Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!husc6!think!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!hoptoad!laura From: laura@hoptoad.uucp (Laura Creighton) Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech Subject: Re: Scientific Epistemology Message-ID: <2399@hoptoad.uucp> Date: Sun, 12-Jul-87 16:48:57 EDT Article-I.D.: hoptoad.2399 Posted: Sun Jul 12 16:48:57 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jul-87 04:13:43 EDT References: <3587e521.44e6@apollo.uucp> <680@gargoyle.UChicago.EDU> <103@snark.UUCP> <108@snark.UUCP> Reply-To: laura@hoptoad.UUCP (Laura Creighton) Organization: Nebula Consultants in San Francisco Lines: 26 In article <108@snark.UUCP> eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond) writes: >The relation between truth and beauty is a question for >cognitive psychology, not epistemology. Isn't that begging the question? > >Mathematical 'knowledge' isn't knowledge about the 'reality' epistemologists >and ontologists worry about at all; it's 'knowledge' about games played with >marks on paper (evolved with the instrumental goal of causing pleasure in >other mathematicians :-)). The fact that mathematical 'knowledge' is useful >in forming predictive hypotheses about 'reality' is interesting, but of >very little interest to epistemology -- because the map is not the territory; >we throw away a lot of information in making the exceedingly complex mapping >from, say, falling cannonballs to F=ma. But why is the exceedingly complex mapping so beautiful? F=ma is not complex; on the contrary it is very simple. awe inspiringly, beautifully, simple. -- (C) Copyright 1987 Laura Creighton - you may redistribute only if your recipients may. ``One must pay dearly for immortality: one has to die several times while alive.'' -- Nietzsche Laura Creighton ihnp4!hoptoad!laura utzoo!hoptoad!laura sun!hoptoad!laura