Re: CFV: sci.philosophy.natural moderated

Dick Wisan (wisanr@hartwick.edu)
26 Nov 95 17:22:58 -0500

In article <492d5k$qnr@lilja.vtt.fi>, mikko.levanto@vtt.fi writes:

>
> The proposed name for the group is misleading. The full line
> quoted above indicates that the intended content is not
> natural philosohy but history; and the charter makes that clear.
> A better name could be sci.history.philosophy.natural or
> sci.philosohy.natural.ancient -- there should be some indication
> about the actual content.
>
> Therefore I recommend that you all vote NO.
>
> (Time for a yes vote will be when there is a CFV with a better name.)

I quite agree. As the FAQ and the RFD repeatedly insist, the topic of
the proposed group is ancient science. Those two words contain the
essence of the proposal, and they should be in the title. The group
could reasonably go into the humanities hierarchy or it could go into
the soc.history hierarchy, but I have no objections to putting in sci.*.
But, if so, it should be something like

sci.ancient
or
sci.history.ancient

Proposer seems to resist all objections to the name he prefers, but the
reasons he gives do not seem relevant. He's trying to avoid two things:

1. People in the sciences would steer clear of anything called "history".

So they may, but the name "philosophy" will do the same. [I am not,
BTW, predjudiced against it, myself. Philosophy is my subject area.]

2. Kooks looking for Occult Mysteries and the Lost Knowlege of Atlantis,
will make his group their own.

Calling it "philosophy.natural" will not warn them off.

I would indeed be interested in a group that discusses the things the
FAQ and RFD propose. I appreciate the desire to focus on science in
the ancient period and on the relations between that science and other
cultural and intellectual elements. As I take it, this is the point of
the proposal. I agree that the group is better moderated than not, but
moderating it will call for care and tact, because articles that seem
scientifically indefensible to any given moderator will seem like reason
itself to the writers. For this reason, proposer's adamantine refusal to
budge on the name leaves me uneasy about his moderatorship.

So, I've voted NO, and will wait for a CFV with a better name.

-- 

R. N. (Dick) Wisan  - Email: internet WISANR@hartwick.edu

                    - Snail: 37 Clinton Street, Oneonta NY 13820, U.S.A.

                    - Just your opinion, please, ma'am: No fax.