.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
"Civilization is protest against nature;
progress requires us to take control of evolution."
Thomas Huxley
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:05:46 MST