3 ms·

Why would one want to ignore beneficial knowledge received in the form of tradition? To be able to re-invent the wheel?

by svasan 12y ago

WalterSear 12y ago
Because the past had proportionally more hucksters to scientists than today. And because a lot of that 'ancient wisdom' was invented later, by the aforementioned hucksters: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/10/traditional_chinese_medicine_origins_mao_invented_it_but_didn_t_believe.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...
dragonwriter 12y ago
> Why would one want to ignore beneficial knowledge received in the form of tradition? You want to be skeptical of tradition as a source of factual information because, while there exists beneficial knowledge that may be received in the form of tradition, it is impossible to reliably separate it from harmful false "knowledge" received in the form of tradition, without first turning it into knowledge derived from structured scientific information gathering.
- svasan 12y ago
  Thanks, but no thanks to FDA approved or "scientifically" structured and tested and accredited health recommendations for me. I am willing to put to test the the traditional practices that I am (or become) aware of.
- raverbashing 12y ago
  > it is impossible to reliably separate it from harmful false "knowledge" received in the form of tradition Evolution/Survivability of a group usually takes care of that Yeah, slightly harmful/long term harmful things will go though, but not major things. Someone discovered cheese with mold is edible (probably happened in a low food situation), but there's a high likelihood on people having tried other things with mold and it didn't work out as expected.
  - DenisM 12y ago
    >Evolution/Survivability of a group usually takes care of that Not washing hands survived for a very long time, and lead to huge child mortality. Humanity survived, but lots of people died for no good reason.
    - meric 12y ago
      A thousand years ago, it may have been more dangerous to send three times as many villagers to collect water from the river 20km away so that the village would have enough water for everyone to wash their hands, than to have people not wash their hands before eating. The benefits of a practice/tradition can vary over time. Lots of people may have died from avoidable diseases, but lots of people may also have avoided death by bandits, wild animals, and starvation. (due to more workers allocated to water collection than food production; the extra food produced may have been the difference between life and death during famines for some people.)
venomsnake 12y ago
Because tradition isn't knowledge. While tradition could be (valuable) source of leads, everything inside must be tested, experimented on and see why it does or doesn't work. That article is perfect example - lots of cultures have fasting. We look at the fasting results and we find something interesting about how out body works. Now we have knowledge that we can build upon.

Why would one want to ignore beneficial knowledge received in the form of tradition? To be able to re-invent the wheel?

by svasan 12y ago

Why would one want to ignore beneficial knowledge received in the form of tradition? To be able to re-invent the wheel?

Because the past had proportionally more hucksters to scientists than today. And because a lot of that 'ancient wisdom' was invented later, by the aforementioned hucksters: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/10/traditional_chinese_medicine_origins_mao_invented_it_but_didn_t_believe.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

dragonwriter 12y ago

> Why would one want to ignore beneficial knowledge received in the form of tradition? You want to be skeptical of tradition as a source of factual information because, while there exists beneficial knowledge that may be received in the form of tradition, it is impossible to reliably separate it from harmful false "knowledge" received in the form of tradition, without first turning it into knowledge derived from structured scientific information gathering.

svasan 12y ago
Thanks, but no thanks to FDA approved or "scientifically" structured and tested and accredited health recommendations for me. I am willing to put to test the the traditional practices that I am (or become) aware of.
raverbashing 12y ago
> it is impossible to reliably separate it from harmful false "knowledge" received in the form of tradition Evolution/Survivability of a group usually takes care of that Yeah, slightly harmful/long term harmful things will go though, but not major things. Someone discovered cheese with mold is edible (probably happened in a low food situation), but there's a high likelihood on people having tried other things with mold and it didn't work out as expected.
- DenisM 12y ago
  >Evolution/Survivability of a group usually takes care of that Not washing hands survived for a very long time, and lead to huge child mortality. Humanity survived, but lots of people died for no good reason.
  - meric 12y ago
    A thousand years ago, it may have been more dangerous to send three times as many villagers to collect water from the river 20km away so that the village would have enough water for everyone to wash their hands, than to have people not wash their hands before eating. The benefits of a practice/tradition can vary over time. Lots of people may have died from avoidable diseases, but lots of people may also have avoided death by bandits, wild animals, and starvation. (due to more workers allocated to water collection than food production; the extra food produced may have been the difference between life and death during famines for some people.)

venomsnake 12y ago

Because tradition isn't knowledge. While tradition could be (valuable) source of leads, everything inside must be tested, experimented on and see why it does or doesn't work. That article is perfect example - lots of cultures have fasting. We look at the fasting results and we find something interesting about how out body works. Now we have knowledge that we can build upon.