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2011 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

1. The Pursuit of Knowledge

Author : George Christakos

Published in: Integrative Problem-Solving in a Time of Decadence

Publisher: Springer Netherlands

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Abstract

In the course of his inexplicable existence, Man bequeathed to his descendants multiple evidence, worthy of his immortal origin. As he also bequeathed vestiges of the dawn’s remnants, snowballing celestial reptiles, kites, diamonds and glances of hyacinths. Amidst moans, tears, famine, lamentations and cinder of subterranean wells.

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next chapter Problem-Solving Revisited

Allegedly, the officer on duty in the destruction of the library of Alexandria used two stamps with which he marked the papyruses. One stated: “Does not agree with the Koran – heretic, must be burned.” The other stated: “Agrees with the Koran – superfluous, must be burned.”

Generally, the term “epistemic” refers to the construction of models of the processes (perceptual, intellectual, and linguistic) by which knowledge and understanding are achieved and communicated. According to some scholars, the term “epistemic” has its origins to Aristotle’s Nichomachian Ethics.

Περιπατητικοί (Walkers) were students of Aristotle’s Lyceum in fourth century bc.

I hope the readers tolerate my recourse to romantic nostalgia throughout the book.

Although many historians claim that he actually lived in the fourth century bc.

In this respect, early Chinese philosophy shares much in common with seventeenth century British empiricists.

Examples of the three knowledge types in classification a are, respectively, “Maria knows the U.S. President,” “John is a good mathematician,” and “Aspasia knows that Spartans are Greeks.”

Examples of the two knowledge types in classification b are, respectively, “all bachelors are unmarried,” and “this car is red.”

Examples of the two knowledge types in classification c are, respectively, “all triangles have three sides,” and “there are no elephants in Greece.”

One should distinguish between corporatism and capitalism. Corporatism has been termed “The greediest form of capitalism” (Grayling, 2010: 393). In capitalism the free markets need a moral foundation in order to work; and when a company fails, it is not bailed out using taxpayer money. Corporatism generally refers to the control of a state, an institute, or an organization by large financial interest groups; access to federal lending, deposit insurance, government guarantee for corporations “too big to fail;” and a voracious, interventionist bureaucracy.

If, e.g., one raises the chair and let it go, the chair will fall downwards according to the laws of gravity.

For example, the feeling of the chair’s texture and smell, the experience of the chair’s color and shape are unsharable. See, also, the concept of “qualia” in Section 3.2.3.

Along similar lines is the old Greek folk proverb: “A man may possess a mountain of skill and talent, but if he lacks a small pebble of luck, he rarely accomplishes much in life.”

“Stochastic” is an ancient Greek word that refers to deep or intense thinking; it does not merely mean “random,” or “science of prediction” as is sometimes assumed (e.g., Collani 2008: 202).

In real life the right decision cannot be always based on pure logic (e.g., not even a pair of shoes one buys based only on purely logical criteria, say, size and price). Life does not progress with dry data alone, with the 0-1 (yes-no) of computers; there are an infinite numbers of values in between, which give depth and quality to human knowledge.

Reduction to the absurd is a form of reasoning in which a claim or a statement is disproven by following its implications to a logical but absurd consequence.

Or, the assertion of a group of agents.

The \( \eta \) is a real number between 0 and 1.

The \( {\mathbf{s}} \) denotes the spatial location vector and \( t \) denotes time (Chapter 4).

Boundary and initial conditions.

In this sense, one is not arguing against standard logic, but rather pointing out the need of a broader view that encompasses uncertainty.

Say, “A=Venus is made of feta cheese,” and “B= There exists life on Earth”.

Say, A and B denote hydraulic gradient and conductivity, respectively, linked via Darcy law (Table 1.1).

Since uncertainty is defined as \( {U_{KB}}[ \cdot ] = 1 - {P_{KB}}[ \cdot ] \) (Section 4.5), (1.6) is equivalent to \( {P_{KB}}[A] \leqslant {P_{KB}}[B] \).

The I denotes an interval of possible attribute values.

Conceptual intellection and innovative methodology are not always viewed as basic prerequisites of human inquiry by the modern academic elites (see, Section 1.5). A case in point is the rapid decline of many academic departments that urgently need the oxygen of sound thought and creative imagination.

The readers have been briefly introduced to rationalism and empiricism in Section 1.1.2.

Many experts argue, e.g., that the shadow epistemology imposed on cancer research by financial interests has reduced considerably the chances to better understand and cure the disease.

In the western world the kind of debate that seems to attract global attention nowadays is that concerning the rate of Euro versus U.S. dollar.

