tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post178406266758218413..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: ODDS AND ENDSRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-10517543914528932562011-06-09T09:47:30.915-04:002011-06-09T09:47:30.915-04:00There's something very compelling about anthro...There's something very compelling about anthropometry, even though it didn't pan out. One of my old professors asserted the world's last journal of anthropometry was published out of Sri Lanka and remained relevant because of the fascination people there had for distinguishing between Tamil and Sinhalese...Steven Piercehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14220335740297514556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-39783797706495879022011-06-09T06:03:15.373-04:002011-06-09T06:03:15.373-04:00Indeed. I am guessing, from a few passing comment...Indeed. I am guessing, from a few passing comments in the first half of the article, that Angell plans to focus in the second part on the malign role of the drug companies in all of this. We shall see.<br /><br />But don't blame old Marx! I think he had a very traditional hard headed view of scienceRobert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-73713330621546243282011-06-09T04:38:16.980-04:002011-06-09T04:38:16.980-04:00On (1), I haven't had a chance to read that is...On (1), I haven't had a chance to read that issue of the NYRB yet, but I'm afraid that your summary doesn't surprise me in the slightest. It raises interesting questions, in the context of your current bourse, about the limits of social constructionism. (I'm thinking of philosophers such as Ian Hacking and John Searle.) There is unfortunately a rising incidence of tuberculosis in London. As well as being a failure of public health/social policy, TB infection is something which can be demonstrated by the usual measuring devices of scientific medicine, whether your cultural background is English Protestant, Chinese, Hindu, Muslim, or Marxist. <br /><br />Whereas some at least of the mental illnesses may well be "social constructions" rather than "brute facts", to make use of Searle's distinction. The drug companies have an interest in promoting their "social existence", but other observers might understandably be skeptical. I hope that inventing non-existent diseases is not what Marx intended by the unity of theory and practice. <br /><br />Meanwhile, it is a commonplace of cynical economists that the ideal illnesses for drug company sales are chronic ones affecting large groups of relatively well-off customers.wallyverrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18358344785499490511noreply@blogger.com