[Avery Andrews 971219.0959]
(Bill Powers (971218.1501 MST))
CSGers, I think there is a PR message in the air to which we need to pay
attention. This message is heard whenever there seems to be some dispute
between PCT and other ways of understanding and dealing with human beings.
It comes in parts, but they're all parts of the same message.
Here is my actual view of my own discipline, rephrased from Bill's
points:
1. There are some things wrong with the way my colleagues and I go about our
business, but it isn't all totally out in left field.
2. The profession of which I am a member has been making progress for many
years and has discovered many facts of substantial and lasting value.
3. Some people in my field are OK, some are jerks, or worse.
4. It is not likely that all my mentors, teachers, and role models have
been totally mistaken about their approach to understanding human nature
in every significant respect, but neither is it likely that they've
gotten everything right.
5. If PCT has anything to offer my profession, it will probably involve
significant changes in methods, and dramatic changes in the nature of many
the theories, including disappearance for some of them.
6. Criticisms of my field of knowledge can come from many sources,
including factual ignorance and misunderstanding on the one hand (often
exacerbated by sloppy and over-enthusiastic proselytizing by some of
my colleagues), and the critic actually Having a Better Idea on the
other. If all critics truly understood how we reason in my field, their
critiques would more useful (as it is, some are, some aren't). Even
more so for my colleagues.
Avery.Andrews@anu.edu.au