Truth course
From Huben's Wiki
| Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
* writing | * writing | ||
** concision | ** concision | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Content == | ||
| + | *how well do we know what we know | ||
| + | **ask for some definitions, ask whether examples match | ||
| + | *the problem of ideals | ||
| + | *how do we actually think? | ||
| + | **not deductively | ||
| + | *folk knowledge versus modern knowledge | ||
| + | **see consilience | ||
| + | *idea of relationships, as opposed to reifications | ||
| + | **property as a real thing, versus as a relationship | ||
| + | **meaning of life: to whom? | ||
| + | *subjectivity as opposed to objectivity | ||
| + | **our frames | ||
| + | **our prejudices | ||
| + | **our inherent psychological tendencies | ||
| + | **evo psych | ||
| + | *conspiracy theories | ||
| + | **god of the gaps | ||
| + | **butterfly's dream | ||
| + | **evil demon deluding us | ||
| + | **brain in vat | ||
| + | **solipsism | ||
| + | **green man behind our heads | ||
| + | **fossils as false evidence | ||
| + | **patterns in conspiracy theories: | ||
| + | ***untestable "answers" to challenges | ||
| + | ***requirements that defy common sense | ||
| + | *categories of truth | ||
| + | **mathematical truth | ||
| + | ***based on assumptions | ||
| + | ***logic | ||
| + | ***versus validity (see http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/leglreas.htm) | ||
| + | ***symbolic logic | ||
| + | ***proof is computation (string transformation) | ||
| + | **science: difference between truth and honesty, lack of perfect proof | ||
| + | ***a search for reliable knowledge | ||
| + | ****An Introduction to Science | ||
| + | ****http://www.freeinquiry.com/intro-to-sci.html | ||
| + | ***modeling: analogy | ||
| + | ***innate modeling | ||
| + | ***anecdotes | ||
| + | ****http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=33#more-33 | ||
| + | ***historical disciplines: | ||
| + | ****use natural experiments or the comparative method | ||
| + | ****Natural Experiments of History | ||
| + | ****Jared Diamond (Editor), James A. Robinson | ||
| + | **historical truth | ||
| + | ***often very weak beyond primary evidence | ||
| + | ***frequently story telling | ||
| + | **legal truth/proof | ||
| + | **philosophical truth | ||
| + | ***which is often truthiness | ||
| + | **religious truth | ||
| + | *conditional truth | ||
| + | *intersubjective corroboration (verifiability, confirmation) | ||
| + | *relativism | ||
| + | **The fact of relativism should not | ||
| + | **be used to disparage what is intersubjectively verifiable. | ||
| + | *self-correction | ||
| + | **Brin's accountability forums. | ||
| + | ***elections | ||
| + | ***courts | ||
| + | ***science | ||
| + | ***markets | ||
| + | **hill-climbing, maxima, etc. | ||
| + | *deception | ||
| + | *denialism (http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/) | ||
| + | **http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T4UF_Rmlio | ||
| + | **Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives by Michael Specter | ||
| + | *manufacturing doubt of science | ||
| + | **"Doubt Is Their Product", David Michaels | ||
| + | **http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36360/title/Comment__Corporate_campaigns_manufacture_scientific_doubt_by_David_Michaels | ||
| + | **http://defendingscience.org/ | ||
| + | **Merchants of Doubt, a new book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway | ||
| + | **Why global warming can't be a conspiracy and why denial can: | ||
| + | **http://www.goingonabearhunt.com/?p=209 | ||
| + | *reasoning | ||
| + | **sophism | ||
| + | **excessive claims made on reason's behalf in centuries past | ||
| + | **(http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/leglreas.htm) | ||
| + | **(http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/ArchiveFolder/Research%20Group/Publications/Reason/ReasonRationality.htm) | ||
| + | *Aristotelian reasoning (see Popper) | ||
| + | *fallacies of logic | ||
| + | *informal fallacies | ||
| + | **Gigerenzer et al. on efficient reasoning | ||
| + | *rhetoric | ||
| + | *truth on the web | ||
| + | **assessing web and other information | ||
| + | **what distortions there are on the web | ||
| + | **what distortions there are in other media | ||
| + | ***historical documents: written by victors | ||
| + | ***newspapers | ||
| + | ***dictionaries and other references as arbiters of meaning | ||
| + | *surveys and their fallacies | ||
| + | *propaganda | ||
