Depends on what you mean by 'everything'? If you mean: Can science provide an answer to every question that can be stated, the answer is clearly NO, since one may state all sorts of questions that make linguistic sense but have no physical referents. So this statement is true but trivial.
Can science explain the beauty of a sunset? Potentially yes. This is a response by a physical organism to a physical event; a mature neurology coupled with a knowledge of the organisms experience should be able to account for it. Of course, if one wishes to define 'beauty' as something intrinsically beyond physical analysis, then of course no physical explanation is possible. So, the arguable question is whether events exist that have no physical existence. One could also argue whether history is inherently nonscientific. Historical events may be verified scientifically, separating history from mythology. On Dec 9, 2011, at 10:41 AM, Jeffry Ricker wrote: Hi all, I'm posting this to two listservs. I apologize to those who get two copies of the message. Here are some excerpts from the blog post, "Can Science Explain Everything?" The full text is here: http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/can-science-explain-everything/27995 Best, Jeff ============== Can Science Explain Everything? By David Wheeler There’s a new bully on the intellectual block, shoving scholars around. Lots of them are caving into the threats. The bully’s name is “scientism,” the belief that science has a monopoly on all real knowledge. All other knowledge, scientism asserts, is simply opinion, irrationality, or utter nonsense. That was the perspective Ian Hutchinson, professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered at an event titled “Can Science Explain Everything?” at the American Association for the Advancement of Science this week.... Science has two key elements, reproducibility and clarity, Hutchinson said. Reproducibility means essentially that an experiment done in one place by one person can be repeated somewhere else by someone else. Clarity refers to the unambiguous nature of science’s measurements, descriptions, and classifications. History is an example of a discipline that has produced real knowledge that is not scientific knowledge.... Mr. Hutchinson listed other phenomena that may be “true” but that he believes are outside of science’s scope: the beauty of a sunset, the justice of a verdict, or the terror of a war. Many humans may share similar perceptions of these phenomenon but the basis of those perceptions will lack clarity. “Ambiguity is an intrinsic part of these things,” he said. Where, exactly, does God fit into this picture? Mr. Hutchinson says that while the universe has physical laws, God may be behind them. Science would be helpless to detect an act of God that violates the laws of physics since it would not be reproducible. Scientists should have no problem being religious, he said. -- --- 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=14806 or send a blank email to leave-14806-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
