Philosophy & Ethics

Bruno Latour (*1947) is a social constructionist or constructivist. If you know the difference, it is a sign indicating that you have wasted time studying useless stuff. Around 2004, he finally got partially enlightened and started to question his previous position on which he constructed (pun intended) his career. From ["Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern." Critical Inquiry 30,(2) 225-248 (2004)]: "Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies?" He answers “yes” and goes home. No no, he writes many pages that are…

We like to make fun of pseudoscience, mostly because it is hypocritical.   It simultaneously says real science is insular and close-minded and BIG and therefore resistant to awesome new ideas, like there being ghosts in my attic(1), but wants science legitimacy so uses faux-science techniques and then maps the data to the topology they want to achieve, like 'this must be a ghost.' And it's fairly common bad logic in many programs.  Watching an episode of "Stan Lee's Superhumans" last night I watched as the investigator (what, you think Stan Lee is flying all over the world?  …

In my take on the classic fable of the Boy who Cried “Wolf” a young boy thinks he sees a menacing wolf and cries out to the townspeople, “Wolf!” The townspeople come to examine the danger and find no wolf, they presume he is mistaken. Soon thereafter the boy, sensing another menacing wolf, cries out again, “Wolf!” The townspeople again investigate and again find nothing, perhaps now they think the boy is doing it for attention. This continues on a few more times until finally, the townspeople no longer respond to the boy's cry of “Wolf,” because they believe they will again find out it is a…

Charity, What Does It Mean? - Sadaqa, Matlab Kya He? An essay on the meaning of the term 'charity', with scientific, philosophical and historical discussion. "There is no person who does not have the obligation of doing charity every day that the sun rises."Prophet Mohammed "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."Saint Paul All people in all lands share a common tool: language. Language is used in every walk of life.  It is impossible for any person to take part in the ordinary activities of a…

Hershey Teams Up With ADA - the American Dietetic Association - says the press release.   The Hershey Center for Health&Nutrition® sponsoring an advocacy group devoted to dietary health workers?  Sure, why not?  Hershey's says they want to make us all healthier... by working with industry sponsors to include registered dietitians in the development of policies and products; sharing science-based information and new research with ADA members; and enabling ADA to reach millions of consumers with healthy-eating messages. So Hershey's is willing to spend money even if that…

There is a researcher within us just waiting to be unleashed. Being good according to Webster's Universal Dictionary and Thesaurus (2005) means having the right and proper qualities.  If these qualities are needed to achieve certain objectives, then success is a consequence of being good. That is, a good researcher should possess the rightand desirable properties or qualities in order to succeed in his researches. What are these good qualities of a researcher? One may say, “ all the good values. Just name it”. Yes, it’s true. However,  it is just too broad to consider all of…

I am not a religious person, and I'm most certainly not spiritual either. Both of these statements get me into trouble in polite society, especially when they are coupled. Apparently I'm not the only one, as anybody who has used an online dating service will readily testify. Typically, these web sites allow you to specify your religious beliefs (and to express a preference for the religious beliefs of your prospective dates). Try simply checking the "atheist" box (if there actually is one), and you'll be waiting a long time for your matches. But if you describe yourself as "spiritual but not…

In the wake of the PepsiGate scandal at Scienceblogs.com, which apparently everyone except bloggers there saw coming (1), one person comes up with the obvious 'money corrupts all' argument, but is that really so? David Colquhoun works in a shot at Americans in wondering why every site has to have ads and blows smoke about the BBC - well, they are different cultures and Americans aren't all that happy about the idea of government-run media funded by taxpayers, including poor people, so if advertisements mean people with less money get to keep more of it rather than paying for situation…

It is interesting how often and freely we use these three elements of thought processing and presume that what we are expressing is being legitimately represented.  Beliefs are readily interpreted as knowledge, and knowledge is often characterized as being true to lend it weight. However, for the purposes of this discussion let's consider some definitions for these terms so that we can distinguish how these elements are actually used. A belief is a system of thought that is compromised of the information we have accumulated and stored in our brains.  Collectively this provides a…

I thought the 'PepsiGate' issue, as former Scienceblogs folks termed it, was overblown.  As I discussed in Symbol Stacks And Science Communication, it wasn't the first time they did it and Scienceblogs had become known this year for hosting public relations blogs rather than actual science blogging so singling out Pepsi seemed unfair. After all, I don't see a blog by HHMI or Brookhaven as being superior to one by Shell, Dow, Schering-Plough and all the rest of the corporate blogs they hosted.   Neither profit nor non-profit groups were doing any scathing reports on their employers…