Epistemology of The Human Sciences: Restoring An Evolutionary Approach To Biology, Economics, Psychology and Philosophy Walter B. Weimer
Epistemology of The Human Sciences: Restoring An Evolutionary Approach To Biology, Economics, Psychology and Philosophy Walter B. Weimer
Epistemology of The Human Sciences: Restoring An Evolutionary Approach To Biology, Economics, Psychology and Philosophy Walter B. Weimer
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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
SERIES EDITORS: DAVID F. HARDWICK · LESLIE MARSH
Epistemology of
the Human Sciences
Restoring an Evolutionary
Approach to Biology,
Economics, Psychology
and Philosophy
Walter B. Weimer
Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism
Series Editors
David F. Hardwick, Department of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine, The University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Leslie Marsh, Department of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
BC, Canada
This series offers a forum to writers concerned that the central presup-
positions of the liberal tradition have been severely corroded, neglected,
or misappropriated by overly rationalistic and constructivist approaches.
The hardest-won achievement of the liberal tradition has been the
wrestling of epistemic independence from overwhelming concentrations
of power, monopolies and capricious zealotries. The very precondition
of knowledge is the exploitation of the epistemic virtues accorded by
society’s situated and distributed manifold of spontaneous orders, the
DNA of the modern civil condition.
With the confluence of interest in situated and distributed liber-
alism emanating from the Scottish tradition, Austrian and behavioral
economics, non-Cartesian philosophy and moral psychology, the editors
are soliciting proposals that speak to this multidisciplinary constituency.
Sole or joint authorship submissions are welcome as are edited collec-
tions, broadly theoretical or topical in nature.
Walter B. Weimer
Epistemology
of the Human
Sciences
Restoring an Evolutionary Approach
to Biology, Economics, Psychology
and Philosophy
Walter B. Weimer
Washington, PA, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,
whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation,
reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other
physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer
software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in
this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher
nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material
contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains
neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland
AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to all who fight scientism in science and society
Praise for Epistemology of the Human
Sciences
vii
viii Praise for Epistemology of the Human Sciences
Hayek, Popper, and von Neumann to identify key issues for an evolu-
tionary epistemology: consciousness, duality, determination, description,
explanation, mensuration, semiotics, and rationality. The result is a
guidebook that points the human sciences in the right direction.”
—John A. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Penn State
University
ix
x Epigraph Source Acknowledgements
Chapter 10:
1 Preface 1
References 10
2 Understanding, Explaining, and Knowing 13
The Nature of Understanding 13
From Axiomatics to Hypothetico-Deductive Method 16
Learning and the Limited Role of Experience 17
Where Does the Illusion of Certainty Come From? 18
Mathematics and Other Notational Forms of Linguistic
Precision 19
How Does Meaning Relate to Understanding? 21
The Use of Mathematics in the Social and Physical
Domains 22
Measurement 23
Understanding and Knowledge Are Functional
Concepts Not Subject to Natural Law Determinism 25
Pitfalls and Promises of Ambiguity and Ignorance 28
A Bucket or a Searchlight? 32
References 34
xiii
xiv Contents
References 89
6 Taking the Measure of Functional Things 93
The Role of Statistical Inference in Contemporary
Physics 95
How Shall We Study Co-occurrence Relationships? 98
In Defense of Miss Fisbee 101
References 104
7 Statistics Without Measurement 105
Nonparametric Statistical Procedures Work
with Nominal, Ordinal, and Some Interval Data 107
Generalizability, Robustness, and Similar Issues 110
Back to the Drawing Board, at Least for a While 111
Testing a Theory in Psychology is Paradoxical for Those
Who Do not Understand Problems of Scaling
and Mensuration 111
Back to History for a Moment 113
References 115
8 Economic Calculation of Value Is Not Measurement,
Not Apriori, and Its Study Is Not Experimental 117
Austrian “Subjectivism” Begins with the Impossibility
of “Physical” Mensuration 118
Behavioral Economics Is Just Applied Social Psychology 121
What Has Been Called “Experimental Economics” Is
