In the article,"Why do many Reasonable People doubt Science?", the writer, Joel Achenbach, asserts that people disbelief science for a variety of reasons. He first described dogmatism and naive beliefs, which are subconscious intuitions that people cling to, to be the reason why many disbelieve science. He further explains that many are reliant on personal experience and anecdotes rather than hard facts and statistics to come to conclusions and that is why many disagree with scientific findings. Achenbach, in his article, also mentioned that, another reason for the disbelief of science is political where "disbelievers", claim that the purport of science, especially in the aspects of climate change, is a propaganda of climate activists and environmentalists who seek to employ the idea of global warming to attack the free market and industrial society. He also mentioned that the disbelief is science is caused the fact that,…
Alan Chalmers, a British-Australian philosopher of science and best-selling author, suggests a common view of science by which scientific knowledge is ‘reliable’ and ‘objectively proven’ knowledge that is derived from facts of experience, experimental procedure and observations. This essay aims to discuss the problems that are likely to be highlighted by a Popperian hypothetico-deductivist when confronted with Chalmers’ adverse views on the validity of the scientific method. Both Alan Chalmers and Karl Popper - renowned for the development of hypothetico-deductivist/falsificationist account of science - represent the two major, contradictory theories (falsification and induction) regarding the functionality of science. I will be structuring my argument around these two models and the several complications surrounding the inductivist’s account of science that are seemingly solved by Popper’s alternative.…
Evaluating aspects from a scientific perspective is not limited to only people who are pursuing science as a career or major. Atul Gawande, respected surgeon and author, understands this concept well and works to encourage the public to trust in testing a hypothesis no matter how profound. Through utilizing the strategies of incorporating personal experience, rhetorical questions, and a motivational tone, Gawande’s article, The Mistrust of Science, pushes readers to face challenges without a doubt.…
Good morning young ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to what will be an exciting year for you all and I also commend all of you for choosing science as your undergraduate subject for this year. I am Professor John and today I will be discussing with you the importance of choices. More specifically, the role of science and the ones who control its power. This, ladies and gentleman, relates directly to all of you, the future generation of people in the scientific field. The knowledge of science, I believe, is the most powerful asset anyone can hold. This is because, one who has knowledge that could potentially change…
Science has evolved over the years. New machines have been invented over the past years which make it easier for scientist and their experiments. John M. Barry author of The Great Influenza specifically targets scientist and their research. He argues that a good scientist knows that there may be doubts, or that their assumptions may be proven wrong but they don’t stop trying.…
Barry begins the excerpt by conceptualizing certainty in the minds of scientists. The passage begins with “A scientist must accept the fact that all of his or her work, even beliefs, may break apart upon the sharp edge of a single laboratory finding.” He continues by stating that "certainty creates strength... uncertainty creates weakness" (1-3). By using syntax and parallel structure the author indicates that mental inquiry and understanding of the subject in question is a necessity for the scientist. This contrast of certainty lays the framework for the succeeding paragraphs. The second and third paragraphs build on this assumption by putting forth the basic qualities and describing the difficulties of a scientist and their work. He continues to explain scientists in a metaphor as ones merely existing on the frontier or precipice of technology, taking experimental steps into the unknown which may lead to their downfall. Barry describes the innovation of the scientist as “seeing through the looking glass into a world that seems entirely different”. However, he cautions the formulation of new theories by saying that “science teaches us to…
As one sociologist Popper argues that science is a open belief system where every scientist’s theory can be falsified, as science can be open to criticism and tested by others. For example if scientist argues water boils at 100 degrees Celsius this can be tested (falsified). However with religion this is impossible as you are unable to test religious ideas on what happens after death. This leads to religion not being falsified and science ruled by the theory of falsification. Thus leading to Popper to believe science has been successful in explaining and controlling the world becoming the main ideological influence in society today.…
