Hi
I'll respond to Louis, although it would have been just as easy
to make the same point with Rod's posting.
On Tue, 15 Jun 1999, Louis_Schmier wrote:
> Moreover, by your thinking, and I will not address your conveniently loose
> definition of science, the science faith is equally static: (1) there are
> laws governing all aspects of the universe; (2) that these laws are
> intelligible; (3) that man, as a part of that universe, is equally
> governed by phyusical, economic, social, political, legal, psychological,
> etc laws; (4) that these laws are universal, eternal, immutuable,
> unchangeable; (5) that man has the capacity to seek out and discover these
> laws; and (6) having discovered these laws, man can implement them and
> live in closer communion with nature.
Rod and Louis manage to define science as static only by ignoring
the vast amount of scientific knowledge that has been acquired
(i.e., the change or growth in our understanding of the natural
world). I don't know how that can be justified, and I certainly
feel no obligation to accept that unwarranted premise.
Scientific knowledge encompasses far more than methods and to try
to claim that the sum total of scientific knowledge is unchanged
from even a decade ago, let alone centuries ago, strikes me as
bizarre. Claims or evasions like this just strengthen my sense
that some academics today will make (and believe ... I am not
doubting people's sincerity) quite extreme statements to "bring
science down to size," which has the net effect of diminishing
any difference between science and whatever alternative is being
defended or actively promoted (postmodernism, extremist
qualitative methods, religion, indigenous ways of knowing,
intuition, ...).
Best wishes
Jim
============================================================================
James M. Clark (204) 786-9313
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L02A
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
============================================================================
