Theodore Keer

How ironic. Phil, I had criticized Michael for commenting here on goings on at other fora rather than making his criticisms in those fora themselves. He then moderated me because he didn't appreciate some of the terms I used. I neither contested his moderation nor requested that it be lifted. I have been busy anonymously creating new articles at wikipedia, several of which have been featured on the front page. I find it hilarious to note that the last thing I saw, you are over at RoR - where I am now banned by Joe Rowlands for being a "Christian" (!) - doing the same exact thing, criticizing the principles of this forum, in effect, behind their backs: Here's Another Reason I'm Getting More and More Disgusted with OL. If you want to challenge why I should be moderated, I suggest you ask that question at RoR. Michael had the decency to say that he was moderating me based on his personal opinion of words I actually used. I was banned over at RoR due to Joe Rowland's feelings that I secretly support Christianity. (See this thread.) When challenged to provide a quote of where I had ever done so I was told the suspicion was based on a general feeling. This from an "Objectivist"! I have no more to say on this. I will repost my review in full under my original sign-on in a new thread. (This thread was created with a different sign on because I mistakenly used the wrong user ID, and when I attempted to use the recovery tool it recognized my email but did not send me a reset link.) Thanks, Stephen, James and Robert for your comments. I will reply in the new thread.

I have recently submitted the first non-hostile review of David Harriman's The Logical Leap: Induction in Physics to Amazon Here is the opening of the review which includes a content summary in its complete text. You can read the contents in full at amazon (here) or at the same link below. If you appreciate the review I request you vote that you found it helpful in order to keep it above the hostile reviews on the page at Amazon. Thanks. "A clearly written and fascinating tribute to reason," July 18, 2010 Five Stars out of Five By Theodore Keer In The Logical Leap: Induction in Physics, David Harriman has two target audiences, scientists interested in the philosophy of induction, and students of Objectivism interested in science. This book has much to say that will be of interest to both. I recommend it most highly. David Harriman is a professional physicist and philosopher with a wide grasp of his subject. Interested in putting forth a theory of induction based upon Ayn Rand's theory of concept formation, he briefly introduces his thesis, and then examines two classical histories of induction. First he makes a detailed analysis of the history of thought about motion from the Greeks through Galileo and Kepler, to Newton, Then he examines atomic theory from the Greeks through Lavoisier and Kelvin to Mendeleev. His basic theses are that induction is based on a hierarchy of generalization, parallel in form to Rand's hierarchical theory of concept formation ( a subject too complex to address here, but which is covered in her monograph, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology); that progress in science relies on not only on the experimental method, which he credits Galileo for first practicing, but on developing an increasingly sophisticated language of concepts, which must be induced in a hierarchical order; and that skepticism results from a flawed, context-dropping view of the history of science. This last thesis is most informative. (read the full review)