{"id":45048,"date":"2017-11-27T12:23:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T19:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=45048"},"modified":"2017-11-27T12:23:05","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T19:23:05","slug":"scientific-quasi-scientific-thinking-good-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/scientific-quasi-scientific-thinking-good-bad.html","title":{"rendered":"Scientific and quasi-scientific thinking, good and bad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
The famous double helix of DNA (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For particular reasons, I\u2019ve just re-read an article by Ugo A. Perego and Jayne E. Eakins, \u201cIs Decrypting the Genetic Legacy of America\u2019s Indigenous Populations Key to the Historicity of the Book of Mormon?\u201d<\/a> that appeared in\u00a0Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture<\/em>\u00a012 (2014): 237-279.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very, very good. \u00a0Those who are interested in questions surrounding the issue of Amerindian DNA and the Book of Mormon should absolutely be familiar with it. \u00a0And I\u2019m pleased to note that it\u2019s cited in note two of the current iteration of the Church\u2019s Gospel Topics Essay on \u201cBook of Mormon and DNA Studies.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Interpreter Foundation is, if I must say so myself, providing significant contributions to the Kingdom. \u00a0I\u2019m grateful for all those who have helped to make this possible.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thanks for John Hancock for reminding me of\u00a0this passage from C. S. Lewis\u2019s classic study The Discarded Image<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our age I think it would be fair to say that the ease with which a scientific theory assumes the dignity and rigidity of fact varies inversely with the individual\u2019s scientific education. In discussion with wholly uneducated audiences I have sometimes found matter which real scientists would regard as highly speculative more firmly believed than many things within our real knowledge; the popular imago<\/em> of the Cave Man ranked as hard fact, and the life of Caesar or Napoleon as doubtful rumour. We must not, however, hastily assume that the situation was quite the same in the Middle Ages. The mass media which have in our time created a popular scientism, a caricature of the true sciences, did not then exist. The ignorant were more aware of their ignorance then than now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think that anybody can plausibly maintain that things have improved, in this regard, with the advent of the internet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My experience, too, has been that those most prone to a na\u00efve scientism are \u2014 with some notable exceptions \u2014 people who aren\u2019t actually in the sciences.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the way, here\u2019s a 1975 essay by F. Kent Nielsen, a Harvard-educated historian of science (and a friend of mine) now long retired from Brigham Young University:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gospel and the Scientific View: How Earth Came to Be\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, finally, as part of my ongoing war against science, I\u2019m going to fail to fail to mention this arresting piece:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Ivy League Scientist Did A Bunch Of Food Surveys And Somehow Got The Same Number Of Responses Each Time:\u00a0Cornell University scientist Brian Wansink is facing yet another formal correction \u2014 his eighth this year, along with three full retractions \u2014 for his research on the psychology of eating.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I take no position on this particular case, and, contrary to the insistent claims of some, I\u2019m not actually (or even remotely) hostile to science. \u00a0Quite the contrary. \u00a0My concern, rather, is with scientism, which is an entirely different animal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 For particular reasons, I\u2019ve just re-read an article by Ugo A. Perego and Jayne E. Eakins, \u201cIs Decrypting the Genetic Legacy of America\u2019s Indigenous Populations Key to the Historicity of the Book of Mormon?\u201d that appeared in\u00a0Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture\u00a012 (2014): 237-279. \u00a0 It\u2019s very, very good. \u00a0Those who are interested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nScientific and quasi-scientific thinking, good and bad<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    For particular reasons, I've just re-read an article by Ugo A. Perego and Jayne E. 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