Quote on Ideology

What a nice day. Sitting on the esplanade, reading Colin McGinn's The Making of a Philosopher (a personal memoir + thoughts on 20th century philosophy). And I come across this:

Nowadays psychology has pretty much the shape that Chomsky advocated, and it is hard to remember the time when behaviorism was the prevailing orthodoxy. I still think this provides a valuable lesson in questioning orthodoxies that go out of their way to deny obvious facts -- as behaviorism in effect denied that we have minds. The sure mark of an ideology, in science and philosophy as in politics, is the denying of obvious facts. A healthy dose of common sense is always a useful antidote to ideological bias.

This is what I had in mind the other day.

(speaking of "the esplanade" did any of you Bostonites see this today?)

More like this

The Boston Globe reports that the Charles River swim race might be canceled because of cyanobacterial blooms. Again. So why is this happening?
I was at the Esplanade in Boston, and I noticed something very weird in the water. By the Fairfield St. entrance, the water under the bridge and by the shore (on both sides, river and 'canal') was bright green, as if someone had dumped dye or paint in the water.
"Fear the drumstick!" (Globe Staff Photo/Mark Wilson)