Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

When I see the word 'empiricist' in a title my ears perk up because, unlike most people, I am an empiricist. I say 'unlike most people' because while everyone will say they rely on experience, in practice most people cling to very unempirical beliefs - a faith in formalism, a dependence on diety, an urge for utopia. Of there is a 'new empiricism' it is an empiricism that does not presume that the world is governed by these abstract ideals; it is an empiricism that understands that these are human constructs, tools that help us understand reality, and perfectly disposable, rather that descriptions of its foundational forms. I think this actually separates me from the postmodernists; I don't know (and there may be no way of knowing).

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 12:47 a.m.

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