Actually Constrained Demonstration Studies 121
This Is Your Problem as a Consumer of “Scientific”
Knowledge 123
Scaling Procedures Crucially Influence the Progress
of Science 124
Probability Theories Help Nothing Here 126
Human Action Is Not Given Apriori 127
Productive Novelty Cannot Occur in an Apriori System 129
xvi Contents
References 335
17 Rhetoric and Logic in Inference and Expectation 337
The Functions of Language 339
Criticism Is Argument, Not Deduction 339
Theories Are Arguments, and Have Modal Force 340
Adjunctive Reasoning in Inference 341
Science Is a Rhetorical Transaction 343
References 347
18 Rationality in an Evolutionary Epistemology 349
Comprehensive Views of Rationality 350
Critical Rationalism Starts with the Failure
of Comprehensive 352
Comprehensively Critical Rationalism 354
Rationality Is Action in Accordance with Reason 355
Rationality Does not Directly Relate to Truth or Falsity 356
Action in Accordance with Reason Is a Matter
of Evolution within the Spontaneous Social Order 358
Rationality and Its Relativity 361
Rationality Is Neither Instantly Determined Nor Explicit 362
Like the Market Order, Rationality Is a Means,
not an End 364
Comprehensively Critical Rationality is Rhetorical
(and so Is All Knowledge Claiming) 365
Rationality in the Complex Social Cosmos 366
The Ecology of Rationality 367
Science and Our Knowledge Must be Both Personal
and Autonomous 369
Rationality and The “New” Confusion About Planning
in Society 370
References 376
References 379
Name Index 395
Subject Index 401
List of Tables
xxi
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moved with the celebrated company from the Prince of Wales's to the
Haymarket Theatre, which had been transformed by you into the most
beautiful theatre in London. Here I was cast for a part in School: hence it is
my proud boast that I acted with Marie Bancroft in her prime, and was in
personal touch with Mary Netley and Naomi Tighe!
"Polly Eccles! Why, the very thought of the name makes my face
pucker with smiles, and it must be bordering on fifty years ago when first
she bewitched me in the part! Yes, 'bewitching Marie Wilton' was a phrase
common amongst us in those days, and in truth the witchery was there in
full measure, and to overflowing.
"Still in my mind is the beautiful farewell to her on the day when her
mortal remains were laid to rest. I was very proud at finding myself one of
the four intimate friends chosen to pay their last respects at her burial; and
when, towards the close of the memorial service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields
which immediately followed it, that inspired man delivered the farewell
address (quite the most beautiful of the many I have heard), I was shaken
with a deep emotion even to tears.
More perfect acting, I venture to say, has not been seen upon our stage.
The ars celare artem was at its highest and best; there were tones and
touches, hints and suggestions, which were marvellous in the wealth of
meaning they conveyed. Of her acting, indeed, it might be said, as one of
our old poets proclaimed of the face of his mistress:
I have seen all the finest acting available to me in the last seventy years
—since my boyhood—and still delight in the enjoyment of the stage. I can
summon noble phantoms from the past, and dwell gladly upon the
experiences of more recent days. After searching thought, the most critical
remembrance, I can recall no acting more perfect, in my judgment, than my
wife's performances in Sweethearts. The creatures of the different acts
were, from the first line to the last, absolutely distinct, but equally
complete; the one, a portrait of impetuous girlhood, the other of calm
maturity. There was not, throughout, one movement of the body, one tone of
the voice, one look on the speaking face, to change or amend. There was
nothing, it seemed to me, that could in any way be bettered. There shone
throughout those gleams of genius which in all art are priceless.
In peace and The parts she played upon the stage were the sweet
war romance of life, but she was ever ready to face its stern
realities; and I was proud of her record in the Great War. In
spite of advanced years and broken health, she lived through it, with brief
absences only, and without a murmur, on the shore of the sea, with all its
alarms and risks; but, then, I have always known her to be brave, even when
her life was in danger. She was unsparing in hospitality—I recall an
occasion when she had the pleasant company of General Sir Arthur Sloggett
and Edward Knoblock, who were hung up with their men for the night at
Folkestone—and untiring in organising and leading in amusements, helped
by her interest in those who were spared, and those who were maimed and
wounded, and by the remembrance of those who rest in the grave-fields of
Flanders and France, or lie deep down under the sea.
