From: george murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Sun Sep 01 2002 - 12:36:01 EDT
I would undoubtedly be helpful if high school students could be
given some formal education in philosophy. I can, however, foresee
problems with trying to get that into the curriculum. Nowadays
"philosophy" is used very loosely to mean just about anybody's ideas
about anything - as in "The Playboy Philosophy." Serious philosophical
education, in the western world at elast, would have to give a
significant amount of time to traditional thinkers - Plato, Aristotle,
etc. I'm sure, however, that in many areas this would be protested in
the name of "diversity" & such "dead white males" would have to be
replaced by more PC types. (Cf. an introductory philosophy class at a
college where I once tauhgt, in which one of the primary texts was
_Black Elk Speaks_.) & of course there would be those who would insists
that only "Christian philosophy" be taught.
I am ambivalent about the proposals for teaching the philosophy of
science at this level, having in mind the following from Bernard's 1865
_An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine_:
"In a word, if men of science are useful to philosophers, and
philosophers to men of science, men of science remain free, none the
less; and masters in their own house; as for myself, I think that men
of science achieve their discoveries, their theories and their science
apart from philosophers. ... As for Bacon and other more modern
philosophers who try a general systematization of precepts for
scientific research, they may seem alluring to people who look at
science only from a distance; but works like theirs are of no use to
experienced scientists; and by false simplification of things, they
mislead men who wish to devote themselves to cultivating science."
I don't think by any means that philosophy of science is
useless, but for beginning students at least it's a lot better for them
to hear from practicing scientists what they think science is & how it's
done. Cf. the definition of mathematics by Bertrand Russell (who also
knew a bit about philosophy) as "what mathematicians do." The work of
professional philosophers who try to tidy things up & present a neat
unified philosophy of science is something that can be considered later.
One result of this approach is likely to be that students will
see that methodological naturalism is, in fact, a basic presupposition
of the way science is done, regardless of the religious or a-religious
beliefs of various scientists.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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