Re: [OPE-L] Hume

From: Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM
Date: Fri Jan 21 2005 - 08:25:56 EST


> I would argue that what science does is not so
> much uncover causes but uncover symmetries and
> constraints.

Paul C,

Hasn't there been disagreement among scientists about this?

Doesn't the sciences of medicine, bacteriology, virology, etc.
often proceed by attempting to identify cause(s)?  Didn't e.g.
Louis Pasteur and  Marie Curie attempt to identify cause(s)?
It is the presence  of unexplained symmetries or asymmetries
or enigmas that often motivates scientific pursuits of  underlying
cause,  no?

While Marx uncovered symmetries and constraints, wasn't it
part of his project within the context of the reconstruction of
capitalism in thought to also identify causes?  One could,
for example, read Chapter One of Volume One of _Capital_
as an attempt to identify causes, no?

In solidarity, Jerry


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