{"id":6283,"date":"2012-02-17T16:54:43","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T21:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=6283"},"modified":"2012-02-17T16:54:43","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T21:54:43","slug":"scotland-is-large-and-diverse-but-not-infinite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/02\/17\/scotland-is-large-and-diverse-but-not-infinite\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland is large and diverse, but not infinite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Scientists say global warming isn\u2019t happening. Scientists say human activities are unrelated to climate change.<\/p>\n

We hear that all the time, but we push back against it because it\u2019s bad science. Yet it is also true, at least nominally.<\/p>\n

Scientists do<\/em> say these things. Actual terminal-degree scientists. They may be scientists whose field of study has nothing to do with climate<\/a>, and who thus aren\u2019t any more qualified to discuss the topic than someone with a Ph.D. in literature, but they are still scientists. They may be hacks for hire, prostituting themselves for payoffs from the Heartland Institute<\/a>, but they are still scientists.<\/p>\n

Those scientists are aware that they are a minority voice \u2014 that they are reading the science differently than the majority of their peers. But rather than seeing that as a sign that perhaps they might want to recheck the data, they wear it as a badge of honor, portraying themselves as brave and bold dissenters, noble Cassandras defending the true faith of true science.<\/p>\n

I am not inclined to share their view. I will concede that, yes, technically, they are in fact \u201cscientists.\u201d But I also find it necessary to distinguish them from more responsible scientists who, by virtue of that responsibility, have a more legitimate claim to that title. I find that necessary for the sake of accuracy and honesty. And I find that necessary as a non-scientist who thinks it prudent to defer to actual, responsible scientists when it comes to matters of science.<\/p>\n

One way of making and of stating that distinction is to question and to challenge the good standing of the irresponsible scientists. I do not trust a scientist on the payroll of the Heartland Institute to tell me the truth about climate change any more than I would trust a scientist on the payroll of the Tobacco Institute to tell me the truth about the health risks of smoking. I do not trust them because I have reason to believe that they have another agenda \u2014 an agenda other than<\/em> the pure pursuit of scientific truth, an agenda which has surpassed and supplanted the pure pursuit of scientific truth.<\/p>\n

The existence of that non-science agenda leads me to deny them the dignity that accompanies the title \u201cscientist.\u201d Their diplomas, business cards, parking spaces, author bios and W-2 forms may all affirm that these folks are \u201cscientists,\u201d but I would argue that no true scientist allows a paycheck or partisan political preferences to prejudice their findings. I would argue that these hacks are no true scientists.<\/p>\n

And yes, I use exactly those words: No true scientist.<\/p>\n

Anyone who has been on the Web in the past few years will note that this phrase is similar to the phrase \u201cNo true Scotsman,\u201d and thus may suspect I am guilty here of the logical fallacy that bears that name<\/a>. But let\u2019s not stretch that concept beyond where it is meant to go. There are some seven billion people here on Earth, and the vast majority of us are not true Scotsman. (Nor are we scientists.)<\/p>\n

If a woman is born in Santiago, Chile, and she lives there her whole life just as her parents and her grandparents did before her, then we can surely say that she was \u201cNo true Scotsman.\u201d Saying as much is not a logical fallacy, simply an accurate statement. It is an accurate statement because the word \u201cScotsman\u201d means<\/em> something and it does not mean<\/em> other things that are not<\/em> that something.<\/p>\n

There are, in other words, criteria for what does and does not constitute a Scotsman. There are specific, objective rules defining the category. I\u2019m using words there taken from Wikipedia\u2019s convenient description of the No True Scotsman fallacy:<\/p>\n

No true Scotsman is an informal logical fallacy, an ad hoc attempt to retain an unreasoned assertion. When faced with a counterexample to a universal claim, rather than denying the counterexample or rejecting the original universal claim, this fallacy modifies the subject of the assertion to exclude the specific case or others like it by rhetoric, without reference to any specific objective rule.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So let\u2019s apply this to those whom I\u2019m criticizing above as \u201cno true scientists.\u201d Let\u2019s start with the universal claim I wish to make: \u201cScientists believe that human activity is changing the climate.\u201d The objection presents counterexamples \u2014 numerous scientists do not<\/em> believe this. Such counterexamples are easy to find on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal or wherever else the PR-machine of the Heartland Institute can get them published.<\/p>\n

The existence of such prominent-but-rare counterexamples means that to be more accurate I ought to qualify my original universal statement. I ought to say, \u201cMost<\/em> scientists believe that human activity is changing the climate.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I also want to say more than that. My original universal statement was not merely meant as descriptive, but as normative and prescriptive. It is meant to convey something about the criteria, the \u201cspecific objective rules\u201d that apply to the term \u201cscientists.\u201d The specific objective rule I suggest above is that a scientist is, by definition, one who puts scientific truth ahead of predetermined financial or partisan preference. That rule suggests that those who are not willing to follow the science wherever it leads may be nominally \u201cscientists,\u201d but they are not true <\/em>scientists.<\/p>\n

That qualifier true<\/em> here is not merely rhetorical. It appeals to an objective and specific standard. It means something.<\/p>\n

That qualifier is necessary if we are to acknowledge an important distinction \u2014 a distinction that\u2019s so important that places like the Heartland Institute are spending millions of dollars to try to keep us from making it. It doesn\u2019t matter if we are attaching the positive qualifier true<\/em> to those who are practicing legitimate, responsible, unbiased science, or if we choose instead to attach a negative qualifier to those who are promoting junk<\/em> science. Either way the distinction is made and the distinction is necessary. Junk science is still, nominally, \u201cscience,\u201d but it\u2019s not true<\/em> science.<\/p>\n

True science is diverse and vast, but it is not infinitely pliable. Science means something and it does not mean other things that are not that something. It can be defined with specific, objective criteria. We can say it is this<\/em> and it is not that<\/em>. And thus when we encounter this<\/em> we can say, yes, this is science<\/em>. And when we encounter that<\/em> we can say, no, that is not science<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We can argue over what the criteria should be, over the rules that define our definition. But to say that there are<\/em> such criteria and such rules, and then to apply them, is not a fallacy.<\/p>\n

And, no, this isn\u2019t really mainly about either science or Scotsmen.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists say global warming isn\u2019t happening. Scientists say human activities are unrelated to climate change. We hear that all the time, but we push back against it because it\u2019s bad science. Yet it is also true, at least nominally. Scientists do say these things. Actual terminal-degree scientists. They may be scientists whose field of study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nScotland is large and diverse, but not infinite<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientists say global warming isn't happening. Scientists say human activities are unrelated to climate change. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scotland is large and diverse, but not infinite","description":"Scientists say global warming isn't happening. Scientists say human activities are unrelated to climate change. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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