[FRIAM] Pragmaticism and puritanism

[Frank Wimberly]

There was a psychoanalytic institute in Pittsburgh.  There are very few
cities that have one:  Boston, NY, Pittsburgh, Chicago, LA, Denver,
Atlanta.  San Francisco, and maybe a few others.  There was a philosophy
professor at Pitt (my PhD Alma Mater) named Adolph Grunbaum who wrote books
and papers with titles like "Why Psychoanalysis is not Scientific".  I
asked senior Psychoanalyst what the thought of Grunbaum's work.  He said
that it makes as much sense to ask whether science should be more
psychoanalytic as it does to ask whether psychoanalysis should be more
scientific.  This surprised me because all during my education the people
was around seemed to think that science was the royal road to the truth
(elitists).

My conclusion was that for some people science has that meaning; for others
it's religion, for others it's psychoanalysis, for others...

Why is one view more valid than the others?  Because science (actually with
engineering) has made it possible to send probes to Neptune?  Depends on
your goals.

Adolph Grunbaum's brother was a Psychoanalyst, for what it's worth.

Frank


---
Frank C. Wimberly
505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Wed, Mar 11, 2020, 10:29 AM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Dave,
>
> Well, at the very least, the kind of information that would convince me to
> take a somewhat dodgy drug to fend off covid19.
>
> N
>
> Nicholas Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
> Clark University
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Prof David West
> Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 9:05 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Pragmaticism and puritanism
>
> May I add — what would convince you that psychedelic experiences are worth
> of the same kind of investigation as "ordinary" experiences.
>
> davew
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2020, at 3:18 PM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:
> > Well, I definitely privilege scientific ways of knowing more than any
> > other way of knowing [†]. So I don't disagree with what you *say*. But
> > it seems to me that *you* don't privilege scientific knowledge in
> > these discussions. You talk a LOT about philosophy and metaphysics,
> > but not much about scientific results. The recent 'round and 'round
> > about "sledgehammers", Peirce's metaphysics, or whatnot, largely
> > ignoring any attempts to discuss psychedelic research and medicine,
> > seems to imply that you do not privilege science.
> >
> > So, maybe if I pull out the old saw again?  If results published in
> > peer-reviewed literature and clinical trial data will NOT convince you
> > that psychedelics can be used as medicine, then what WOULD convince
> > you? If nothing will ever convince you, then you certainly do NOT
> > privilege science.
> >
> >
> > [†] It ain't perfect; and it ain't the only kind of knowledge. But
> > it's the best we have.
> >
> > On 3/10/20 11:03 AM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
> > > No, I am not sure that Dave and Glen would disagree with any of this.
> >
> > --
> > ☣ uǝlƃ
> >
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