From: david@edenroad.demon.co.uk   
      
   On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 06:42:55 -0400, Janice wrote:   
      
   > On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 09:21:15 +0100, David Mitchell wrote:   
   >   
   >> In the sense that one can, sometimes, extract some useful commonalities   
   >> from anecdotal evidence, perhaps.   
   >>   
   >> Otherwise, they have very little use.   
   >   
   > Unless you happen to be a folklorist, or an anthropologist, or a   
   > psychologist, or a social historian ...   
      
   True; but I was assuming a different context: that of actually "verifying"   
   something.   
      
   It being the topic and all ;-)   
      
   > I realize that one could argue that the professionals in these fields   
   > also use personal testimonials under the auspices of the "useful   
   > commonalities" principle, but so often people act like the social   
   > sciences don't even exist, and as someone with a social science   
   > background (albeit a modest one) that bugs me.  There are other ways to   
   > approach looking at people's beliefs besides crediting or discrediting   
   > the veracity of those beliefs.   
      
   Yes, of course; but it's the veracity we're talking about.   
      
   > Even the processes of misperceiving,   
   > misremembering and lying are themselves intrinsically interesting and   
   > worthy of study.   
      
   True.   
      
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