Re: Deming Discipline

[demingtw <demingtw@ms17.hinet.net>]

On Tue, 1 May 2001 Robert A. Ferrell wrote:

>The people regarded as Deming Philosophy experts possess a wide
>range of educational backgrounds. Is there one educational discipline
>that is  best suited for the Deming Philosophy? If so, what is it?


This mail is a 'wild' one that  trying to extend the spectrum and continuum of some
disciplines of SoPK if possible.

Readers of Dr. Deming's books know one of C. I. Lewis's books is very influential in
shaping his theory of knowledge. I remember Bill Schekenbach mentions about P.
Koestenbaum as a student of C. I.  Lewis and I quoted one sentence of C. Geertz's
criticism of operationalism to Mary Morgan, she told me that was very similar with
C. I.'s retirement talk.

I read someone's report that Dr. Deming read Kant. And I like to quote one sentence
of Ways of Worldmaking by Nelson Goodman, (p. x, from Howard Gardner, ART, MIND &
BRAIN--a cognitive approach to creativity, Harper Collin, 1982, p.46)

' I think of this book as belonging to that mainstream of philosophy that began when
Kant exchanged the structure of the world for the structure of the mind, continued
when C. I. Lewis exchanged the structure of the mind for the structure of concepts,
and now proceeds to exchanged the structure of concepts for the structure of several
symbols systems of the science, philosophy, the arts, perception, and every day
discourse. The movement is from unique truth and word fixed and found towards a
diversity of right and even conflicting versions or worlds in the making.'

Dr. Goodman found Harvard Project Zero in mid '60s. I am keen on some of the members
of this project team published their accounts on 'creativity'. I list some titles
for your reference.

Howard Gardner Creating Mind, Harper Collins, 1993
Mihaly Csikssentmihalyi , Creativity, 1996
D. N. Perkins The Mind's Best Work, Harvard University Press, 1981
Vera John-Steiner Notebooks of the Mind, 1985/1997 Oxford University Press


Hanching Chung
http://www.deming.com.tw