On John Dewey's How We Think (1910) ch. 1 and Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24. What model of human nature should serve as the basis for education policy? Dewey sees the scientific method as a refinement of ordinary thinking: We wonder about something, and experiencing that uncomfortable uncertainty, we jump for an explanation. Education should train us to Continue Reading …
Ep. 249: Dewey on Education and Thought (Citizen Edition)
On John Dewey's How We Think (1910) ch. 1 and Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24. What model of human nature should serve as the basis for education policy? Dewey sees the scientific method as a refinement of ordinary thinking: We wonder about something, and experiencing that uncomfortable uncertainty, we jump for an explanation. Education should train us to Continue Reading …
Ep. 229: Descartes’s Rules for Thinking (Part Two)
Continuing on René Descartes's Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628), covering rules 7 through the first part of the lengthy rule 12. We try to figure out what he means by "enumeration"; the faculties of imagination, sense, and memory; the virtues of perspicacity and sagacity; his psychology of the senses, the "common sense" where all sense data comes together, and the Continue Reading …
Ep. 229: Descartes’s Rules for Thinking (Citizen Edition)
On René Descartes's Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628). Is there a careful way to approach problems that will ensure that you'll always be right? What if you're just really careful to never assert anything you can't be sure of? This is Descartes's strategy, modeled on mathematics. This early, incomplete work lays out 21 rules for careful thinking (out of a planned 36) Continue Reading …
Ep. 226: Francis Bacon Invents Science (Part Two)
Continuing on Sir Francis Bacon's New Organon (1620). We cover more of Bacon's "idols," the things that distort our ability to do science impartially and talk about how Bacon divides religion from science (and what this means politically). We then move on to book 2, which includes Bacon's novel update of the Scholastic term "form" to mean something closer to law of nature, Continue Reading …
Ep. 226: Francis Bacon Invents Science (Part One)
On Sir Francis Bacon's New Organon (1620), aka Novum Organum. An "organon" is a toolset, and Bacon claims to have developed a new toolset that will open up nature to inquiry in a way that wasn't possible for ancient and modern natural philosophy. Mark, Wes, and Dylan consider the degree to which what Bacon describes actually corresponds to the scientific method as we would Continue Reading …
Ep. 226: Francis Bacon Invents Science (Citizen Edition)
On Sir Francis Bacon's New Organon (1620), aka Novum Organum. An "organon" is a toolset, and Bacon claims to have developed a new toolset that will open up nature to inquiry in a way that wasn't possible for ancient and modern natural philosophy. Mark, Wes, and Dylan consider the degree to which what Bacon describes actually corresponds to the scientific method as we would Continue Reading …
Precognition of Ep. 82: Popper
A summary of the first three essays in Karl Popper's collection Conjectures and Refutations, read by Dylan Casey. We recommend listening to this before the full episode. Read more about the topic and get the text. Listen to the episode. Read a transcript. Continue Reading …
Precognition of Ep. 82: Popper
A summary of the first three essays in Karl Popper's collection Conjectures and Refutations, read by Dylan Casey. We recommend listening to this before the full episode. Read more about the topic at partiallyexaminedlife.com. A transcript is available on our Citizen site's Free Stuff page. Continue Reading …