Date: Thu, 4 Apr 96 08:24:14 GMT
Subject: Re: theories



Lisa writes :
> I think there is a place for piecemeal and proud.

Yes, I think there is. I think this is the only way to proceed in order
to advance knowledge. The alternative is to start with an intellectual
framework and bend the facts to fit in with it ie idealism.

So, ( on territory more familiar to me ) before Newton and Liebnitz 
simultaneously "discovered" calculus, there were many partially complete
theories to help sailors navigate, help wine makers fill circular barrels,
astronomers predict planetary movements, etc.

But, as I think Lisa suggests when she writes :
"how to put things together into a larger picture" , piecemeal and proud is
not enough. Not only is it not enough for our minds, ( or at least 
my mind ) which like common features in disparate systems, but it does not
explain reality, which really is interelated, and which really does have
common features eg "natural selection" really does operate amongst all living
things.

These "framework theories" are abstractions from all the different bits of
reality and their associated sub theories. They must explain all these
phenomena, but also provide the mental framework to examine other areas.
Also, these framework theories have a basically simple core to them,
although this simple core probably runs counter to the prevailing common
sense.

When it comes to human society, Marx provides this "simple" key. The basic
motor of human society are the forces of production. At times, these are
helped along by the relations of production, at other times hindered. 
Superstructure depends on this base.

Now of course, this does not absolve Marxists of the need to make this
analysis concrete in each particular situation, and this in turn refines
what we mean by our basic terms.

This is why I have previously defended the primacy of the role of tool 
production in the complex of factors like language, physique, social 
organisation, and technology. It fits in with the rest of human history, 
and it does not, as far as I am aware, contradict the meagre evidence
we have.

I think that "piecemeal and proud" , if it is elevated to the status 
of a pre existing mental framework in order to disallow "framework 
theories" , is basically another way of saying "post modernism" , ie
an intellectualised way of retreating from both science and social change.
( Not, I hasten to add, that I am accusing Lisa of this ! )

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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