Secondary Note

Somewhat attached to my previous post.

In my economics class (which you'll notice I didn't go into a lot, mostly because I hate economics. It's an extremely important study, no doubt, it's also totally not how I think and...well, you get the idea), my teacher makes certain statements which could be considered either "positive" or "normative."

A positive statement is simply relaying some factual information. 2+2=4 is a positive statement.

Normative statements are made based on value judgments. "Lower taxes is the best way to improve the economy" is a normative statement. It is based on opinion and sets of values. That doesn't make it invalid, but the two should not be conflated.

Both kinds of statements can be WRONG. Correctness is irrelevant, although for normative statements, "correctness" is usually a matter of perspective.

Perhaps it is because in the Humanities, teachers have to walk on such eggshells, I am used to professors apologizing or putting disclaimers on what they say. Yet my economics teacher will just throw stuff out there, and the reason is this:
To him, it is NOT a normative statement. It is a mathematical equation. Now sure, if you wanted to argue the significance, or the consequences, I'm sure he'd probably say it depends, but for the most part, I don't think it occurs to him to question what he's saying.

In my experience, the Humanities (that is, anthropology, human services, history, philosophy, and to a lesser extent, sociology and psychology) place a much greater emphasis on questioning one's presuppositions than any other field. I'm not sure what it all means, but it's something I'm going to be watching for more now.

Also, math students scare me.