Sunday, February 21, 2010
Miracle Party 2/21
Destination Imagination 2/21
Thursday, January 14, 2010
- created in 1993 by the UN mandate
- Guilt can be individualized
- idea that leaders suspected of MASS crimes can be frought to justice
- indicted heads of state, mid level police & military leaders
- created in 1995 to bear witness, to record & in some cases, grant amnesty
- (trial and Reconciliation Commity)
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Outline #10
What similarities and differences are there between Scientific and Historical Explanations?
Opening/Thesis:
Similarities:
Method, theory, explication, perception, reason
Differences:
Perception, emotion,
Body Paragraphs:
Scientific Explanation:
· Definition- Ex. What is photosynthesis?
· Paraphrase- restates the sense in similar or more formal words. ex what does the fire insurance plan mean?
· Rules- Ex will you explain chess to me?
· Analysis- what is logically entailed. ex Why is there no greatest prime number?
· Demonstration- showing how to do something. ex.How do you ski?
· Reasons- provides motives, beliefs, examples. ex. Why did Brutus stab Caesar?
· Universal- would require both refence to the metaphysical reasons in which both substances participate. ex. Why is snow and milk white
Theory v. observation
· They are independent because even though a scientist can observe a certain experiment he can create a theory with things that are not directly seen. This means that a theory can existed with out observation.
· The use of image is misleading, and we make up rules and patterns ourselves to fit into our ideas. These do not exist in nature and limits our true understandings of things.
History
· The natural scientist may be indifferent to his/her subject matter. However a person is hardly detached from the investigation of things like birth control, socialism, sexual freedom, crime, drugs, pornography, and so on. Social sciences are overrun with values. Auguste Comte had the hope of "science of society" which would distinguish the difference between of whether or not something should be done from how to do something.
· History is constantly being rewritten not only because of new facts being found but because of the view that 'history is always written wrong'. With new facts we are presented with new interpretations. Even if new facts aren't presented in a situation different interpretations and reconstruction will appear because of the different views we have on life in comparison to those of the past. "Stories about the dead are inspired by the curiosity of the living."
· In History just like physics because there will always be out lying variables that will never be known. It is impossible to know everything about both. Also both have to go "beyond the evidence" to explain the results that have occurred to connect them their ultimate results. Also both have to select certain facts and present them in the best way that they felt they are able to describe them.
Conclusion:
Awesomeness
Bibliography:
Abel, Reuben. Man is the Measure. New York: The Free Press, 1976.
Diamond, Jared. "Soft Sciences Are Often Harder Than Hard Sciences." . August 1987. Gale Group. 3 January, 2010.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
BNW uhh. 10?
Monday, December 14, 2009
Jared Diamond
- Please describe the background of the dispute between Dr. Samuel Huntington and Dr. Serge Lang.
- How did Lang respond to Huntington’s “pseudo mathematics?”
- What aspects of the dispute between Lang and Huntington are “political?” How does the author, Jared Diamond, feel about “Academic Freedom?
- Why does the NAS exist? Why does this make that attacks against Huntington seem peculiar?
- Why does Diamond find fault in the traditional perceptions of the hard sciences?
- Why are soft sciences difficult to study?
- How did the NAS need to change in the early 1970s?
- What are the problems in “operationalizing” a concept?
- Briefly describe how Diamond illustrates operationalizing in:
· Mathematics
The amount of bannans in a tree are able to be counted, in order to prove which has more by people.
· Chemistry
The concentration of sugars are able to be measured by people
· Ecology
The foliage hieght diversity index is able to be found by people.
· Psychology
Things like questionnaires and surveys can be used to measure patterns and certain behaviors by people.
- What were Huntington’s operationalized concepts that provoked the wrath of Lang?
- Why is the task of operationalizing more difficult and less exact in the soft sciences? Why does it lead to the ridicule of the soft sciences?
- Why does Diamond believe that Lang might be ignorant of the measurements taken by social scientists like Huntington?
- Does Diamond believe the labels associated with the sciences be replaced? Explain.
- Does Diamond believe the soft sciences to be more valuable than hard sciences? Do you agree? Explain.