[UA] Sokol dragged, kicking and screaming, back on topic...
Greg Stolze
holycrow at mindspring.com
Fri May 17 05:15:57 PDT 2002
>> Here is a link to the article referred to above, Greg is part right,
>> actually the article claims that <italic>reality</italic> is subordinate to
>> ones <italic>political</italic> beliefs, the basis for all magic(k).
>>
>>
>>http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.
>>html
>>
>
>I'm never sure if I should be joyeous or horrified that the entire paper
>was a parody. Still, the story surrounding "Transgressions..." is an
>interesting read.
>
>http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/
Having read the article, I can see that the trap was baited extremely well
-- not in the sense that it was ideologically appealing to the editors, but
in the sense that it was ambiguous enough to be read multiple ways --
depending on whether by "science" you mean "the discoveries of science" or
"the practice of science." But anyway, it gives me an idea for a UA kind
of fable...
# # #
Andrew and Betty are having a disagreement.
"Clearly," says Andrew, "The empirical world is a trap from which we must
escape, because it is, ultimately, immutable."
"Clearly," says Betty, "The world or our perceptions is a trap from which
we must escape, because it is, ultimately, unreliable."
"Fortunately," says Andrew, "We have a realm of culture and language which
we CAN control. The more we devote ourselves to such things, the more
perfectly human we will be."
"Fortunately," says Betty, "We have systems of logic and mathematics, upon
which we CAN rely. The more we devote ourselves to such things, the more
perfectly human we will be."
Which one is right?
And perhaps more importantly -- why aren't they listening to one another?
-G.
Why, yes, I have been reading "Nobilis" -- does it show?
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