Which 'postmodernists' do you think wouldn't accept the result of a DNA test? — csalisbury
Allegedly Bruno Latour has claimed that the ancient pharaoh Ramses II couldn't have died of tuberculosis since it was yet to be socially constructed as a single identifiable disease in the 19th century. — Jkop
Suppose you are a postmodernist philosopher
and also a mother. — Frederick KOH
Is it reductionist to be outraged if eye-witness accounts
are given equal weight as DNA testing? — Frederick KOH
but you need to give us a bit more to go on. — Bitter Crank
What do you mean by 'reductionism'? — csalisbury
Which 'postmodernists' do you think wouldn't accept the result of a DNA test? — csalisbury
People don't like reductionism — Bitter Crank
What does reductionism have to do with the validity of DNA testing? — csalisbury
If you were thinking of something else, then give us a good clear example of it. — Bitter Crank
I was hoping to provoke "anti-reductionists" to comment here. — Frederick KOH
NeoDarwinism - the fundamental objects of study are replicators subject to variation and selection. — tom
Thermodynamics - The theory of steam engines (") — tom
Computation - the fundamental object of study being the universal computer.
Information Theory - The study of counterfactuals (I'm being deliberately tendentious) — tom
If I say "the replicators are the way they are because of chemistry and physics" would I be a reductionist? — Frederick KOH
If I say "the relationship between the energy, pressure volume and temperature of a gas in a container can be completely explained by atomic theory and the kinetic theory of gasses" , would I be a reductionist? — Frederick KOH
But can you construct a perpetual motion machine of the second kind? — tom
Statistical mechanics gives an explanation for the second law by postulating that a material is composed of atoms and molecules which are in constant motion. — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics#Statistical_mechanics
Can you improve on the Carnot Cycle? — tom
In these cases, the objects of study are abstract and not coincidentally, they are not considered branches of the natural sciences. — Frederick KOH
Computers are real things, and the theory of computation has been a branch of physics since 1984. — tom
In theoretical computer science and mathematics, the theory of computation is the branch that — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_computation
You are similarly wrong about Information Theory. — tom
You think "replicators", "variation", and "selection" are not abstract? — tom
Well look, that is the kind of reductionism that gets into books and this forum. If you were thinking of something else, then give us a good clear example of it. — Bitter Crank
Whooaaa...hold on a minute here. We do agree that the replicators are DNA (and RNA for some lifeforms) right? — Frederick KOH
In theoretical computer science and mathematics, the theory of computation is the branch that — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_computation
Computation - the fundamental object of study being the universal computer. — tom
Computers are real things, and the theory of computation has been a branch of physics since 1984. — tom
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