| + | **Tomorrow Belongs to Me (bandwagon purpose of music) | ||
| + | **1984 sex crimes scene in movie theatre | ||
| + | **http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Propaganda_techniques | ||
| + | **http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Propaganda | ||
| + | *framing | ||
| + | *problems of understanding | ||
| + | **historical changes of meaning and usage | ||
| + | **incompatible models, frames | ||
| + | **codes, phatic language, etc. | ||
| + | **multiple and hidden meanings | ||
| + | *ontology | ||
| + | *learning | ||
| + | **research vs. gossip, accuracy vs retention | ||
| + | *consequentialism | ||
| + | *skepticism | ||
| + | **3 types (Kurtz): if you can't keep them straight, can't | ||
| + | **understand skeptical argument | ||
| + | *pragmatism | ||
| + | *seeing is believing, observational error, value based observation | ||
| + | **witness reliability, magic tricks, delusion, confirmation bias, | ||
| + | **selective observation | ||
| + | *testimonials | ||
| + | **http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=10#more-10 | ||
| + | **"it is not uncommon for cancer testimonials from patients who have died of their cancer to continue to circulate on the Internet long after the patient’s death" | ||
| + | *The Big Important Ones in DAILY LIFE | ||
| + | **nutrition | ||
| + | **medicine | ||
| + | **politics | ||
| + | **finances | ||
| + | **religion | ||
| + | *religion, humanism, atheism, agnosticism | ||
| + | **I don't know, and you don't either. | ||
| + | **alternatives | ||
| + | **the emperor (religion) has no clothes (no visible god) | ||
| + | *pseudoscience: recognizing pseudoscience: asimov/clark's rules | ||
| + | *origins | ||
| + | **wedge, ID, abiogenesis, cosmogeny, evolution, monty hall fallacy | ||
| + | *politics | ||
| + | **errors of populism/democracy/rulers | ||
| + | *truth about humans | ||
| + | **what we are, are not | ||
| + | **how that is exploited in fallacies and commerce (fraud) | ||
| + | *rights | ||
| + | **natural rights: opposition to divine rights of kings | ||
| + | ***nonsense upon stilts | ||
| + | **social contract | ||
| + | **positivist rights | ||
| + | **semantic stop signs: | ||
| + | ***Jonathan Wallace has asserted that proclaiming some | ||
| + | rights as 'natural' is another way of saying 'Stop | ||
| + | asking questions' and 'I have won this argument.' | ||
| + | "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men | ||
| + | are created equal, that they are endowed by their | ||
| + | Creator with certain unalienable Rights." | ||
| + | [equal as opposed to royal/commoner, but we want | ||
| + | government to treat us as equal and create equal rights] | ||
| + | *statistics, probability | ||
| + | **monty hall fallacy | ||
| + | **Bayesianism | ||
| + | *economics | ||
| + | **theoretic vs econometric | ||
| + | **orthodoxy vs heterodox | ||
| + | **economic man assumptions | ||
| + | ***maximizing what? | ||
| + | *human nature | ||
| + | **On Human Nature | ||
| + | **bad models | ||
| + | *psychology | ||
| + | **http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment | ||
| + | **Freud | ||
| + | *advertising | ||
| + | *newspapers and other publications lie | ||
| + | *the web of a thousand lies | ||
| + | *the camera DOES lie | ||
| + | **how to lie with images | ||
| + | **how to detect fake images | ||
| + | *public relations | ||
| + | *fringe groups (LaRouche, cults, etc.) | ||
| + | *race/culture/ethnicity | ||
| + | *sexual relationships | ||
| + | **the rules | ||
| + | **are men and women different | ||
| + | *is-ought problem | ||
| + | *no objective center: only subjective centers | ||
| + | **location: here, US, earth, etc. | ||
| + | **scale: objects in human scale, no microscopic or astronomical | ||
| + | **organization: individuals, not cells, atoms, ecologies, species | ||
| + | *our notions of right and wrong | ||
| + | *taste and value | ||
| + | **De gustibus non est disputandum: There is no disputing about tastes. | ||
| + | **http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8282%28197703%2967%3A2%3C76%3ADGNED%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage | ||
| + | **bottled water: costs more than gasoline | ||
| + | **Bottlemania book | ||
| + | **http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/22/the-story-of-bottled-1.html | ||
| + | *how much of what we know is true? | ||
| + | *philosophy | ||
| + | * From an Enlightenment or Positivist point of view, which is | ||
| + | Hume's point of view, and mine, there is simply no avoiding the | ||
