21 APR 2014 by ideonexus
Is the United States is an Oligarchy?
Each of our four theoretical traditions (Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic
Elite Domination, Majoritarian Interest Group Pluralism, and Biased Pluralism) emphasizes
different sets of actors as critical in determining U.S. policy outcomes, and each tradition has
engendered a large empirical literature that seems to show a particular set of actors to be highly
influential. Yet nearly all the empirical evidence has been essentially bivariate. Until very
recently it has not been pos...Folksonomies: politics governance
Folksonomies: politics governance
1 Plays on our suspicion of authority meme, but is it just an emergent phenomenon?
29 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Reality Teaches Us
At birth one may stand at the cross-roads for only a few lal. The adjustments are peremptory. The human mechanism must adjust itself to the new world. If it does,—then life. Sometimes it is necessary to "slap" it. That is "science" giving a first lesson in adjustment. An adequate supply of oxygen for the cells of the body is the first problem man faces when he comes into this world. Every pink pill is not a piece of candy. Science goes to the rescue and re-establishes adjustments. Man tires... 1 
notes
notesWe start out trying to figure out the world, and science teaches us the lessons, but when we overbelieve--go beyond empirical evidence--we "may spoil the garden."
15 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
Einstein's "Biggest Blunder"
For much of the modern era, scientists followed Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton in believing the cosmos to be eternal and unchanging. But in 1917, when Albert Einstein applied his theory of relativity to space-time as a whole, his equations implied that the universe could not be static; it must be either expanding or contracting. This struck Einstein as grotesque, so he added to his theory a fiddle factor called the "cosmological constant" that eliminated the implicatio...The story of how Einstein's belief in a static Universe prompted him to introduce a fudge-factor in his Theory of Relativity, the Cosmological Constant.
08 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Science is Monism
Monism is the default worldview of natural science. In science, an explanation has to be grounded in empirical evidence. In a slightly different take, for a statement to be considered a scientific explanation, it must be falsifiable—there has to be some kind of test that could be applied to the statement to prove it wrong. For example, the statement that the moon is made of cheese is a scientific statement because it can be falsified. Facts can be brought to bear on the claim (such as the d... 1 notes
notesScientific statements must be falsifiable.
08 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Definition of a Naturalist
If people ask me about my worldview, I say that I am a naturalist. When most people hear that word, they think of someone who spends a lot of time outdoors watching birds and admiring landscapes—and I suppose that description applies to me. But I think of naturalism as a philosophy rather than a lifestyle. F a philosophical perspective, naturalists believe that the physical universe is the universe. In other words, there are no supernatural entities or forces acting on nature, because there... 1 notes
notesIt is a philosophical state of mind, grounded in empiricism, in addition to being one who appreciates nature.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
The Four Virtues of Science
The institutional goal of science is the extension of certified knowledge. The technical methods employed toward this end provide the relevant definition of knowledge: empirically confirmed and logically consistent predictions. The institutional imperatives (mores) derive from the goal and the methods. The entire structure of technical and moral norms implements the final objective. The technical norm of empirical evidence, adequate, valid and reliable, is a prerequisite for sustained true pr... 1 notes
notesuniversalism, communism, disinterestedness, organized scepticism
29 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Empirical Mind-Cure
There are plenty of persons to-day — “scientists” or
“positivists,” they are fond of calling themselves — who will tell
you that religious thought is a mere survival, an atavistic reversion
to a type of consciousness which humanity in its more enlightened
examples has long since left behind and outgrown. If you ask them
to explain themselves more fully, they will probably say that for
primitive thought everything is conceived of under the form of
personality. The savage thinks tha... 1 notes
notesScience looks for empirical evidence, and religion has some empirical evidence for the positive effects of religion on the mind.
