24 April 2009

The Canberra Plan - Not the city, but a philosophic tool

| johnboy
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The things we learn. Apparently in the topsy turvy world of philosophy there’s a thing called the “Canberra Plan” going around.

The all seeing eye came across a plug for a book on Naturalistic Analysis, aka “The Canberra Plan”:

    Naturalistic analysis (sometimes known as “the Canberra Plan” because many of its proponents have been associated with Australian National University in Canberra) is a tool for locating in the scientifically given world objects and properties we quantify over in everyday discourse.

Apparently the ANU’s Frank Cameron Jackson is responsible for the “defense of the centrality of conceptual analysis to philosophy” being known as “The Canberra Plan”.

The plan also has a Credo which opens thusly:

    We believe in a mind-independent, metaphysically real world,
    and the correspondence theory of truth.
    We believe in the reality of the past, and of the future,
    and we are four-dimensionalists (or at least three-plus-one dimensionalists) about spacetime.

We learn something new every day. Just remember philosophy is not like football, just because it’s named after Canberra doesn’t mean you have to believe it.

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It is easy to deride what we don’t understand. Advancing knowledge and understanding is a noble pursuit. People who do so deserve our support. The ANU is a well respected and highly regarded institution and we can be proud that it is in Canberra.

But does it have allowances for light rail?

Pommy bastard11:36 am 24 Apr 09

There’s an old British saying; “fine words butter no parsnips..”

A more modern take would be; “If you cannot dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull****!”

This strikes me as a fine illustration of both metaphors.

I note also, that for a screed attempting to portray itself as academic, the punctuation is positively atrocious.

I think the Assembly should legislate against national institutions naming things anything with the word Canberra in it without express approval; perhaps we can trademark it liek Kentucky did.

It’s just an embarrassment the way our community gets linked to things.

What drugs are they on?????

No wonder these academics don’t cope out in the real world, and find it safer to hide in Coombs gathering dust until they die in their office.

I’ve heard rumours that there are some staff in RSSS who are unaware that WWII ended quite a number of years ago!

It may be sacrilege, but I like The Great and Powerful Chief’s Canberra Plan better.

Although, to be fair, I also believe in colours, and there’s nothing about belief in colours in His Chiefliness’ plan.

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