| + | conclusion that the human race is mad. There are scarcely any | ||
| + | human beings who do not have some lunatic beliefs or other to | ||
| + | which they attach great importance. People are mostly sane | ||
| + | enough, of course, in the affairs of common life: the getting | ||
| + | of food, shelter, and so on. But the moment they attempt any | ||
| + | depth or generality of thought, they go mad almost infallibly. | ||
| + | The vast majority adopt the local religious madness, as | ||
| + | naturally as they adopt the local dress. But the more powerful | ||
| + | minds will, equally infallibly, fall into the worship of some | ||
| + | intelligent and dangerous lunatic, such as Plato, or Augustine, | ||
| + | or Comte, or Hegel, or Marx. | ||
| + | David Stove, The Plato Cult, 1991 | ||
| + | *follow the money | ||
| + | **to find qui bono | ||
| + | **to suspect propaganda | ||
| + | **Adam Smith and pareto economics | ||
| + | *ethics | ||
| + | **Prisoner's dilemma comic as a start: show how golden rule applies. | ||
| + | *strategies for discerning the truth | ||
| + | **references + textbooks | ||
| + | *what good is truth? what good is knowledge? | ||
| + | *what will we choose and why? | ||
| + | **we are individuals | ||
| + | **but of a social species | ||
| + | **that sanctions antisocial behavior | ||
| + | **coping with other's beliefs in untruths | ||
| + | *how and why we actively CHOOSE to believe falsehoods | ||
| + | **(see Shermer) | ||
| + | **self interest | ||
| + | **active vs passive acceptance of falsehoods (reorganize) | ||
| + | **confirmation bias | ||
| + | **humans use non-monotonic heuristics, seldom logic | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Resources to use == | ||
| + | *Consumer reports adwatch | ||
| + | **http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYodDH4qZQo | ||
| + | video, from their prescription drug campaign in 2005 | ||
| + | **https://secure.npsite.org/cu/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr012=2idtrp4ea1.app43a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1732 | ||
| + | Toy Safety is No Laughing Matter | ||
| + | *Life Of Brian | ||
| + | **You are all individuals | ||
| + | *Meaning Of Life | ||
| + | **Meaning Of Life song (at opening): are we genetic robots? | ||
| + | **Galaxy Song: eliminating geocentrism | ||
| + | *Jesus and Mo http://www.jesusandmo.net/ | ||
| + | **http://www.jesusandmo.net/2007/12/21/west/ (relativism) | ||
| + | *Russell's Teapot: http://russellsteapot.com/comics/ | ||
| + | *Dawkins | ||
| + | *Asimov | ||
| + | *Tom Tomorrow Cartoons | ||
| + | **http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=22368 | ||
| + | *Hume | ||
| + | *Wilson | ||
| + | *Dennett | ||
| + | **skyhooks versus cranes | ||
| + | *George Carlin on religion as bullshit | ||
| + | **http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/13/open-thread-471/ | ||
| + | **http://richarddawkins.net/article,772,Religion,George-Carlin | ||
| + | *Paine | ||
| + | **Mark Steel on Thomas Paine: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/thursday/rams/2230.ram | ||
| + | **http://www.open2.net/marksteel/paine_lecture.html | ||
| + | **atheism, anti-aristocratic, anti-slavery | ||
| + | *A Clockwork Orange | ||
| + | *Cartoons attacking creationism | ||
| + | **http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=2192&pst=712905&archival=&posts=9 | ||
| + | *History of religion map | ||
| + | **http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html | ||
| + | *Daily Show mid term elections | ||
| + | *Oreskes on "The American Denial of Global Warming" | ||
| + | **http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2008/02/oreskes_on_the_american_denial.php | ||
| + | *Atheism | ||
| + | **Hospers, John. An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. | ||
| + | Third Edition. Prentice-Hall, 1988. The best. Hospers is very | ||
| + | strong on linquistic and conceptual analysis. I challenge | ||
| + | anyone to still believe that supernatural propositions make | ||
| + | cognitive sense after reading his, "Meaning and Truth in | ||
| + | Religion." His second edition (but dropped in the third) | ||
| + | contains a marvelous dialogue between a person who believes that | ||
| + | "necessary being" makes sense and a person who believes that it | ||
| + | is nonsense. Beautiful. | ||
| + | *http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/philosophy_bites/ | ||
| + | *http://whatstheharm.net/index.html | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Assignments == | ||
