Re: Epistemology 201: The Science of Science

From: OsherD (mdoctorow_at_comcast.net)
Date: 01/31/05 

Date: 30 Jan 2005 20:04:40 -0800

>>From Osher Doctorow

I omitted to mention that Fear of the Unknown is very closely related
to Fear of Ignorance, and the former both explains the resistance to
science in olden times and the new mentality of bureaucratic scientists
in new times so to speak.

I'll content myself with an example of why people burned witches,
though you can select your favorite genocide or whatever. Witches
were part of the Unknown. They lived alone in the Unknown Forest with
cats. Nobody else did that. It's commonly thought that alleged
witches and cats were disliked because cats "had no souls" and witches
"did bad things". On that basis, who would be left alive today? No,
the logic so-called was reversed. Living alone and living alone with a
cat instead of in a urine-infested excrement-infested town with trash
running through it instead of a river and living inside the Unknown
Forest - those were the things that aroused cognitive dissonance in
old-timers' minds, the cognitive dissonance of Fear of the Unknown.
Osher

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Epistemology 201: The Science of Science
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  • Re: Epistemology 201: The Science of Science
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