-Caveat Lector-
In a message dated 10/5/99 4:05:10 PM, you wrote:
<<ON THE QUESTION OF THE DANGERS OF SCIENCE
Lewis Wolpert (University College London, UK), in a "commentary"
article, considers the classic question whether science is
dangerous, the author making the following points:
1) The idea that knowledge is dangerous is deeply embedded
in our culture. Indeed, Western literature is filled with images
of scientists meddling with nature with disastrous results.
Scientists are portrayed as a soulless group, unconcerned with
ethical issues....>>
___________________________________________
Sir James Medawar, the Nobel Lauriate in Biology years ago for his work
on immunity wrote a short book which everyone should read: "The Limits of
Science."
Science, as a methodology--is no more moral or immoral than mathematics,
and for similar reasons. The methodology ranges from classification and
identification all the way to experimentation. The adjective "scientific,"
is used in many senses, all of which are syncategormatical, and can be seen
to have the loose notion of "objectivity," as compared to "subjectivity,"
which includes emotion, whim, impulse and all of the other mental states,
which make human beings the rich source of thought and behavior that they
are, said states, with all due respect to them, not appropriate to the
methodology.
The Scientific Methods, first proscribed by John Stuart Mill were
essentially the design of Induction: The methods are those of Addition,
Subtraction, Concommitant Variation, and the Combined Method. If a state of
affairs labeled "A" is variously and sequentially acted upon by influences (B
through G) let us say, and "A" becomes "AX" when and only when "C" acts upon
it, then "C" can be said to be the "cause" of "X" You can derive the Method
of Subtraction therefrom. when "A" is acted upon by "C" and can be seen to
demonstrate some variation in intensity or quantity, or whatever, then the
changes in "A" can be said to the result of some multiple of the degree of
influence of "C." Another way of saying this is that the change in "A" can
be said to be a function of change in "C" in some respect and may be
expressed by a formula. This is the Method of Concommitant Variation.
The term "Science" is often used to refer to that body of knowledge
derived from an application of one or more of the Scientific Methods. to a
particular field of Inquiry, such as the "Science of Biology." In the
broadest sense, it is an organized and integrated body of knowledge with
respect to a particular subject. The advantages of scientific methods is
that they lend themselves to isolation of common denominators and therefore
reduplicability, to some degree or another. This may be the result of
manipuation of the variables, as in the experimental sciences, or by rigorous
conditional observation with respect to frequency, periodicity, and the like,
as is classically the case in Astronomy. There is an element of homogeneity
that is a form of redupicity, as in Linnaeus' classification of Plants and
Animals.
The purposes and the subjects and the methods of scientific inquiry are a
matter of Morality and Ethics, and they are, therefore a barometer of such;
but they are no more responsible than is the messenger for the message.
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Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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