Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 209.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
www.princeton.edu/humanist/
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Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 05:59:12 +0100
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: on error
Apparently the value of error in scientific research, the "negative knowledge"
it affords, is a current topic in the philosophy of science. Indeed, getting it
wrong has always seemed to me an essential part of the research that we do,
especially since getting it completely right is impossible. But of course
knowing that and how one is wrong is important, as is knowing how best
to deal with error. See the work of Douglas Allchin on the epistemology
of error; some papers are available at
http://my.pclink.com/~allchin/papers/index.htm.
I have also run across a reference to G. R. Evans, Getting it wrong: The
Medieval epistemology of error, Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte
des Mittelalters 63 (Brill, 1998). A brief report on this book here in light of
Allchin's papers would be most welcome.
Yours,
WM
Dr Willard McCarty | Senior Lecturer | Centre for Computing in the
Humanities | King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS || +44 (0)20
7848-2784 fax: -2980 || willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
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