[From Rick Marken (2004.07.17.1500)]
Bruce Gregory (2004.0716.1855)
Dag Forssell (2004.07.16 14:30)--
All of us who have been involved with PCT for some length of time
realize the truth of the quote Bill provided on June 29, 2003: "Mary
says: At the blah-blah-blah level, HPCT is no better than any other
theory."i have to take exception with Mary. Here is a blah-blah-blah level
description of PCT...<Nice blah-blah-blah description of PCT>
I claim that if you can understand the above you can understand PCT.
I don't think that was Mary's point. I think Mary's point had to do
with comparing PCT to other theories, not with understanding it. I'm
sure people can correctly understand many things about PCT at the
blah-blah-blah (verbal) level just as people can correctly understand
many things about Newtonian physics without knowing the mathematics.
I think Mary's point -- made beautifully in that nice little turn of
phrase " the blah-blah-blah level" -- is that there's no way to
scientifically evaluate the relative merits of theories that are
understood only at the blah-blah-blah level.
People who understand PCT only at the blah-blah-blah level can do no
more than take the word of experts that PCT is, indeed, better than
other theories of behavior. For such people, PCT is really no better
than any other theory since all theories have experts who will say that
_their_ theory is the best. At the blah-blah-blah level, deciding
that PCT is the best theory of behavior is precisely equivalent to
deciding that X is the best (truest) religion. The decision is based on
which expert is most convincing (or which expert has a message that is
most compatible with one's existing predilections or which expert was
the favorite of one's parents, etc). Of course, once the expert of
choice starts saying things that are no longer convincing, that
conflict with one's predilections or that aren't what one's parents
taught, then the expert is rejected, often very angrily.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Regards
Rick
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Richard S. Marken
marken@mindreadings.com
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