Re: Cobb County

----- Original Message -----
From: "Either Carol or John Burgeson" <burgytwo@juno.com>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: Cobb County

> George wrote: "One of the main problems with this & similar "warnings" is
> that they pick
> out evolution as something uniquely controversial. There are (AFAIK) no
> warning labels about the germ theory of disease, relativity theory, the
> theory of plate tectonics, &c. So what these labels do is to tell
> students
> that they should be _more_ critical of evolution than of other theories.
> &
> for many students they will convey the message that evolution doesn't
> have
> to be taken seriously because it's "just a theory."
>
> That kind of reasoning seems contrived. Using it, I could argue that a
> certain curve in the mountain road up to Rico ought NOT have a warning
> sign because some others do not.

A valid argument - IF that certain curve is more dangerous, deceptive &c
than others. & a warning about evolution makes sense - IF the theory is
more speculative, problematic &c than others.

> Having a similar warning about -- say -- plate tectonics, or even
> relativity -- might or might not make sense. Actually, the warning ought
> to properly be applied to much of science. Questioning "what everyone
> else takes for fact" is usually unproductive. But sometimes it leads to
> radical new inventions or discoveries.

Students should be told that theories that have seemed well established have
sometimes been found to have serious limitations, & that the theories
they're studying now may have to be changed in the future. (I would not say
"wrong" because it usually has been the case that a well-established theory
continues to be a good approximation for some phenomena.) For that matter,
it's worth noting that supposedly well-established observational claims have
turned out to be in error. (The old 88 day rotation period for Mercury is a
classic example. But I see no justification for singling out evolution to
make this point - unless one has objections to the theory other than
scientific ones.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Received on Sat Jan 15 20:17:48 2005