[lbo-talk] Re: Scientistism

[Andy F]

On 10/10/06, Daniel Davies <d_squared_2002 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > From: andie nachgeborenen <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com>
>
> > These were not the science-free ignoramuses of today's
> > science studies crowd
>
> bad luck in the timing of picking this particular week to repeat this rather
> dull slur on sociologists of science; Harry Collins of Cardiff University
> recently passed a version of the Turing Test for physicists; he submitted
> answers to seven questions on gravity waves which convinced a panel of
> independent judges that he was a physicist (and that the physicist who also
> submitted answers wasn't).  He was able to do this because he's spent the last
> thirty years hanging around the gravitational waves community in order to carry
> out science studies on the sociology of new discoveries.  I suppose this falls
> under the heading of "no true Scotsman" (which it does; he's a Welshman).
>
> http://www.slate.com/id/2150974/fr/rss/

Collins is a sociologist.
Collins understands physics.
Therefore, all sociologists understand physics.

-- 
Andy