Learning in the 21st century

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Crispin Weston (crispinw@dircon.co.uk)
Wed, 4 Aug 1999 13:30:59 +0100 

From: "Crispin Weston" <crispinw@dircon.co.uk>
Subject: Learning in the 21st century
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1999 13:30:59 +0100

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Dear Mireille

Thanks for your comments. I agree with them all.

<<It seems important to add : and whether you can recognise that some
behaviours remain unpredictable>>

Maybe if we knew everything then we could predict everything - but lets not
get into a discussion of determinism! The existence of abstract knowledge is
demonstrated by the fact that we can predict anything (and by prediction I
include the valid assessment of probability). It is not necessary to show
that we can predict everything or even that everything is predictable.

<<this does not imply that the concrete is easier to handle, and its
outcomes more predictable.>>

Indeed - quite the reverse. For all its familiarity, I would say that the
concrete is entirely unpredictable, entirely unmanageable, without abstract
knowledge of how different experiences are related.

<<On what level appear "abstract concepts" ? Far below sophisticated maths
formulae. To name an "object" is a processus of abstracting, from the
feelings that the object or the event has given rise>>

I agree that language itself is an exercise in abstract thought. This point
is put succinctly by Bertrand Russell who points out in 'Problems of
Philosophy' that every word, bar perhaps proper nouns, represents a
universal concept, not tied to any particular instance. The word 'man' does
not correspond to this man or that man, but to the universal concept, man.

I would go even further than language, though. Even a baby's inarticulate
understanding that pain is associated with flame is surely an abstract
concept: it does not lie in the pain, nor in the flame. It is a simple case
of inductive reasoning.

Best wishes

Crispin.

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