Re: Pasteur and nature of science

From: Gordon Simons (gsimons@email.unc.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 01 2002 - 20:52:48 EST

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    Michael responds:

    > Thre is nothing Postmodern in what Ted Davies says, but ...

    Michael,

    It continues to seem post-modern to me. If it is not immediately obvious
    to you, so be it; I doubt I can convince you. But, for your information, I
    am not the only one, nor the first one, to label it as post-modern in
    private communications I have had.

    What it is called is less important than what his message conveys. What it
    conveys is a message that objective truth in science is completely
    illusory. I believe this is wrong. Moreover, teaching this kind of
    cynicism to our young people is a disservice.

    In order not to be misunderstood, let me add that I do approve of telling
    young people that radically new ideas frequently do encounter opposition
    -- at least for a time. What eventually overcomes this opposition, when
    the ideas are correct, are the things Ted Davis attacks: observations and
    experiments.

    Gordon Simons
      



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