by For the idealist, the fact that the Inuit have many words for snow while the bush people of the Kalahari desert have none is merely a function of their different languages and has nothing to do with any extra-discursive reality … However, those who claim that reality is a discursive construct don’t believe what they say, for their practice — for example avoiding extra-discursive dangers, such as oncoming cars — shows that they cannot make the world a slave to their discourses … Part of the function of communicative action and associated material acts is to indicate which of those many possible meanings apply in a given situation. When we read a final demand for payment of our electricity bill and the accompanying threat of disconnection, we could play endless parlour games
Topics:
Lars Pålsson Syll considers the following as important: Theory of Science & Methodology
This could be interesting, too:
Lars Pålsson Syll writes How Einstein taught me a great lesson
Lars Pålsson Syll writes The Keynes-Ramsey-Savage debate on probability
Lars Pålsson Syll writes A philosopher’s look at science
Lars Pålsson Syll writes Why yours truly is a critical realist
For the idealist, the fact that the Inuit have many words for snow while the bush people of the Kalahari desert have none is merely a function of their different languages and has nothing to do with any extra-discursive reality … However, those who claim that reality is a discursive construct don’t believe what they say, for their practice — for example avoiding extra-discursive dangers, such as oncoming cars — shows that they cannot make the world a slave to their discourses …
Part of the function of communicative action and associated material acts is to indicate which of those many possible meanings apply in a given situation. When we read a final demand for payment of our electricity bill and the accompanying threat of disconnection, we could play endless parlour games running through diverse constructions of what this text says, showing off our ability to construe it in imaginative ways. Never-theless, which of the many possible meanings is supposed to apply, is usually pretty clear; if it isn’t, it might register when the lights go out.