On 8 Feb 2003, Christopher D. Green wrote: > This debate is, as I'm sure is obvious to everyone, going round and > round with no hope of resolution. <snip> > Nevertheless, allow me to propose a solution (in the hope that this > pseudo-debate will stop clogging up my mailbox).
On the contrary, TIPS has been rather too sedate lately, and it's nice to know there's still life in the old discussion group. This was (is) a great debate. There may have have been too many posts to read them all, and some could well have been shorter. But even without resolution, I think I've gained a better appreciation of both sides of this difficult issue from reading them. In particular, I'm amazed by the phenomenon of a David DeWitt and I apppreciate Al Shealy's bringing his career to our attention. I'll add it to my list of scientists who manage brilliant careers despite peculiar beliefs, such as Forrest Mimms (fired from _Scientific American_ for being a creationist) and Brigitte Boisselier, accomplished chemist and managing director of Clonaid and a bishop in the Raelian religion. I was so incredulous concerning Dr. Bosselier's claimed degrees that I recently verified them. Through the magic of e-mail, I was able to find and query her dissertation advisor. He confirmed that she has a Ph.D. from the University of Houston (1985) in chemistry and the equivalent of an M.S. degree from the University of Dijon, France (often incorrectly claimed to be another Ph.D. in chemistry). These cases are interesting because they indicate that doing good science and believing strange things are not incompatible. Didn't Isaac Newton believe in alchemy and William James in telepathy? And getting back to evolution and letters of recommendation, I like the resolution contributed by Chris Green to a debate he paradoxically declares has none: > Perhaps the professor > in question *should* write the letter of reference, mentioning, among > other things, that the student is a creationist. That way the student > gets what s/he wants -- an honest letter of reference -- the > letter-writer gets what s/he wants -- an honest letter of reference -- > and the school/dept./supervisor *receiving* the application get with > it/s/he wants -- an honest letter of reference. > ...except that I think the letter writer would be advised to mention the student's acceptance of "creation science" (allegedly a scientific theory) rather than that the student is " a creationist" (a religious belief). We don't want people going back to saying things like "Dr. Aaron Nadel who is a candidate for a position with you is, as his name indicates, a Jew" (quoted in Winston, 1996). Winston, A. (1996). "As his name indicates": R. S. Woodworth's lettters of reference and emplyment for Jewish psychologists in the 1930s. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 32, 30-. -Stephen ______________________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips _________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
