Q&A: Instrumentalism

Originally published: May 2, 2018

This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

Instrumentalism

Question

What does the Rabbi think about instrumentalism, and about Craig’s theorem, which supposedly proves the claims of the instrumentalists?

Answer

See here in the appendix:

עוד בעניין תערו של אוקהאם

Regarding Craig’s theorem and its significance on this issue, see Wikipedia here:
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%98%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%96%D7%9D_(%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%94_%D7%A9%D7%9C_%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%A2)#%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%98_%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%99%D7%92_%D7%95%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%95
But in my opinion, this theorem is not relevant at all (and therefore the arguments over it are unnecessary and indicate a misunderstanding of the topic): even if there is a theory that contains only observational terms, from which all the conclusions can be derived, that says nothing. The role of a theory is not only to generate observations but also to explain them. And you cannot explain without theoretical terms. The example of behaviorism is a good example of this. Even if there were a behaviorist theory that yielded all the psychological results, at most this would be an efficient description of the facts. But their explanation is supposed to be found in psychoanalytic theory.

Instrumentalism

Question

Answer

שתף

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