Perhaps at the heart of all this talk is also whether there is a sense of theory (and closer to the ground 'model') other than that which science and related empirical fields wants to use (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory) and which, since Popper, includes notions such as falsification, induction (and ultimately objective knowledge) etc. If there is another more rhetorical ways of talking about theory (i.e. as discourse) then this will do different kinds of work for us in the intellectual inquiry we are pursuing. If, on the other hand, the Popperian mainstream model helps us do other things then stick with it. The assumption in this conversation that we may reach some sort of argued decision assumes that we share a certain set of assumption about what is important and useful (pragmatism again) - this is not necessarily and not ordinarily the case. Also for an entertaining read about alternative 'theories' or at least weltanschauung - form of life from a former colleague at Melbourne read Science and the African Logic (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/14593.ctl) by Helen Verran, who we hop to have with us next year 2009, Melbourne for the Cumulus Conference
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