RS episode #54: The “isms” episode
February 14, 2012 2 Comments
In RS #54 — dubbed “The isms episode” — Massimo and I ask, “Is the fundamental nature of the world knowable by science alone?”, looking at the issue through the lenses of a series of related philosophical positions: determinism, reductionism, physicalism, and naturalism. All of those “isms” take a stance on the question of whether there are objectively “correct” ways to interpret scientific facts — like physical laws, or causality — and if so, how do we decide what the correct interpretation is? Along the way, we debate the nature of emergent properties, whether math is discovered or invented, and whether it’s even logically possible for “supernatural” things to exist.
http://www.rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs54-the-isms-episode.html
I want to see a transcript or excerption posted on lesswrong (they don’t like audio or video). I bet the responses would be interesting.
I enjoyed the episode but was overwhelmed by the variety of ideas. An exploration of the both Massimo’s and Julia’s positions in another podcast using a similar Socratic structure would be fantastic.