It is the case that the coherence of the idea of the Cartesian skeptic is basically what we are debating.
That might be a bit orthogonal to the discussion; I’m certainly willing to grant you the Cartesian skeptic for the duration of this thread :-)
I’m specifically asserting that things that are independent of empirical facts are non-social.
If you are talking about pure reason, don’t the conclusions depend on your axioms ? If so, the results may not be social, per se, but they’re certainly arbitrary. If you pick different axioms, you get different conclusions.
What does rejection of the assertion “If you think you can fly, then you can” have to do with the definition of socially mediated? … The ability to make accurate predictions doesn’t require a model that corresponds with reality.
To me, these two sentences sound diametrically opposed to each other. If your model does not correspond to reality, how is it different from any other arbitrary social construct (such as the color of Harry Potter’s favorite scarf or whatever) ? On the other hand, if your model makes specific predictions about reality, which are found to be true time and time again (f.ex., “if you step off this ledge, you’ll plummet to your splattery doom”), then how can you say that your model does not correspond to reality in any meaningful way ?
That might be a bit orthogonal to the discussion; I’m certainly willing to grant you the Cartesian skeptic for the duration of this thread :-)
If you are talking about pure reason, don’t the conclusions depend on your axioms ? If so, the results may not be social, per se, but they’re certainly arbitrary. If you pick different axioms, you get different conclusions.
To me, these two sentences sound diametrically opposed to each other. If your model does not correspond to reality, how is it different from any other arbitrary social construct (such as the color of Harry Potter’s favorite scarf or whatever) ? On the other hand, if your model makes specific predictions about reality, which are found to be true time and time again (f.ex., “if you step off this ledge, you’ll plummet to your splattery doom”), then how can you say that your model does not correspond to reality in any meaningful way ?