Re: THEORY: no more URs! [was: Re: Optimum number of symbols]

Quoting And Rosta <a-rosta@...>:

> > I am very sympathetic to this idea (no URs); I tried doing something
> > like this in grad school, but I was basically "laughed off the stage"
> > and didn't have the courage to pursue it then.
>
> I wonder if that indicates a cultural difference between US and
> British academia: I can't imagine you getting laughed off the stage
> in Britain in such a circumstance.
That may well be.  In my experience (rather more limited than Dirk),
I find that American academes tend to be very cliquish and often
intolerant of people who present viewpoints in opposition to their
own. Towing the line of the department is an all too common frailty,
and is one reason I enjoy being at a rather heterodox university
where no one theory or paradigm reigns preeminent.

But, I had never before thought of this as a peculiarly American
phenomenon.  Cynic that I am, I had assumed this was an by-product
of human tendencies in general. I still think that's true, but it
may be that circumstances in America exacerbate the problem.

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier          "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers

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