Re: nature -> "human brain" -> "language terms" ==>> knowledge ?
Alex,
Let me start with your ending paragraph, since it
brings out the basic assumptions on which the
rest of the discussion depends:
AP> In my view, the theories are not judged or proved
> by their adequacy (suitability) to human utilitarian
> purposes ... Some theories may not have any foreseeable
> practical human usage, yet such theories have scientific
> value.
First of all, every human activity has a purpose. Nobody
ever engages in any activity without some motivation, and
science is no exception.
The desire to know, as Aristotle put it, is a generalization
of a basic urge to understand the environment. It is of
the same nature as a cat's curiosity in sniffing every
nook and cranny of any new place it happens to visit.
No matter how sophisticated science may become, it is
still based on that ultimate curiosity and urge to make
sense of the environment as a guide to future action.
To quote from Peirce,
The elements of every concept enter into logical thought
at the gate of perception and make their exit at the gate
of purposive action; and whatever cannot show its passports
at both those two gates is to be arrested as unauthorized
by reason.
Note the words "purposive action". I agree that some scientific
theories and projects are more remotely connected to applications
than others, but there is no such thing as unmotivated science.
If there were, it would be totally uninteresting to everybody.
For this reason, I find the so-called distinction between
subjective and objective very confused and confusing. Most
applications of the word "objective" are nothing more than
a disguise of respectability for the speaker's underlying
subjectivity. As Bismarck said, "Every man has two reasons:
a good one and the real one."
If you want to understand any human activity or the results
of that activity, look for the purpose -- there is always some
motivation. As they say in Latin, "cui bono?" Or in English,
"follow the money". Instead of money, you might find other
motives (often indirectly related to money), such as prestige,
power, happiness, or love. But there is always a purpose.
John