[FoRK] Faith and/or Science dingding redux

[Jeff Bone]

On Nov 28, 2007, at 9:59 AM, Luis Villa wrote:

> I think, though, that it is a fair point to make that
> science-as-critical-thought-process is not usually what is taught in
> school- what is taught, usually, is science-as-received-fact.

+1, that's entirely fair.  And I think there's an ENORMOUS amount of  
popular confusion about and between those two different things;  the  
common layman's perception of science seems to be entirely the  
latter, and further those received facts are perceived as  
epistemologically no different than other forms of "received fact"  
such as religious "fact."  (I don't think there *should be* any such  
confusion on this list, though...)

To be clear, though, that sort of "science-as-received-fact" is not  
really science, is it?

On Nov 28, 2007, at 10:21 AM, Jeffrey Winter wrote:

> How far does this cynicism extend in your opinion?  For
> example, do you think that at the highest levels in the
> Vatican people aren't truly believers, but are in fact
> just manipulating people for their own nefarious ends?

I think that historically it's been a mix of true believers and  
manipulators.  And to be fair, those are almost certainly not exclusive.


jb