Re: [asa] Untestable -- Is it Science?

It seems to me that the sign is conflating "direct observation" with "testing." By this standard,
we cannot "be sure" that T. rex used its teeth for eating meat or pteradactyls used their wings
for flying. But I know few scientists who would be uncomfortable with those conclusions or
deny that the support for them was unscientific.

The unusual bone structure of those dinosaurs may be a somewhat harder puzzle to solve, but
it doesn't mean that scientists should speculate and test their hypotheses by whatever tools are
available (modeling, comparative anatomy, etc.)

__
Louise M. Freeman, PhD
Psychology Dept
Mary Baldwin College
Staunton, VA 24401
540-887-7326
FAX 540-887-7121

-----Original Message-----
From: "David Opderbeck" <dopderbeck@gmail.com>
To: Jack <drsyme@cablespeed.com>
Cc: "ASA List" <asa@lists.calvin.edu>
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 09:08:12 -0400
Subject: Re: [asa] Untestable -- Is it Science?

> But this signage says simply: "untestable." So something can be
> "untestable" and yet be a "scientific" theory because, as Dave S. said,
> they
> are applying what is know to what is observed, even though the
> resulting
> theory cannot be tested by any kind of observation?
>
> (I don't doubt, BTW, that theories about how dinosaurs behaved can be
> called
> "scientific." It just interests me that "testable" isn't really the
> gold
> standard here.)
>
> On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 8:06 AM, Jack <drsyme@cablespeed.com> wrote:
>
> > Of course. It depends on the theory, not all of them are testable.
> But
> > if a theory of animal behavior predicts certain findings, and those
> findings
> > are able to be preserved in the fossil record then the theory can be
> tested.
> >
> > BTW I heard of a camp at that museum for kids, where you get to spend
> and
> > evening and then sleep over one night inside the museum, have you
> heard
> > about that?
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > *From:* David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com>
> > *To:* ASA List <asa@lists.calvin.edu>
> > *Sent:* Friday, June 06, 2008 10:21 PM
> > *Subject:* [asa] Untestable -- Is it Science?
> >
> > I spent a lovely afternoon today with my ten year old son at the
> Museum of
> > Natural History in New York. This display of a pachycephalasaurus --
> an
> > alien-looking, dome headed dinosaur -- caught my eye. If you can't
> see the
> > attached photos, the signage says: "we cannot be sure how
> > pachycephalasaurus used their skull caps, becuase theories about the
> > behaviors of extinct animals cannot be tested." So are theories
> about
> > extinct animal behaviors "science"?
> >
> > --
> > David W. Opderbeck
> > Associate Professor of Law
> > Seton Hall University Law School
> > Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> David W. Opderbeck
> Associate Professor of Law
> Seton Hall University Law School
> Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology

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Received on Sat Jun 7 11:01:25 2008