Hypatia (Υπατία), who lived in the late ad fourth to fifth, is believed to be the sole woman represented in Raphael’s 1511 painting The School of Athens.

Steinbeck won the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature. Among his best-known novels is Of men and mice.

U.S. Marines colonel Matthew Bogdanos’ book is a fascinating reading that describes his team’s monumental efforts, amidst the ruins of the 2003 invasion of Baghdad, to recover some of the world’s most important antiquities stolen from the Iraq museum.

During 2005–2009 Rice was the U.S. Secretary of State. From 1993 to 1999, she served as the Provost of Stanford University (California).

Corruption of the best is worst.

Polly Toynbee, Guardian, 27 November 1996.

The word βάσανο (vasano) is found in the Old Testament, and it means the uncomfortable state caused by serious thinking and deep reflection.

The Iraq war, the 9/11 disaster, and the anti-evolution movement, among many other examples, offer enough evidence that people can be easily manipulated and misled by misinformation and fear.

If, e.g., the main goal of corporate pharmaceutical research is financial profit, it is doubtful that the power holders will allow the search for innovative solutions that can cure certain diseases but reduce their profits (often linked to the prolonged treatment of diseases).

If nothing else, one wonders whether Kristol and others like him had ever considered the confusion, miscommunication and hostility among groups of people who assign different truths to the same phenomenon; or the possible psychological damage caused to human beings exposed to various truths during different phases of their lives (e.g., one “truth” about human existence during one phase, a contradicting “truth” in another phase, and yet a different “truth” at a later phase).

“Hermetic” is an ancient Greek word that means airtight sealing.

The author in his text refers to institutions like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford.

It is telling that the elites’ lobbying of the government is a highly expanding industry. The readers may be amazed to hear that just during the period 2000–2005 the number of registered lobbyists in Washington D.C. doubled to nearly 35,000 (Schenkman 2009: 78).

Courtiers, you cowardly and damned race.

From his speech in the 2004 Labour party conference. Tony Blair’s actual mode of argumentation was further elucidated by the British Chancellor Gordon Brown, who told to his Prime Minister that, “There is nothing you say to me now that I could ever believe” (Peston 2005: 349).

Environmental Protection Agency.

SpiegelOnline, Oct 19, 2009: “Second-Class Medicine: Germans unhappy with alternative swine flu vaccine for politicians.”

Ibid.

John 1:23.

As many readers probably noticed, the Papa Stalin’s motto could apply equally well to the 2000 U.S. presidential elections and the controversy over the electoral votes of the state of Florida.

Luke 24:18.

National Science Foundation

In this case, one is reminded of the promise made publicly by a candidate during his 1996 U.S. Presidential campaign: “If you want me to be Ronald Reagan, I’ll be Ronald Reagan.”

“The City has fallen ”was the desperate cry heard among Constantinoples’ ruins signaling the fall of the city to the Ottomans (May 29, 1453), after a long period of hopeless sacrifice and suffering. This cry came to symbolize the end of an era and the beginning of a new one that eventually led to the Enlightenment.

Corporatism’s crocodile tears for the public funds “wasted” in higher education will live in infamy.

The implementation of postmodern corporatism ideas in the real-world is sometimes profoundly opportunistic. For example, while Greek tourism (the country’s most profitable industry) is based on the promotion of the great achievements of the Ancients, for years the country’s postmodern politicians had abolished the teaching of ancient Greek in schools. Hypocrisy at its worst: actively opposing tradition and at the same time taking advantage of its worldwide fame for financial gain.

Having its origins to the Greek words κλέἐπτης (thief) and κρατώ (rule), “kleptocratic” denotes corruption seeking to extend the personal wealth and political power of a ruling class.

There are many cases when an investor lobbies the government not to fund competing research proposals, or a big corporation buys out a small company in order to destroy innovation that could threaten the corporation’s complete control of the market.

A study by The Center for Academic Integrity found that almost 80% of college students admit to cheating at least once; and a poll conducted by US News and World Reports found that 90% of students believe that cheaters are either never caught or have never been appropriately disciplined. What is worst, too few universities are willing to back up their professors when they catch students cheating, according to academic observers. The schools are simply not willing to expend the effort required to get to the bottom of cheating cases, as stated by The National Center for Policy Analysis (http://www.plagiarism.org).

Insane as it may sound, there are cases where campus administrators forbid faculty to use funds to purchase books, arbitrarily characterizing their contents as irrelevant to the educational and research plans of the faculty.

An education system that produces, e.g., great mathematicians has demonstrable worldwide characteristics.

Gross Domestic Product.

