>
>The citations were to the later edition of Kuhn's seminal work,
>which is still what is cited by most of the critics of
>science.  It was sdv who cited Kuhn's name, but there was no
>citation given.  If a more recent or less cited reference that
>was intended, then let us hear it.  What the Kuhn citation shows
>is that Kuhn himself did not believe that his work discredited
>traditional scientific criteria such as accuracy.
>
>> In addition I do not base my argument on Kuhn despite the fact that some
>> might relate it to things that have been said about him.
>
>I cannot parse this statement in a way that makes sense.
>
>Best wishes
>Jim
>
>============================================================================
>James M. Clark                          (204) 786-9757


Lines of reasoning should be based on their own logic and merits.  I did
not invoke Kuhn in support of my line of reasoning.  While Kuhn pointed out
some very important points, in fact there are some substantive issues on
which I do not agree with Kuhn.  Hence, to determine the merit of the line
of reasoning I proposed based on one's opinion of Kuhn is non sequitur.

I repeat the citations were from the 1970 edition of Kuhn's work which is
most popularly known, but not Kuhn's final word by any means.

There is a very scholarly retrospective of Kuhn's work which was given the
highest possible recommendation by Kuhn, himself.  This review is titled:
Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions by Hoyningen-Huene.  In addition more
light is shed on the subject by the recent book:  The Road Since Structure,
a collection of philosophical essay's and interviews with T. Kuhn covering
1970 to 1993.

Nonetheless, mathematical accuracy at best only guarantees an AS-IF
correspondence between the claims of a theory and to the true nature of the
phenomena and reality itself.  The following three quotations reflect this
idea.

"Physical concepts are the free creations of the human mind and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world."--A. Einstein in The Evolution of Physics with L. Infeld, 1938.

"Every [person's] world picture is and always remains a construct
of [her or his] mind and cannot be proved to have any other existence."
--E. Schrodinger in Mind and Matter, 1958.

"Don't mistake your watermelon for the universe."  --K. Amdahl in
There Are No Electrons, 1991.

Dewey


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr.                 Phone: (208)426-3105
Professor of Physics                  Dept:  (208)426-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418      Fax: (208)426-4330
Boise State University            [log in to unmask]
1910 University Drive                 Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570                  novice piper: GHB, Uilleann

"As a result of modern research in physics, the ambition and hope,
still cherished by most authorities of the last century, that physical
science could offer a photographic picture and true image of reality
had to be abandoned."  --M. Jammer in Concepts of Force, 1957.

"If what we regard as real depends on our theory, how can we make
reality the basis of our philosophy? ...But we cannot distinguish
what is real about the universe without a theory...it makes no sense
to ask if it corresponds to reality, because we do not know what
reality is independent of a theory."--S. Hawking in Black Holes
and Baby Universes, 1993.
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