[FRIAM] J. Carter — collective virtue epistemology

[Frank Wimberly]

Brief responses, Dave.

When I first heard that song in 195? I wondered whether the eater or the
people were purple.  Maybe everyone did.

I like your fair-minded rhetoric.  For example, "offers little" rather than
"offers nothing".

I prefer pure math but I don't disdain applied math.  My dissertation was
about finite element methods, a numerical analysis approach used in
structural analysis, fluid mechanics, etc.

Is logical positivism a subfield of analytic philosophy?  I used to know.

As an anthroplogist you might appreciate this book about ethnic identity in
New Mexico:

Nación Genízara: Ethnogenesis, Place, and Identity in New Mexico
(Querencias Series)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826361072/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_MpdnFbBG2K8TF

Frank

---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Thu, Aug 13, 2020, 3:34 AM glen <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:

> Excellent! This is the kind of skepticism I was incapable of formulating
> by myself. Thanks! I hope to revisit the paper now.
>
> On August 12, 2020 12:55:02 PM PDT, Prof David West <profwest at fastmail.fm>
> wrote:
> >I promised to read and comment, so here goes.
> >
> >I really dislike (detest) this kind of analytic epistemology (analytic
> >philosophy in general) as it contributes nothing to my understanding of
> >how things are — how people think, why people have certain beliefs, how
> >people judge something to be "true."
> >
> >Given Glen's commitment to Vico-ism, I am surprised he finds the
> >article compelling in some way.
> >
> >Some questions:
> >
> >1- Does Carter know anything? I.e. is there an example of a bit of
> >knowledge that came to be in his possession via the K-AB framework? He
> >certainly does not provide one, even as an illustrative example.
> >
> >2- Assuming that the K=AB framework is useful. How many 'trials' are
> >required to constitute "aptness?" For a belief to transform to
> >knowledge must it be the case that all trials were apt, most of the
> >trials, a super majority of the trials?
> >
> >3- Can the K=AB framework yield an integrated body of knowledge, or
> >merely the occasional isolated knowledge factoid?
> >
> >4- Does a belief and or a bit of knowledge need to be expressed in
> >words? If so, exactly how does the K=AB framework resolve the inherent
> >ambiguity of language?
> >
> >4b- For example: I believe I encountered and am having a discussion
> >with a One-eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater. I apply the
> >framework aptly and I now I know I am talking with one. What I do not
> >know, however apt my belief, is whether or not the creature is purple
> >or the people it eats are purple. At minimum the framework yields
> >incomplete and ambiguous knowledge. ("I like short shorts.")
> >
> >5- Glen 'knows' Trump is an evil idiot. Can Glen lead me along the
> >apt-path that resulted in that knowledge? Could Carter?
> >
> >6- Re: collective knowledge. Is a collective a 'Thing'? Can that Thing
> >embody/contain/possess knowledge? (or belief?)
> >
> >7. Clearly, groups appear to share collective knowledge and belief - at
> >least at a statistical level. It is even possible to observe what
> >appears to be collective knowledge that does not exist, per se, in any
> >of the members of the group — the Delphi technique would be one
> >example. (Emergent knowledge from a complex system?)
> >
> >As a cognitive anthropologist, I am constantly challenged by the
> >problem of explaining how culture — apparently shared collective
> >knowledge, behavior, and ability — comes into existence, maintains
> >itself, evolves, and adapts to changing contexts, including encounters
> >with other cultures.
> >
> >Formalisms, like those espoused by Carter, are so far removed from
> >concrete reality they offer little in the way of guidance or
> >assistance. And advocates of those formalisms seldom have any interest
> >in applied work any more than advocates of "pure" mathematics tend to
> >denigrate applied math.
>
>
> --
> glen
>
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