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I
described several ways of knowing that I have seen categorized in
classical Western and Indian epistemology, as well as the relevant
differences in emphasis between Nyaya epistemology (which focuses on
induction and emphasizes a reliabilist knowing) and Aristotelian
epistemology (which focuses on deduction and emphasizes an absolutist
form of truth/knowing). I then talked about a case study in
astrophysics that I'm familiar with - how we have studied isolated
quiescently evolving spiral galaxies and how we understand their
structure, dynamics, and evolution. I believe these are open
questions and I mentioned several possibilities (one of which is
continued accretion of gas from the intergalactic medium) which would
allow two competing theories to be (partially) correct. Certainly,
science does not ascribe to an absolutist version of truth
as has been emphasized in some epistomelogies. It may be useful
to discuss further the reliabilist methods in our new explorations,
although they also have their restrictions.
It was my first time giving a talk in such a venue. I'm glad to
have the opportunity as I believe this medium has enormous
potential. I was getting over a bad case of the flu, and there
was absolutely no way that I could have given this talk if I had to
travel to give this talk. It was possible for me to do it from
the convenience of my own home however! I got quite a few good
questions afterwards. Some people did have technical problems,
but overall it wasn't too bad. I myself had a lot of problems
navigating my ppt presentation, i.e., going from slide to slide. One
thing that I do find to be an useful aid when I give talks at
university colloquia etc. is the visual response of the audience -
i.e., do people look interested, do they look confused, etc. Based on
these cues, I do try and respond to people, particularly if
it's a small group (\la 20 people). Of course, eventually if web
cams can be incorported into qwaq - that would be fantastic, and would
be incredibly useful in virtual collaborations/meeting/talks, etc.
Sukanya Chakrabarti