COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	mercha[w86,jmc]		Notes on Mechanism as power by Carolyn Merchant
C00005 ENDMK
C⊗;
mercha[w86,jmc]		Notes on Mechanism as power by Carolyn Merchant

Carolyn Merchant of the Conservation and Resource Studies Dept., UCB
will speak on "Mechanism and Values", VTSS forum, Jan 27

We have a chapter from her book
"The Death of Nature - Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution"

She has as themes, power and control associated with the scientific
revolution.  She doesn't bother to contrast them with the more
traditional ascription of themes to the scientific revolution.

1. Revival of curiosity about the natural world.

2. Rejection of arbitrary authority in intellectual matters.

3. The doctrine that experiment and observation are decisive.

4. The advent of systematic experimentation.

5. The advent of scientific publication.

6. The professionalization of science.

	The use of the words "power" and "control" has a tendency
to confuse energy and control as scientific terms with the notions
of power over other people and control of other people.  I trust
this confusion isn't intentional.

She seemed a real loser ideologically and otherwise not too bright.

Various people sniped a bit, but no-one but me took on her whole
subjectivist point of view that the scientific revolution took
place as a result of changes in society and that the evidence for
the scientific discoveries played no role.