20110518

Letter from a Fellow Traveler on the Road to Scientific Philosophy

Dr. Glenn,

I just had to butt into your day and thank you one more time for your great work.  I sure hope all is well with you and yours.

I just got through re-reading "Einstein’s Most Important Philosophical Error" and "The Physical Meaning of E=mc2". 

I re-read those as a prelude to my first reading of Collingwood's Essay on Metaphysics.I'm probably going to crack that book and get into it this afternoon.  Hopefully on the patio if it doesn't rain. (Up next on my reading list is Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions.)

I've been looking through the latest NPA videos on YouTube, and I see you there in the crowd. Did you do any presentations or recorded discussions at that event? I was hoping...

I thank you for putting me on this intellectual, philosophical, scientific journey.

It's frustrating to see the human race go on it's merry indeterminate way (and the attendant bloodshed), but it's reassuring to have a confirmation of what I've felt since my early teens; "the word is not the object, the menu is not the meal, the signpost is not the path."

When I first started to doubt my Catholic upbringing, in my late teens, I noted that the Bible starts with "In the beginning was the Word."  That really clicked with my earlier appreciation that words aren't just concepts floating around in space, as Plato envisioned them. I realized then that religion had its origins in the problem of people confusing human concepts with physical reality.

Your books and papers (and suggested reading) are having that same kind of paradigm-shaking effect that I felt back when my religious faith was demolished. It feels like a "return to innocence", at age 57 and grandfather of 7.

Best wishes and deep appreciation,
Rick Dutkiewicz
Allegan, Michigan


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1 comment:

  1. Glenn BorchardtMay 18, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    Rick:

    Thanks for your kind comments. Yes, NPA has some videos I did on the Ten Assumptions of Science (http://www.worldsci.org/php/index.php?tab0=Scientists&tab1=Display&name=Glenn%20Borchardt). I also have attended NPA video conferences that touch on scientific philosophy.

    Glenn

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