By her own written request, the hour and place of her funeral were kept
secret, and were only known to immediate members of her family and four
friends who were chosen to represent the calling she had loved and served.
These four friends were Arthur Pinero, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, Arthur
Chudleigh and Gerald du Maurier.
The funeral was conducted by her friend and mine, the Reverend W. H.
Elliott, the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Folkestone, who delivered the Address at
the Memorial Service which, immediately afterwards, was held at the
Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields by Canon Edgar Sheppard.
"I shall not do more than remind you of those many gifts which Lady
Bancroft possessed, which the years in their passing seemed to leave almost
untouched, which she offered so freely for the public good. After all, the
work and significance of any life depend not so much upon its natural
endowment as upon the spirit in which that endowment is accepted and
used. It is the spirit of the artist that matters, and it is of this in the lifetime
of Lady Bancroft that you are thinking, I know, at this hour. Without that
eager generous spirit her influence could never have been what it was. I
have heard her say more than once that in her youth she was not a very apt
pupil in the use of the voice, and indeed that she made very little effort in
regard to it, until one day her mother bade her think of the poor man who,
tired out with his day's work, spent a hard-earned sixpence to see the play,
and then went away disappointed, because he could not hear. From that
moment everything for her was changed. And the thought of that man at the
back of the gallery—what she could do for him, to make him forget his
cares and have his part in the sunshine and merriment of life, to take away
the frown and to win the smile—was for her, I believe, the true motive and
the abiding inspiration of her art. Such a task, one cannot but think, is very
much according to the mind of Him who gives the wayside flower a robe
that Solomon might envy, that we may see it and be glad. And there are few
things, I imagine, that bring so much comfort at the last, when the time has
come to retreat from the active work of the world, and to reflect quietly in
the gathering dusk upon what has been and what is yet to be, as the thought
that one has done something to make others happy, that now and again one
has managed to light a lamp or to kindle a fire in a cold and darksome
room, that one has done what one could in one's own way to share the
burdens of humanity and to minister to its need.
"I need scarcely say that one of the secrets of such a work as this is a
heart which, in spite of all that time and circumstance can do, keeps young.
The first test of all art is sincerity. It is impossible, I should suppose, to be
in any true sense an interpreter of emotions that one has ceased to feel. To
represent in any way the vivacity, the buoyancy, the gaiety that belong to
youth, its irrepressible humour, its unquenchable hope, is a task that the
years make difficult enough for us all. To attempt it successfully is only for
those who in themselves have never yet grown old. Lady Bancroft was a
lover of young life. She was beloved by all young people who knew her.
And one felt in talking to her that, as her voice had kept its magic, so her
nature had preserved within a tired body something of its youth.
The secret of "The world saw little of her during these latter years.
success She lived her life in quiet places, among the trees and
flowers in which she delighted, within sight and sound of
the ever-changing sea. During these spring months her thoughts had dwelt
much on that other world and the mysteries that await us there. She spoke
of it often, and expressed to me more than once what seemed rather a
curious wish—curious because one so rarely meets it—to sit at a table with
learned divines, as she called them, and to hear them discuss together the
great matters of God and man, life and death, things present and things to
come. She had a most intense desire to know better that Power that holds us
and shapes our ends. She wanted to see His work more plainly that she
might adore Him more perfectly. She longed to discern His will that she
might do it with a ready heart. And, as she talked of all this, deep reverence
and great wistfulness came into her voice. She wished so much to
understand. Well, she has passed through the Valley now. She has climbed
above the mists that hang so closely around human life. She has come out
into the light—the light that never was on sea or land—before which all the
shadows flee away.
"So we think of her, so we give thanks for her to-day. Men differ much
in their ideas of success. For myself, there is one definition that I like very
much: 'He has achieved success who has lived long, laughed often, and
loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the affection
of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who
has left the world a little better than he found it, whether by an improved
poppy or by a perfect poem or by a saintly soul; who was looking always
for the best in others, and was trying always to give the best he had.' So
much of that is true of her whom we commemorate. And we follow her now
with our earnest prayers into that state of life into which it has pleased God
to call her."
