>If I can experience it, I can measure it and make a statement about
>it. I can fit it into the frame work of my life and relate it to all
>the the other things that fit into that also...
>Conversely, I can't "expand my conception of reality beyond those
>phenomena which can be measured", because;
>
>1).- I can measure all I can experience (in fact, I am measuring it
>with my presence); and
>2).- I can't expand my conception of reality beyond that which I can
>conceive.
Hi Douglas. To extend this philosophical exchange a bit more (though I
don't intend a very long exchange about it on this list):
I'd like to explain more about conceiving realities which we may
perceive qualitatively but can't measure.
In a way, I think this is what separates the ecological farmer from
the industrial farmer. The ecological farmer knows their produce
tastes better (qualitative); the industrial farmer is after more
harvest (quantitative). The ecological farmer appreciates the web of
life in the soil and on the land that sustains their farm, and feels
part of it (qualitative); the industrial farmer is interested in the
bottom line (quantitative).
Can we measure love? Well-being? Happiness? Health? Peace? Would you
deny their reality?
There is, of course, a worldview which says: "if it can't be measured,
it isn't real". So they measure health by cholesterol levels. They
measure food quality by the number and amount of vitamins. They
measure soil fertility by the amount of NPK (or even the number of
microorganisms) in the soil.
There's even a worse extension of this worldview, which reduces all
these measurements in monetary terms (put a cost on human life,
disease, pollution, risk, etc., then do a cost benefit analysis...)
Like King Midas, everything they touch becomes a commodity.
This is what I meant when I reacted to the idea of believing only what
one can measure. There are many aspects of reality we can't measure,
and often they are even more important than those we can.
Regards,
Roberto
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