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1、200TheimpactofscienceOfcourse,iftherearenoconceptuallinksamongthemoralpredicatesthenthisisaninvalidstep;butwhyshouldonebelievethattherearenoconceptuallinksamongthemoralpred-icates?Itmightbearguedthattheuseofstepsdescribedas'con-ceptual'inanargumentisitselfunscientific;b
2、utitsurelycannotbemaintainedthattherearenosuchstepsinscienceitself.Forexample,ifImaketheinferencefromNewton'sdescriptionofthesolarsystemtothestatementthat'itisthegravitationalValues,factsandcognitionattractionofthemoonthatcausesthetides'thenIamemployingmyinformalknowled
3、gethatthereisaconceptuallinkbetweenstatementsaboutforcesandstatementsoftheformAcausedB.Theword'cause'doesnotevenappearinNewton'sdescriptionofthesolarsystemandofthetides;butIknowthatthegravi-tationalforcethatAexertsonBcanbedescribedascausedbyIarguedinChapter6that'everyfa
4、ctisvalueloadedandevery(themassof)AsimplybyvirtueofunderstandingNewton'sthe-oneofourvaluesloadssomefact'.Theargumentinanutshellwasthatfact(ortruth)andrationalityareinterdependentory.Ofcourse,ifwedescribethescientificmethodasconsistinginnotions.Afactissomethingthatitisra
5、tionaltobelieve,or,morethedrawingof'inferencestothebestexplanation',orwhatever,precisely,thenotionofafact(oratruestatement)isanideali-from'observationalstatements'whicharethemselvesinvalue-zationofthenotionofastatementthatitisrationaltobelieve.neutrallanguage,thenwecanr
6、uleout'Johnisinconsiderate''Rationallyacceptable'and'true'arenotionsthattakeineachand'Johnisselfish'as'observationstatements'(although,inother'swash.AndIarguedthatbeingrationalinvolveshavingparticularcases,itmightbeeasiertogetagreementonthesethancriteriaofrelevanceaswel
7、lascriteriaofrationalacceptability,on,say,whetheranobjectismauve).Butsuchstatementsoccurandthatallofourvaluesareinvolvedinourcriteriaofrele-constantlyinthewritingsof,forexample,historians.Thathis-vance.Thedecisionthatapictureoftheworldistrue(ortruebytory,clinicalpsychol
8、ogyandordinarylanguagedescriptioncanourpresentlights,or'astrueasanythingis')andanswersthereallyavoidwordslike'