>-----Forwarded Message-----
>From: faffeldt@gdss.com [SMTP:faffeldt@gdss.com]
>Sent: Friday, July 18, 1997 12:09 PM
>To: mooney@MAINE.MAINE.EDU
>Cc: Glitz, Robert; rglitz@erols.com
>Subject: Beliefs, paradigms, et al. LO14366
>
>Malcom:
>
>A friend forwarded your posting. I could not resist responding to at least
>some of your thoughts.
>
>A mental model is a framework within which we can meld our belief system and
>the inferences that we draw from what we observe. Since our observation of
>the world around us will be biased by our belief system, it might be argued,
>then, that a mental model is simply a collection of our beliefs. But, I
>believe that the combination of "soft" data - our inferencing however done,
>and "hard" data - our belief system, blend together to produce mental
>models. In essence, a mental model is nothing more than a convenient
>container for this collection, a way to categorize and move on.
>
>A paradigm might be described in the same way. It is a container in which we
>link mental models into a larger whole. A paradigm is really a systems view
>of mental models that were unlinked before we accorded them paradigm status.
>
>Then, Weltanschauung is the container in which paradigms are linked to
>produce a systemic world view. Again, I believe that some inferencing
>happens in this space, and that the linkage across paradigm lines is
>somewhat fuzzy and ill-defined.
>
>I hope this spurs more discussion.
>
>fred affeldt
>
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--"Glitz, Robert" <GlitzR@ang.af.mil>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>