The Follies (Re: sketch of Hawkes on Gould)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>kelley at pulpculture.org wrote:
>
>>Carrol wrote:
>>
>>>``...It is safest, unless one is both a professional scientist _and_ a
>>>professional historian/philosopher of science,
>>
>>rubbish. so few people are both scientist and historian/philosopher 
>>of science that you are suggesting that no one, not even colleagues 
>>in the history or philosophy of science, should speak to his work, 
>>since they are not also scientists.
>>
>>worse, to suggest this means that one should not speak to the work 
>>of any philosopher or historian of any field if one is working as 
>>student of literature or professor of literature, since that person 
>>is neither a professional scientist nor a professional 
>>historian/philosopher of science, let alone BOTH!
>>
>>do you just draw the line at science? but how can you, if you're 
>>drawing the line also at historian/philosopher of science?
>
>Yeah, what is it about this sacred status of science? Would you 
>leave economic analysis and policy to professional economists? 
>Criminal justice to criminologists? Surely to write about science 
>you should know more than, say, Stanley Aronowitz, but that's an 
>extreme example.
>
>Doug

I think that mathematics, physics, chemistry, and maybe some other 
natural sciences can claim to be objectively scientific on the whole. 
Whether economics, criminal justice, and other social sciences as 
they are practiced today is on the whole scientific is very 
questionable.  Perhaps, they shouldn't be put into the same category 
of science.

On the practical side, when you get sick, you won't turn to 
professors of literature, philosophy, history, economics, etc., not 
even to professors of biology, chemistry, etc.; you seek medical 
doctors.

By now, humanity has produced so much knowledge that no one can be a 
reliable expert in everything.  Modern civilization depends upon some 
division of labor, and we have to make science democratic -- make it 
serve human beings -- while recognizing the fact of an inevitable 
division of labor.
-- 
Yoshie

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