The NSF’s science and engineering indicators show a greater than 30% reduction in the number of articles per billion of dollars of GDP during the 1995–2005 period.

A phrase with which Cato the elder urged the Roman people to the destruction of Carthage.

A quote from the biblical story of Paul of Tarsus, who converted from Judaism to Christianity when he saw a bright light while traveling on the road to Damascus.

Notorious yet not atypical is the news-making case of the top administrator of a major funding agency who was forced by the U.S. Congress to resign under the weight of scandals that showed that the man was an impresario of deceit who operated on a heroic scale (Section 8.4.3.1).

University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

Pearce F., December 10, 2009: http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/print.msp?id=2221

The idea, e.g., that a society’s survival depends on the size of its armies rather than on its citizens’ capacity to rely on the strength of their own critical thought is a poor representation of historical reality.

Probably the same sort of “pragmatism” that, when it was most needed, completely failed to protect the society from the devastating effects of the worst financial crisis of recent years.

Don’t you know then, my son, how little wisdom rules the world?

“Slovakia Rejects Its Share of Greek Bailout.” The New York Times, Aug 12, 2010.

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known: Matthew 10:26.

Not to be confused with the egocentric features of ill-conceived individualism (see later in this chapter).

They were given this name because they lived in Miletus in the sixthand seventh centuries bc. Among them were Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander.

This is a term introduced by Thomas Kuhn (Section 2.2.15) to describe a particular way of looking at things, including a theoretical perspective and conception of what is measured.

The reader is reminded that incommensurability involves the inability to translate some concepts of one tradition into meaning and reference in some other tradition.

As a nation of immigrants lacking a common ancestry and tribal ties, from its very beginning America was built on myths. Naturally, its modern era myths are far more involved as a result of a huge and powerful media network that dominates every sector of the society.

Nevertheless, as was noticed by Jean-Philippe Bouchaud (2008), economists and financial analysts do not usually welcome the study of financial problems in an integrative manner that involves scientific methods. Their faith is often placed on unshakeable dogmas rather than on scientific reasoning, conceptual frameworks, and evidential support.

See, e.g., the monumental work Generalized Functions: Complete 5-Volume Set by I.M. Gelfand, G.E. Shilov, and N.Ya. Vilenkin; translated in English and published by Academic in 1964.

A term proposed by the sociologist Robert K. Merton, alluding to a biblical statement (Merton 1968).

To use a metaphor, zero-risk research resembles the “oldies but goodies” albums of the music industry that pleasantly take us down the memory lane, but do not offer any new sound, themes or genre.

Inter alia, the hidden agenda is that by no means junior scientists should become aware that many relevant and important results have been derived by researchers in other fields, and not by their disciplinary “heroes.”

I.e., “whom God wants to destroy, He turns into a fool.”

“Culture” has its origin in the Latin “cultura” stemming from “colere,” meaning “to cultivate.”

“When I hear the word ‘culture’… I release the safety catch of my Browning.” This line originates in Johst’s play Schlageter (Act 1, Scene 1).

It is not without symbolism that the motivations of both the elite of financial markets and that of corporate science are strictly monetary. The former elite seeks to secure huge bonuses despite its miserable failure to prevent financial collapse, whereas the latter elite demands large-scale research funds despite its proven inability to generate original science at a similar scale.

Including government agencies and private industry. Typical is the case of pharmaceutical companies that invest huge amounts of money on specific drugs and then lobby against the funding of innovative research projects that could question their investment.

The word “Art” comes from the Latin ars, meaning skill.

Author and philosopher of early German Romanticism, whose real name was Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg.

Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake’s work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.

The characterization “Military-Industrial-Academic Complex” was used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower who tried to warn people about the dark future.

Sooner rather than later, a problem-solver is confronted with the great disease of western societies (and not only): a majority of people believe that there are really no serious problems in life that are worth-solving except their own financial well-being (i.e., all other kinds of problems can be resolved in financial terms). As a result, no restraints of any sort (moral, spiritual or intellectual) can slow down the frantic race for material gains, excessive consumption, and the satisfaction of lower needs.

In linguistic terms, no amount of syntax can entirely eliminate semantics.

Randomized clinical trials with risk factors and disease outcomes considered in isolation, using black-box techniques, estimating “independent” associations rather than understanding causes, preoccupied with proximate risk factors etc.

“Good things are difficult to attain;” Plato, Republic 4: 435c.

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Title: The Pursuit of Knowledge
Author: George Christakos
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Book: Integrative Problem-Solving in a Time of Decadence
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-9889-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-90-481-9890-0

Copyright Year: 2011
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9890-0_1