Weekly Quotes
8th July
Each tradition, each form of life has its own standards of judging human behaviour and these standards change in accordance with the problems that the tradition is constrained to solve. . . . Of course, all the groups need knowledge to apply the standards they use but the epistemic criteria which decide what is knowledge and what is not are determined by the traditions themselves and not by outside agencies. It is also clear that people learn and adopt ideas from other traditions, but this process again depends on the standards of the tradition that does the adopting.
Each tradition, each form of life has its own standards of judging human behaviour and these standards change in accordance with the problems that the tradition is constrained to solve. . . . Of course, all the groups need knowledge to apply the standards they use but the epistemic criteria which decide what is knowledge and what is not are determined by the traditions themselves and not by outside agencies. It is also clear that people learn and adopt ideas from other traditions, but this process again depends on the standards of the tradition that does the adopting.
"Historical background. Some observations on the decay of the philosophy of science", in: Problems of Empiricism (Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2.), Cambridge, etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1981. pp.27-28.