| |
| |
|
Faith411.com - Philosophy |
|
|
|
Vital information and articles related to Philosophy.The Galileo Conspiracy: 5 Questions Your Science Professors Hope You Never Ask
As a young lad, I took on my first scientific experiment simply because I could. Like most curious youngsters who own walky-talkies, I could only resist for so long the urge to bury one of them (well behind enemy lines) in the bread aisle at the local grocery store, to see what startled shoppers might make of extroverted wheat. This, my first foray into the field of agorology -- the very scientific study of shopping, shoppers and shoppingcarts -- told me just what I needed to know. Would they simply scurry off, fearing all that is both sourdough and articulate, or might they try to hunt down the source of the taunting loaves? The jovial, phoney French accent that greeted each customer in the aisle proved harder to maintain -- while trying hard not to laugh -- than I had anticipated. In the end, fear of the manager (bigcheesophobia) cut short the data-gathering event, but not before we -- Tony (my assistant) and I -- had learned far too much. We now knew the inside truth about science, kept hidden for many ages: it's a real kick in the pants. Much time passed, and the California State University (at Hayward) received, and then quite foolishly approved, my application for admission. There I learned that the representatives of "science" bore the right to decide all matters of cultural importance; that scientists could provide the answers we need; and that science is "self-correcting," and so marches forward with unrelenting progress. Just look at the microwave ovens, and the GPS gadgets in our cars. Science carries the badge of authority in all matters of knowledge. Or so the story goes. But then it happened. I took my first history of science class, and began studying the items that interested me, even if they weren't on the menu. Then came the individual study course in the philosophy of science. By then I had meandered into areas of study best dubbed "plainly unauthorized." Here, I had realized that the science textbook authors (and most of my science professors) had completely -- I believe the scientific term is -- "discombobulated" almost everything they had taught me in my science classes. Oh, they managed the empirical details in the books well enough. Like motorcycle riders who smile too often, the experts had strained out the empirical gnats with an aggressive and precise toothpick. But conceptual camel-swallowing became the order of the day. In other words, their story of what science actually is, how scientists employ its methods, and what science can actually accomplish -- the whole story surrounding the details -- proved phonier than a well-modulated, French accent in a grocery store. To help illustrate these well-educated fibs, which I have boiled down to five for the sake of brevity, I have put this section in the shape of a question and answer format. Here sit before the readers eyes THE five questions your science professors hope you never ask. Question 1. Professor, isn't it true, that when you call a model or theory "true" merely because it makes accurate predictions that you in fact commit the fallacy called "affirming the consequent?" Answer: You'd better believe it, Bucko. And nearly all scientists do this on a regular basis. Coincidentally enough, so do the textbooks these guys write. "If a mother, then also a woman" seems obvious enough. In logic, this takes the form, "If P, then Q." But reasoning in the reverse direction leads to trouble. "If a woman, then a mother [Q, therefore P]" doesn't ring true at all. Many women do not practice motherhood. Likewise, "If my theory is true, we should find 'Q' to be the case [If P, then Q] does not in any way validate the reverse, "We did find 'Q' to be the case, therefore my model is true [Q, therefore P]." This is like the man who argues that "If it is bread, it does not talk. It does not in fact talk, therefore it must be bread." Imagine that: science professors make a career of reasoning that poorly, and your sandwich never said a word. Question #2. Professor, isn't it true that many highly successful theories in the past gained the allegiance of entire scientific communities, only to suffer rejection later as so much molarky by the same group? Answer: Yes. In fact Dr. Larry Laudan, former chair of the history and philosophy of science department at the University of Pittsburgh, wrote a book (Science and Values) where he catalogued over 30 such theories. He indicated that he could have lengthened his list extensively (and others have done this). These truth-status flip-floppers trounce about like a salmon on deck, where "true yesterday" becomes "false today." Here, truth comes with an expiration date like raspberry yogurt. And who knows, these theories may yet make a comeback -- only to get smoked again (as salmon are want to