On Sat, 04 Dec 2010 10:17:58 -0800, Christopher D. Green wrote: >Michael Smith wrote: >> So if university and public school educators and administrators (and >> of course the general public) do not consider psychology a science, >> then it seems that the only ones who might are psychologists >> themselves (hence I think Chris' comment). > >I give you Richard Feynman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaO69CF5mbY
One can hope that Chris bases his opinion (that psychology is not a science) on something more substantial than a video clip by Feynman who appears to speak ex cathedra on the nature of social science and, by implication, psychology. One wonders if Chris thinks this is a persuasive argument against psychology as science? I don't know who died and appointed Feynman at the arbiter of what is or isn't science but I'm not submitting to his authority as a physicist to speak meaningfully on social science, psychology, or topics outside of physics. One wonders what Feynman's response would have been if he had been asked what he thought about a few notable psychologists like Duncan Luce (for those unfamiliar with Luce, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Duncan_Luce or Patrick Suppes (for background on Suppes see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Suppes and http://suppes-corpus.stanford.edu/ or any of the psychologists listed as members of the National Academy of science; see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_National_Academy_of_Sciences_%28Psychology%29 Or would Feynman and perhaps Chris say, these folks aren't really psychologists? On maybe they aren't scientists? -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] P.S. Perhaps Feynman's disdain for the social sciences/psychology comes from him only getting an IQ score of 125 on some unspecified intelligence test. I'm sure that he thought that he was "smarter" than that. P.P.S. One wonders if Chris is secretly a fan of Steve Fuller. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6970 or send a blank email to leave-6970-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
