tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post8244887101182897909..comments2024-01-03T07:56:32.311-05:00Comments on quaker oats live: what is "rational"?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07488876505679035140noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-83514499112113446872008-12-01T10:31:00.000-05:002008-12-01T10:31:00.000-05:00Logic (i.e., rationality) necessarily operates wit...Logic (i.e., rationality) necessarily operates within some predefined framework (e..g, algebra or Newtonian physics). The choice of framework is, at best, only partially rational and partially emotional / aesthetic /etc. In some cases we choose the framework because the results are more appealing. For instance, i choose the framework "cooperative' over the framework "competitive" because I like the results better, not because I can rationally demonstrate that my choice is more true in the real world. <BR/><BR/>This question of objectivity and rationality has been extensively debated, of course, and the cyberneticians, particularly Heinz von Foerster in the Cybernetics of Cybernetics, have dealt with the question of the observer's impact on the system being studied. Turns out that even in physics the impact of the observer is huge and that what we used to strive for as objectivity in science is mostly a mirage. This is not to say that science does not move toward better and better explanations of how the world works. it just acknowledges that we as the observer are in the middle of everything.Barry Clemsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12233555803400593383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19785125.post-42612554766894809652008-11-26T05:00:00.000-05:002008-11-26T05:00:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Tom (Mystics Meeting)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02106304861509275285noreply@blogger.com