tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post8742806164350566087..comments2023-11-05T12:18:27.222+00:00Comments on Labour And Capital: Why do people change their minds?Tom Powdrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511483398745094803noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post-66586958608585115772008-07-14T22:11:00.000+00:002008-07-14T22:11:00.000+00:00Yeah I think shame clearly plays a role. I've just...Yeah I think shame clearly plays a role. I've just been reading Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought (which is alright) and there's quite an interesting bit near the end where he talks about politeness that I might try and dig out.<BR/><BR/>Speaking of shame I'm slighty ashamed of this post actually, as it doesn't really hang together at all. Still I'll leave it up and have another go another time.Tom Powdrillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05511483398745094803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post-36712220316894150882008-07-14T12:57:00.000+00:002008-07-14T12:57:00.000+00:00On your later point, I think that for a lot of bel...On your later point, I think that for a lot of beliefs - perhaps especially controversial ones - it's much easier to say "I have every right to believe X, because..." than "I believe X, because..."<BR/><BR/>Then you get to put yourself on the moral high ground and claim victimhood. It's maybe not so much a prop as a distraction from the lack of props.<BR/><BR/>Also, if you are a little ashamed about a certain belief of yours, then you're going to be primed to hear criticism of it when what you might actually be getting is mere questioning. So you'll be needlessly defensive.Tom Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02997295899017354602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post-15321058961401177522008-07-13T11:52:00.000+00:002008-07-13T11:52:00.000+00:00I meant prop as in support, but it's a bit of a ru...I meant prop as in support, but it's a bit of a rubbish metaphor maybe? <BR/><BR/>I'm kind of drawn to the divide you suggest between incremental advancement and wholesale (paradigm) shift. But as Ploppy said in Blackadder II there's something in the back of my mind that bothers me about it, but I can't quite nail it yet.<BR/><BR/>I think this post might have to be filed under 'work in progress'... <BR/><BR/>That book sounds interesting.Tom Powdrillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05511483398745094803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post-89365549386346739862008-07-12T13:23:00.000+00:002008-07-12T13:23:00.000+00:00Rubbish ? surely not, Tom, surely not...In your fi...Rubbish ? <I>surely not, Tom, surely not...</I><BR/><BR/>In your first few uses of 'props', I took you to mean <I>pit-props</I>, i.e. an ordered foundation of underpinnings that any structure may require. But towards the end of your post I felt it was rather prop = <I>crutch</I>, i.e. something a lame man leans rather anxiously upon to prevent falling on his face. So - question - which did you mean ? either or both ?<BR/><BR/><I>you must need those prop beliefs to support your big new idea. But how do you acquire them?</I> <BR/><BR/>Well only if you are looking for a rationale: & even if you are (and I've accused you of honesty before), many folk are not ! <BR/><BR/>This said, one traditional approach - e.g. formal conversion into a very structured religion (like Trotskyism) - has been instruction and catechism (& flagellation etc). That's of a piece with the 'Big Idea First' model.<BR/><BR/>On an <I>a priori</I> basis, you'd perhaps expect scientists to advance from the assembly of props to the Big Idea, but of course many times (most ?) they don't do it this way at all - have you read <A HREF="http://cityunslicker.blogspot.com/2008/04/capitalists-at-leisure-book-corner.html" REL="nofollow"> <I>Sex, Science and Profits</A></I>? <BR/><BR/>(And I find this a lot in business. You sell senior management on a new Big Idea first, then lead them by stages to such of the underpinnings, implications and entailments as you think will be helpful ...) <BR/><BR/>Isn't this latter-day darwinism's insight, that change happens stepwise, joltingly, rather than smoothly ? - and the implications of the shift sort themselves out (or not) as the dust settles.<BR/><BR/>Some people are more incremental, painstaking, empirical, <I>honest</I> in their approach, and can <I>assemble</I> a new Big Idea. Others need to swallow the new paradigm whole, and digest it at leisure.Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.com