We're doing social science, Michael, not physical science.
bb
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Wolff-Michael Roth <mroth@uvic.ca>
> Hi Bill,
>
> This doesn't stick. Look at any accepted use of cause and effect in
> the science and scientific literature. It always establishes a
> relationship between two or more factors, and this in quantitative way.
>
> My ouch is not caused by your sticking, because there are lots of
> stickings that do not lead to saying ouch. If you want to use this as
> an example, then you relate the force of sticking or the depth of
> penetration to the intensity of the pain. And then you have exactly
> what I am talking about.
>
> The other is folk science.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
>
> On 20-Jan-06, at 2:50 PM, bb wrote:
>
>
>
>
> >
> > Hi all,
> > it is easy to slip into a discourse that separates tools and
> > artifacts from other things, which happens here, too. We then think
> > in terms of "effects" that one thing has on another--but effects
> > imply causal relations, which are quantitative rather than
> > qualitative, which they need to be if they mediate. . .
>
>
> Oh, cause and effect are not strictly quantitative. Engage in this
> thought experiment. Suppose I stick you with a pin and you say
> "ouch". The action of sticking with a pin is arguably the cause of
> the action of uttering "ouch", and there is no quantitative relation
> necessary, unless perhaps I repeat with needles of increasing size.
>
> cheers,
> bb
>
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