From: Kalkor (kalkor@kalkor.com)
Date: Tue May 18 2004 - 00:43:10 MDT
[Erik]
Sorry, the quote "A more fitting object of outrage is the executioner." was
posted by Joe Dees
(correct?) who I was replying to... but I failed to indent and credit. be
nice if the forum threaded things a little better...
Did I say it was impossible to learn how to do something right by learning
how someone did it wrong?
No.
I said that "No true progress has ever been made through finding fault in
others.".
How did you interpret this in such a way?
[Kalkor]
Because, if ever in the history of history, someone has made "true
progress", such as creating a better model for the universe, by correcting
an error made by someone else on a model that seeks to define an overlapping
aspect of reality...
Then your statement is false.
For example:
Bob makes a theory to explain a natural phenomenon. Bob's theory is proven
incorrect and a BETTER theory is made by Jon. Jon has therefore made "true
progress" by coming up with a BETTER theory, and he did so by finding out
where Bob went wrong in his theory.
I would have no problem with your statement if you replaced "no" with
"little" or something. Not that the modification wouldn't be incorrect, but
that it would be much more difficult for me to falsify ;-}
Of course, the quibble depends on the readers' definitions of "true
progress" and "finding fault". In this case, I used "an increase in
knowledge" to fit into the category "true progress", and "proving a theory
incorrect" into the category "finding fault".
So what we end up with is (not quite as inclusive as your statement but for
falsification purposes, one example to negate your "no" is sufficient):
"No increase in knowledge has ever been made through proving a theory
incorrect in others"
I submit that true progress HAS been made at least once through finding
fault in others.
I apologize for the bad paraphrasing in my original reply. There is no way
that I could take your past-tense statement (no true progress has been...)
for saying "it is impossible to" and still remain rational in my argument.
It is akin to Bob saying "this has never happened before" and Jon saying "so
what you mean is: 'therefore it is impossible'". I hope this helps explain
where I'm coming from a bit better ;-}
Kalkor
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