do). This tells us that theoretical science shows itself fickle when it comes to truth-telling. In court, they call this "perjury," but let us avoid the unpleasantries of name-calling. One commentator on this problem recently put it quite sublimely in these words: "If the history of science were a single person, it would present to the world just that sort of person we should least want to see driving heavy machinery or carrying sharp objects." Question #3. Professor, isn't it true that theories considered false today by the scientific majority, as well as in the past, have often turned out to be very useful? And doesn't this show that no established relationship between true theories and useful theories exists? Answer: Yes, and yes. And this shows from the empirical facts of history that any theory might be highly useful, and yet utterly false, so that it's utility offers no real guide to whether or not it's true. And you guessed it: Dr. Laudan has a long list of these successful-but-false theories too. And he isn't the only one. Question #4. Isn't it true professor that scientists often resolve the contest between rival theories by choosing the one as "more probably true" which appears either simpler or more elegant than the others, and doesn't this tell against the alleged "objectivity" of what is supposed to be a truth-seeking enterprise, reducing it to the status of a Miss America beauty pageant? Answer: Yes, but don't tell my wife or she won't let me go to work either. Question #5. Professor, isn't it true that various scientists working in different fields put to use a wide array of different methods, depending on factors like which field of study they work in, the nature of the claim under question at the moment, and the like? And doesn't this rather abolish the popular myth that anything like "THE" scientific method has ever actually existed? Answer: Of course. Philosopher of science, Paul Feyerabend at UC Berkeley wrote a book in the late 90's entitled "On Method," which proves just that point. Brain-scanning Neurologists do not do anything like what mechanics do when the latter search to find out how much pollution your car puts out. They use different instruments, and entirely different methods. Some methods involve developing computational models to run different stress-condition scenarios (structural engineers do this), while others amount to sticking a fancy wand up your car's tail pipe. Conclusion: The heroic model of science -- with scientists in the driver's seat as the keepers of true knowledge -- amounts to a political ploy designed to exalt those with white labcoats as the final arbiters of truth about what kind of what this "really" is. But the kind of reasons scientists (and their textbooks) must invoke to prop up this flimsy mythology make no headway against the empirical facts known to students of the history and philosophy of the sciences. Moreover, if stripped of their technical jargon, and rendered in the common tongue, such half-baked reasons would not earn scientists a passing mark in a second-semester logic course at any decent college. The way I see it, if you are going to try to fool people, you might as well go all the way, and head for the aisle with the heckling rye. Carson Day has written approximately 1.3 gazillion articles and essays, many with very insightful, if alternative, viewpoints. He presently writes for Ophir Gold Corporation, and specialized in the history of ideas in college. He has been quoted in the past as saying "What box?" and remains at large despite the best efforts of the civil authorities. You can visit the Ophir Gold Corporation blogsites at http://scriberight.blogspot.com (Writing With Power), http://ophirgoldcorp.blogspot.com (OGC's Free Web Traffic), or http://ophirgold.blogspot.com (Church and State 101)
MORE RESOURCES:
Philosophy - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Its Not Your Fault! Saying goodbye is easy for the traveler. I am a person who traveled so much that I had no roots except 'within' and I learned to be connected to 'What IS'. The Keltoi The CIA's motto is "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." That is hard to swallow to say the least. Culture and Knowledge In eastern Cultures the passing of thought was considered valuable, so much in fact that even to this day members of those cultures respect their elders and listen to their advice. The passing of such thoughts and concepts and philosophies is of extreme value. Goths To start this chapter we have a response from the journalist Hippie and friend who uses the name Eternum1 on the web. He was a part of the founding of web logs as these journalists went to the hot spots of the world and kept in touch with each other. In Answer To: Words Of Encouragement Throughout my life, I have always known that it is not easy to fight injustices. I grew up in Jersey City and started to work during summers at the age