Comments on: Generation-to-generation teaching in animals http://nuvatsia.terevaden.net/2006/07/19/generation-to-generation-teaching-in-animals/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:23:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Tere http://nuvatsia.terevaden.net/2006/07/19/generation-to-generation-teaching-in-animals/#comment-16 Tere Thu, 20 Jul 2006 08:42:00 +0000 http://nuvatsia.terevaden.net/?p=42#comment-16 Couldn't agree more. It seems that there are even physicalists or naturalists who take pride in not knowing what quantum physics is about. I guess this just goes to show that some sciences can be more radical than some philosophies, as some philosophies can be more radical than some sciences. There is no systematic way of knowing who comes "first". The question about animals is a good example. It seems to me that most accounts of the animal in both science and philosophy are just mindbogglingly obviously false. There are bits and pieces that are interesting here and there, but it is hard to collect a happy mix out of them. Couldn’t agree more. It seems that there are even physicalists or naturalists who take pride in not knowing what quantum physics is about. I guess this just goes to show that some sciences can be more radical than some philosophies, as some philosophies can be more radical than some sciences. There is no systematic way of knowing who comes “first”.

The question about animals is a good example. It seems to me that most accounts of the animal in both science and philosophy are just mindbogglingly obviously false. There are bits and pieces that are interesting here and there, but it is hard to collect a happy mix out of them.

]]> By: Matti http://nuvatsia.terevaden.net/2006/07/19/generation-to-generation-teaching-in-animals/#comment-15 Matti Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:46:00 +0000 http://nuvatsia.terevaden.net/?p=42#comment-15 Well the presence of some culture in animal world can't be that much news. Just yesterday I observed how Black-throated Divers teach their young to fish. There might be some "instict" (a black box term) in that, but distinct populations will learn distinct strategies. But this is true of every bird species I've ever observed. Problem with philosophers seems to be that they know next to nothing about science, i.e. ongoing research. They might pride themselves as being onto "hard" scientific worldview, but that only means they know how to unsuccesfully axiomatize old theories. This is naturally as trivial and uninteresting as anything can be, but it passes as "naturalism" or "physicalism". So they come to feel confident in dismissing stuff that everyone just knows even without it being published in Nature. Just because it doesn't appear as a primitive term in some chosen model. This is known in Finnish as going "perse edellä puuhun". Well the presence of some culture in animal world can’t be that much news. Just yesterday I observed how Black-throated Divers teach their young to fish. There might be some “instict” (a black box term) in that, but distinct populations will learn distinct strategies. But this is true of every bird species I’ve ever observed.

Problem with philosophers seems to be that they know next to nothing about science, i.e. ongoing research. They might pride themselves as being onto “hard” scientific worldview, but that only means they know how to unsuccesfully axiomatize old theories. This is naturally as trivial and uninteresting as anything can be, but it passes as “naturalism” or “physicalism”.

So they come to feel confident in dismissing stuff that everyone just knows even without it being published in Nature. Just because it doesn’t appear as a primitive term in some chosen model. This is known in Finnish as going “perse edellä puuhun”.

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