Heuristic in that context would mean "provisional" or "unproven":
the categories are useful only insofar as they provide a way to
approach the subject, so the categories must be considered
speculative and by no means proven.
--Robert Keser
"Andrew Albert J. Ty" wrote:
> In one of the posts on reflexive documentaries, someone criticized Nichols
> by pointing out that his categories only have heuristic value...
>
> What does heuristic mean? An Internet search turns up Web pages on computer
> programming.
>
> Thanks and pardon my ignorance,
> Andrew
|