On 8/25 at 1:27PM, Jeff Ricker wrote:
To the extent that my students have this attitude, I have a very
difficult time teaching the scientific approach to them. If my
students can dismiss a belief for which there is a preponderance
of evidence (such as human evolution, or even atoms and
molecules to use the example in my original post) by stating that
they do not "BELIEVE IN" the explanation or phenomenon
under discussion, they are using a faith-based approach to
belief development and retention. I do not know how to
communicate with them at this point.
Jeff, I enjoyed your entire post and agree with you whole-
heartedly. Of course, in the U.S. of A., everyone is
*entitled to* their own beliefs and opinions. HOWEVER, what
some fail to understand is that just because one has a right
to an opinion does NOT make that opinion valid or correct.
It sounds to me that this is the distinction that said students
are not grasping.
I don't have any easy answers on how to get this across,
but you might ask such students to describe and name an
object in the room (or something in your hand, say, a watch).
When they tell you what it is, I wonder how they would
respond if you told them they were wrong, and that you
"believed" that it was something else, say, a penguin. Are
you all equally right? Does your belief that a mechanical
timepiece is waterfowl make you correct? You are
certainly entitled to your strange opinion, but that doesn't
make you as correct as everyone else.
The text is probably too difficult for some undergraduates,
but an interesting treatment along these lines can be
found in Chapter 4 of Schick & Vaughn's book, "How to
think about weird things" (1st ed, Mayfield publishing).
That chapter, "Relativism, Truth, and Reality" centers around
a parable in which seven strangers happen upon a duck.
One stranger claims it's a duck, but the others argue that
to them, it's something else. The chapter then delves into
absurd consequences for the notions expressed by
these strangers, such as "truth is relative to individuals,"
"truth is relative to societies," "truth is relative to conceptual
schemes," "we create our own reality," and "we create reality
by consensus."
An interesting read, and perhaps an example to share with
students.
-Mike
*****************************************************
Michael J. Kane
Psychology Department
Georgia State University
University Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
phone: 404-651-0704
fax: 404-651-0753
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing
is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good,
as it is not to care how you got your money as
long as you have it."
-- E.W. Teale