of fourteen. Nature of Visual Representation Nature is often called "red in tooth and claw", this means covered in blood, and comes from a fairy tale called Wolfking; it is a story of times past repute with epic adventures, this quote is very much like "survival of the fittest"!Okay, maybe that was a bit too oblique, however, there was a point to it, perhaps if I add that, an artist named Foucault once created a painting where he wrote the words "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" which is French for "This is not a pipe" under a very conformist graphic of a smoker's pipe.It was not a pipe, it was a picture of a pipe. The Tree of Life and Allies There are names in many languages and cultures or even within each culture, separate cults with different names for 'forces of nature'. Allies, guides, elementals, fairies, elves, gnomes, leprechauns and so the list would grow into the thousands. The Pertinence of Nudity Every kind of nudity is an abstraction. A man without clothes submits himself to immediate opinion. Why Im Glad Im Not a Minority Writer I'll admit that I used to be jealous of my compadres who were minorities in my BFA Creative Writing program. The rest of us were just crusty white kids with no rhythm. Common Psi-sense Up until the start of the 20th Century there was a strong cadre of scientists like Michael Faraday and Sir William Crookes who knew integrating the humanities with hard sciences provided the greater insight or wisdom.The quantum physicists have taken it further in many ways but they were ridiculed by the 'know-nothing scientists' (Kaku) who had only a targeted or single disciplinary approach to knowledge. Simple Words The words, the thoughts, the processes go on and on.As simple as it may seem to me I tend to feel that all words have their own meaning and not always the dictionary form. An Amazing, Hazy Look Into The Future Sometimes we all sit and think. Sometimes we doodle with a pen. Evolution and Exorcisms EVOLUTION: More surprising to me as I consider where my intellectual head-space has been on this issue, which is central to theological ideal; is the fact that I have become more of a creationist. Skeptics may say that God doesn't exist and I am inclined to agree he/she isn't within our purview to limit and say we know; HIM, or even what it is that really goes on, in the world about us. Man Is Not An Island Our thoughts do not take leave of absence.They are actually objects, beings, ever present in our minds at all times; every single one of them. From Experience: Is It the Circle of Life? All of it in one way or another a part of my lifetime and not an analytical study of the way that business has changed but a comparison that is not at all hard to follow or see. What happened to our country now seems to be subtle changes that occurred as the years passed by. Crop Circles and Critical Mass CROP CIRCLES:The Learning Channel (August 7, 2003) just had a show about crop circles. Here are two major points that no debunker will be able to explain in addition to the designs themselves. Phony-Baloney Detection Lesson #2 Appeals to AuthorityListen to this quote by a guy I am sure some of you have heard of:"Our society is dominated by experts, few more influential than psychiatrists. This influence does not derive, however, from our superior ethics or goodness or from any widespread consensus that we are especially admirable?"[1]Don't you just love that?He goes on to say, that Americans have become a people too dependent on so-called "experts" who "for better or for worse, exert an influence that far exceeds the actual wisdom (I might add here humility and grace) we demonstrate. The Cosmic Eggs One of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World is reported (many years after all but the Great Pyramid had vanished) to be the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. This great goddess has what many archaeologists and historians have interpreted to be nearly a thousand breasts on her body. Conspiracy Theorist Rudyard Kipling on Masonry: "the closest thing to a religion that I shall ever know"."The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: a human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. The Earth Energy Grid EARTH ENERGY GRID: - Sedona, Arizona is not only my own personal special place in nature - almost all spiritual organizations have conventions, churches or offices near all these vortices of earth energy and nature. There is a secret government base in a valley to the north and under a swamp some engineers found signs similar to the Nazca Lines and other natural spirit forms from ancient peoples.
|
|
Philosohpy Articles Home Page | Philosohpy Articles Site Map | Philosophy Sites | News | Faith411.com Home Page EZmatic.com | IgoJo | UpBee | Blue Ryder | Health | ZippyGo | Ken J Wagner Faith411.com - all Vital information and articles related to Philosohpy. |
| © 2006 |
