Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:44:36 -0500 From: Yoshie Furuhashi <Furuhashi.1-AT-osu.edu> Subject: Re: M-TH: straw men, etc Hi Mark, >Yoshie, you are right, but just one thing: > >Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: > >> I don't share Mark's apocalyptic conclusion, > >Why don't you share it? In natural sciences, a correct explanation of a mechanism that causes X will normally allow scientists to experimentally produce X, provided that they can control an experimental environment in such a way that the mechanism can do its work without countervailing tendencies from other factors. On the other hand, in anything that concerns what's human and social, a correct explanation does not necessarily allow us to make a correct prediction, because we can't produce and control our environment in such a way that the mechanism in question will be allowed to do its work without countervailing tendencies. Maybe you don't subscribe to this division between natural and social sciences, but I think that this is a useful distinction. That is why I am cautious about making predictions, even though I find persuasive your explanation of how industrial capitalism's reliance on fossil fuels must become a seed of crisis in the near future. Yoshie --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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