| + | *Rachel Carson project | ||
| + | **http://www.rachelwaswrong.org/ | ||
| + | **show propaganda and historical sites: not special defender's | ||
| + | sites. Assign short paper to conclude benefit or harm. | ||
| + | Ask how best to assess whether Carson was right or wrong: that | ||
| + | will not be the methodology used by the students. Ask which | ||
| + | sources used those policies. Eventually, let them see how they | ||
| + | were hoodwinked by propaganda. | ||
| + | **However, they can understand the issues. | ||
| + | **http://www.reason.com/news/show/119786.html | ||
| + | **Note how pesticide resistance is not addressed: the real reason | ||
| + | agricultural bans were instituted. | ||
| + | **build flow chart of causes and effects | ||
| + | **http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/ for defenses | ||
| + | **http://timlambert.org/2005/12/ddt-ban-myth-bingo/comment-page-2/ | ||
| + | **http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/summ02/Carson.html | ||
| + | **http://www.new-cue.org/quetchenbach%20thoreau%20ASLE.pdf | ||
| + | **http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/05/who_put_out_the_contract_on_ra.php#mor | ||
| + | e | ||
| + | *Show how a simple feedback system cannot be properly argued with a yea | ||
| + | or nay approach. Relate to a real-world example. Bring back this theme | ||
| + | for essentially all real-world discussions. | ||
| + | |||
| + | *Idiocy contest for consumer products: | ||
| + | **water costing more than gasline | ||
| + | ***Doonesbury cartoon 12/2/07 | ||
| + | **wasteful packaging | ||
| + | **energy drinks | ||
| + | *Each student makes a mini-poster, to fill up a bulletin board. | ||
| + | *Sign-up sheet to prevent conflicts or duplicates. | ||
| + | *show-and-tell from the media | ||
| + | **assignments to find most credible rebuttals | ||
| + | *Construct a cult, pseudoscience, etc. with: | ||
| + | **defenses against criticisms | ||
| + | **profitability | ||
| + | **perks for leaders | ||
| + | *Examination of vaccine controversies (mercury, autism, etc.) | ||
| + | **tasks -- what were the claims, how long did it take to refute | ||
| + | them, who made the claims, who publicized the claims, who made | ||
| + | money how, | ||
| + | **http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=218 | ||
| + | **http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=220 | ||
| + | *Swift boating of John Kerry | ||
| + | *Al Gore and the internet | ||
| + | *"I'm not a prostitute", "now we're only dickering about price" joke | ||
| + | *Prisoner's dilemma comic as a start: show how golden rule applies. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | == Miscelaneous == | ||
| + | *"The Assault On Reason" Al Gore | ||
| + | *There are no moral facts | ||
| + | *http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_3.html#metzinger | ||
| + | *understanding in context: see boondocks "lucy" comic | ||
| + | *http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=51 | ||
| + | *(How Much Modern Medicine is Evidence-Based) | ||
| + | *Compare conservapedia and wiki4cam to wikipedia | ||
| + | *magicians as specialists in fraud by misdirection and misperception | ||
| + | *God only seems nonexistent | ||
| + | **http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnjfxCp92pc | ||
| + | **http://www.myspace.com/eddiecurrent | ||
| + | *Heuristics for detecting lies. | ||
| + | **Is it in a normal college textbook? | ||
| + | **Are academic and other experts in the field consulted? | ||
| + | ***700 billion bailout of wall street | ||
| + | **Are the "dirty hippies" opinions excluded in favor of | ||
| + | **"serious people"? | ||
| + | **How can they know that? | ||
| + | **Where did that number come from? | ||
| + | **Qui bono? | ||
| + | *partial knowledge/differing viewpoints | ||
| + | **blind men and the elephant poem | ||
| + | **different mathematical representations | ||
| + | ***some tasks easier with different representations | ||
| + | ****card backs versus cheaters logic | ||
| + | *Where do we go now that we know the truth? | ||
| + | **We cannot go alone: organization needed.*The story of suzie on youtube (atheism)**<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7izNfVx7Guo&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7izNfVx7Guo&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embed | ||
| + | ded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScrip | ||
| + | tAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