According to Popper science is an open belief system where every scientist’s theories are open to scrutiny, criticised and tested by others. He says that science is governed by the principle of falsificationism. This is whereby scientists set out to try and falsify existing theories, deliberately seeking evidence that would disprove them. Such as the fact that the big bang is a theory that everyone accepts but there is much more that scientists do not know and more needed to be found therefore it could be false. It argues that there always can be more and more evidence for every theory that has ever been made and proven. Then when disproving these knowledge claims allows scientific world to grow. It is cumulative, whereby it builds on achievements of previous scientists. This explanation shows that science can be a belief system as nothing can ever be proven 100% as there will always be something or someone that will disprove a theory with other evidence and therefore people belief what they have been told. This is much like religion in a way by the fact that religion cannot be proven it is something that people belief in.…
Believe it or not, it was once illegal to teach the theory of evolution to children in school. A teacher in Tennessee named John Scopes had violated this law in the 1900s, which resulted in the John Scopes trial. This trial marked the shift of the beliefs of Americans from religion to science. Scientific research has been going on for decades and it has, for the most part, helped improve our lives, but it is a very tough field. In The Great Influenza, author John M. Barry used juxtaposition, listing, and structure to characterize scientific research as a challenging and uncertain field that requires a lot of courage to accept defeat, but also have the determination…
John M. Barry argues that scientists need to embrace uncertainty within the passage; he asserts that they need the courage and will to overcome the intimidating uncertainty of exploring new fields. With an honest and clear tone Barry highlights the divide between certainty and uncertainty in the passage, discussing the importance of “pioneers”, individuals who are willing to adventure into the unexplored to further their researches. Courage and wit are indeed two crucial factors for the biologists, chemists, and engineers of today to further develop science; it is important to “probe” the unknown in order to search for answers, and it is important to embrace failure instead of fearing it, for mistakes and faults help in perfecting research techniques. In The Great Influenza, Barry employs extended metaphor, repetition, and juxtaposition to deliver his message on the need for scientists to explore the unknown.…
Although this idea may seem common sense, it is the basis for all of the work that Benner has produced. She sees that knowing how to do something is different than the theory of scientific event and often practical knowledge can be more important than the theoretical framework that has been taught. Practical knowledge can also be developed before the scientific theories can be born.…
Mackie’s ‘Ethics: Inventing right and wrong’ critically assesses the idea that there are, or even can be, objective moral truths, and exposits Mackie’s ‘moral relativist’ stance. I intend also in this essay to criticise the idea of moral objectivity, and to deal with the objections that could be potentially raised to a relativist stance.…
During a passage from the Great Influenza, author John M. Barry discusses the qualifications a scientific researcher must yield in order to be efficient to the field and perform intelligent guesswork. Appealing to inspiring scientists, Barry insists that they have to “manipulate and even force experiments to yield and answer.” Without the ability to work with uncertainty, no work done will be enough to illuminate the subject. Through juxtaposition uncertainty and certainty in this professional field, Barry showcases the classifications of scientists with analogies and metaphors in a catalogue form. Barry begins by promptly identifying the counter argument; how uncertainty is a weakness for a scientist.…
In John M. Berry’s speech, during the time of the influenza, his audience is the people in general, especially those curious about scientists and their work. The purpose is to prove to people that scientific research is very challenging. Furthermore, he discussed how scientists must accept uncertainty in order to find an answer to their experiment; it is very difficult for people to accept uncertainty. John M. Berry is able to characterize scientific research as challenging by showing all scientists must embrace uncertainty in the beginning of his speech, undergo tedious work towards the middle of his speech, and find the correct solution to their experiment at the end of his speech.…
In this essay, John M. Barry uses antithesis to display a contrast in his thoughts and the assuming thoughts of the readers. In doing this, the author is not only able to show the readers the different sides of how scientists are perceived by people, but as well as how they actually are in the world of scientific research. The author collates certainty and uncertainty as an example for the readers to view that scientists of the world are just like them. Scientists contain “certainty, [which] creates strength, and uncertainty, [which] creates weakness” (Barry). In using these disparities, Barry is showing the readers that “science teaches us to doubt” (Barry). By elaborating on the concepts of certainty and uncertainty, readers are able to see…