After the end many treasured letters came to me about her. One was
written by the Queen, and sent to me by hand; my wife for many years had
been given the honour of writing direct to Her Majesty.
From all the letters I will only quote a few words written by a friend:
"Your loss is indeed great, and the world is poorer by the loss of a
brilliant personality. Nobody has ever given greater pleasure to thousands
and thousands than she did. Let me tell you a little incident. The first time
you and Lady Bancroft came to us in Belgrave Square was one day when
my mother was alive; she died forty years ago, so you will not recollect it.
At the time she was very ill, very depressed, and scarcely ever smiled. After
you and your wife left, my mother turned to me and said: 'What a wonderful
woman! She has made my sad heart like a bright garden.'"
INDEX
Cadenabbia, 140
Calthrop, Dion, 174
Calthrop, Donald, 174
Calthrop, John Clayton, character of his acting, 174. See Clayton
Cambon, M. Paul, 33
Cambridge, H.R.H. Duke of, memorial service, 130
Campbell, Mrs. Patrick, 203, 205, 214
Carlyle, Thomas, statue of, 88
Carr, Comyns, 143; Director of Grosvenor Gallery, 143; witty sayings, 144
Carson, Lord, 133
Carton, Claude, 202; Liberty Hall, 204
Caruso, Signor, 20
Cecil, Arthur, 7, 93; story of, 175
Chambers, Haddon, 202
Chambers, Montagu, 73
Chapel Royal, Whitehall, 44
Chaplin, Lord, 2, 106
Charles I, King, 16
Chelsea Hospital, parade of old pensioners, 6
Choate, J. H., 147; story of, 148
Chorley, Henry Fothergill, 59
Chudleigh, Arthur, at the funeral of Lady Bancroft, 237
Cibber, Colley, 30
Clarence, H.R.H. Duke of, death, 10
Claretie, Jules, director of the Théâtre français, 163
Clarke, Sir Edward, 121
Clay, Cecil, A Pantomime Rehearsal, 144, 197
Clay, Frederic, 94, 96
Clayton, John, 7; character of his acting, 174. See Calthrop Clemenceau,
M., 162
Cockburn, Lord Chief Justice, 59; voice, 59; knowledge of languages, 60;
president of the Alabama Conference, 61; death, 61
Coghlan, Charles, 7; character of his acting, 173; death, 174
Cohen, Arthur, 70
Collins, Wilkie, 34, 103
Cooper, Miss Gladys, 203
Coquelin, Alexandre, 161, 163
Coquelin, Constant, 22, 161; Cyrano, 135; letter from, 162; tribute to, 163
Corry, Montagu, 121. See Rowton
Corsican Brothers, The, 155, 183, 186
County Fire Office, demolition, 198
Court Theatre, 195
Courtney, W. L., tribute to the memory of Lady Bancroft, 218-226
Coyne, Stirling, 196
Critchett, Sir Anderson, 61
Critchett, George, 104, 182
Criterion Theatre, 211
Cromer, Earl of, 54
Curzon, George, Marquess, 142
Daudet, Alphonse, 22
Davis, Mr., 148
Dead Heart, The, 162, 186-187
Derby, the, 106, 120
Desclée, Aimée, 24; character of her acting, 25; death, 25
Devonshire House, fancy-dress ball at, 122
Dickens, Charles, 34, 35, 156; Christmas Carols, 12; Household Words, 73;
opinion of Marie Wilton's acting, 221
Dickens, "Mamie," 59
Dilke, Sir Charles, 68
Diplomacy, 111, 173, 175, 214, 233
Doyle, Dicky, 59
Drury Lane Theatre, 157, 207
Dumas, Alexandre, 22, 25
Duse, Eleanora, 22, 167, 203, 220
Edward VII, H.M. King, date of his birth, 1; at the Prince of Wales's
Theatre, 2; illness, 5; attends a Thanksgiving Service, 5; at Chelsea
