Re: people, places, things, and ideas

Kragen Sitaker (kragen@pobox.com)
Fri, 8 Jan 1999 14:59:55 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 8 Jan 1999, Robert S. Thau wrote:
> Economists claim that what they're doing is a science. However, what
> you're saying here is that whatever they do fails to meet the basic
> criterion of falsifiability.

Well, not any particular specific theory, necessarily, but general
theories like people wanting to get maximum benefit, yes. The same
thing could be said of essentially all pre-quantitative theories,
including most psychological theories.

Psychology is, IMHO, at about the same stage of development that
medical science was in in 1800 or 1850. And medical science is still
in its infancy.

-- 
<kragen@pobox.com>       Kragen Sitaker     <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
A good conversation and even lengthy and heated conversations are probably
some of the most important pointful things I can think of.  They are the
antithesis of pointlessness!  -- Matt O'Connor <matthew@anti-earth.org>