Re: Invitation to the new "Flores Man" Yahoo group

From: Eric Stevens (eric.stevens_at_sum.co.nz)
Date: 11/02/04 

Date: Tue, 02 Nov 2004 14:03:57 +1300

On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 22:40:11 GMT, "tkavanagh" <tkavanagh@comcast.net>
wrote:

>
>"Eric Stevens" <eric.stevens@sum.co.nz> wrote in message
>news:a5cdo0t5lbt5022ql211pvogu4h0ciphnu@4ax.com...
>
><snip>
>
>>
>> For that reason, I am always cautious when considering the opinions of
>> people who primarily are scholars. You don't need to know their
>> political leanings to know that the absence of scientific objectivity
>> in their intellectual processes leaves their opinions open to bias.
>
>This makes no sense whatsoever. You seem to be equating "scholars" with an
>"absence of scientific objectivity." Is that really what you meant to imply?

In the purest sense of the term scholars only know what other scholars
have written. Scientists also have to know what is in the real world.
It is not possible to be a good scientist without being a good scholar
but it is possible to be a scholar without knowing anything of science
or the philosophy of science. In the sense that I used it above, a
scholar is somebody whose opinions are based only on the (selected)
opinions of others. Without the filtering process of scientific
objectivity it is possible to quote others to arrive at almost any
position you like.
>
>If so, what would you call people who exhibit a "presence" of scientific
>objectivity? 'non-scholars'?

The two are not mutually exclusive. It is possible to display
scientific objectivity without any elements of scholarship. Such a
person cannot possibly be a good scientist. I have known one or two
mad inventors who come into that category.

Eric Stevens

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