Hospital, 6; entertains actors, 7; stories of, 8-11, 13-16; presented with a
cigar box, 8; acts of kindness, 11; at Marienbad, 13, 16; characteristics,
14-16; death, 16
Elgar, Edward, 27
Eliot, George, 34, 35
Ellicott, Bishop, story of, 42
Ellicott, Mrs., 42
Elliott, Rev. W. H., address at the Memorial Service to Lady Bancroft, 238-
242
Emery, Winifred, 200, 204
Esher, Lord, Master of the Rolls, 65; letter to Lady Bancroft, 63
Esher, Lady, 66
Eze, 11
Falkland, Lord, 68
Farquhar, Gilbert, 118
Farquhar, Horace, 118
Fechter, Charles, character of his acting, 154-156; death, 156; bust, 156
Fergusson, Sir William, 104
Fife, Earl of, 119
Fildes, Luke, 77
Fisher, Viscount, 54, 122; date of his birth, 16; religious views, 123;
compliment to Queen Alexandra, 123
Fisher, Lady, 122
Forbes-Robertson, Sir Johnston, 60; tribute to the memory of Lady
Bancroft, 233; at her funeral, 237
Ford, Onslow, 89
Fountains Abbey, 47
Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, 14
Frederick, Empress, illness, 50; relations with her son, 61
Frith, W. P., 84; pictures, 85
Frohman, Charles, 102
Fun, 108
James, David, 7
James, Henry, 101, 203; Order of Merit conferred, 102; death, 102
James, Lord, of Hereford, 67, 68
Jefferson, Joseph, character of his acting, 165; pictures, 165
Jerrold, Douglas, 160; tribute to Shakespeare, 210
Jeune, Francis, 65, 69. See St. Helier
Joachim, J., 60
Johnson, Dr., 87
Jones, Henry Arthur, 109, 202; plays, 198; comedies, 211
Karsavina, 27
Kean, Charles, 74, 156, 160
Keeley, Louise, marriage, 74. See Williams
Keeley, Mrs., 74
Keeley, Robert, 74
Kelvin, Lord, 122
Kemble, Henry, stories of, 176; death, 177
Kendal, Madge, 29, 108, 201, 203. See Robertson
Kendal, William, 7, 153, 198, 201; character of his acting, 202
Key, Philip Barton, 146
Kitchener, Field-Marshal Earl, 126; tribute to, 126
Knobloch, Edward, 237
Knollys, Lord, 7
Paderewski, I. J., 20
Page, Dr. W. H., 147
Paris, siege of, 173
Parker, Dr. Joseph, 50
Parker, Louis N., 203
Parnell Commission, 67
Parratt, Sir Walter, 54, 55, 96
Parry, John, 196
Parry, Serjeant, 71
Partridge, Bernard, 186
Passing of the Third Floor Back, The, 115
Patti, Adelina, 20
Peel, Sir Robert, conversion to Free Trade, 125
Pellegrini, Carlo, caricatures, 2, 93; death, 94
Phelps, Mr., 147
Phelps, Samuel, 155, 160
Phillips, Stephen, 203
Piatti, 60
Pickersgill, the engraver, 87
Pierson, Blanche, 22
Pigott, Edward, Reader of Plays, 22
Pinero, Sir Arthur W., 14, 202; Lords and Commons, 177; The Profligate,
199; knighthood conferred, 200; The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, 203-207;
The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith, 214; The Gay Lord Quex, 214; tribute to
the memory of Lady Bancroft, 226-232; at her funeral, 237
Planché, J. R., The King of the Peacocks, 149
Plat, Sir Charles du, at Sandringham, 12
Plunket, David, 132. See Rathmore
Poe, Edgar Allan, lines from, 74
Pontresina, 95
Poynter, Sir Edward, 188; President of the Royal Academy, 80; pictures, 81
Prince of Wales's Theatre, 2, 101, 117, 213, 227, 243
Prince's, 110
Princess's Theatre, 194
Prinsep, Anthony, 87
Prinsep, Val, 77, 86
Probyn, Sir Dighton, 7, 12
Punch, 59, 91, 110, 145; editors, 111