I consider myself an empiricist, but I think cognitive scientist John Vervaeke has an interesting challenge to this position. There seems to be evidence in neuroscience research, that people make up their minds about things, and also interact with the physical world, based on reactions and impulses rather than considering evidence, and also based on expectations of experience that the brain constructs to facilitate a sense of continuity, as opposed to precise and detailed observation. Therefore, a straw-man of empiricism might be, that it's part of this neurological illusory process, whereby people tell themselves stories about experience or invent justifications for actions, to maintain narrative continuity and decrease anxiety from uncertainty (the latter point sounds Heideggerian). However, a steel-man of empiricism would be, that in spite of neurological discoveries about self-deception and stimulus response, it is still of primary importance that people subsequently reflect on their experiences and actions, and attempt to gather evidence to facilitate greater clarity about the nature of experiences, about consequences of actions, and to falsify observations about the world.
I wonder if Lord Bertie changed his mind significantly as he got older? Thirty years later (in his History) he did have five major criticisms of Plato. But I'm guessing he wasted his considerable accumulation of age on other things than wisdom.
Seems you ended up making more of these, Dr. Hicks. Thank you 😉
Stevie Hicks is a boss at life 💯
Thank you
Thanks! I need to read the whole book.
I consider myself an empiricist, but I think cognitive scientist John Vervaeke has an interesting challenge to this position.
There seems to be evidence in neuroscience research, that people make up their minds about things, and also interact with the physical world, based on reactions and impulses rather than considering evidence, and also based on expectations of experience that the brain constructs to facilitate a sense of continuity, as opposed to precise and detailed observation. Therefore, a straw-man of empiricism might be, that it's part of this neurological illusory process, whereby people tell themselves stories about experience or invent justifications for actions, to maintain narrative continuity and decrease anxiety from uncertainty (the latter point sounds Heideggerian).
However, a steel-man of empiricism would be, that in spite of neurological discoveries about self-deception and stimulus response, it is still of primary importance that people subsequently reflect on their experiences and actions, and attempt to gather evidence to facilitate greater clarity about the nature of experiences, about consequences of actions, and to falsify observations about the world.
👍
Philos = love , think about that
I wonder if Lord Bertie changed his mind significantly as he got older? Thirty years later (in his History) he did have five major criticisms of Plato. But I'm guessing he wasted his considerable accumulation of age on other things than wisdom.