Massimo Pigliucci's book Nonsense on Stilts, part of my summer reading, does a nice job of exploring these ideas and misconceptions. Gary
GPeterson Gary's iPad On Jul 13, 2010, at 12:01 PM, Marc Carter <marc.car...@bakeru.edu> wrote: > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Mike Palij [mailto:m...@nyu.edu] > >>> On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:07:19 -0700, Michael Smith wrote: > > [snippage snipped] > >>> especially the social sciences which just aren't on par with the >>> physical sciences. >> >> This is a curious statement because it assumes that there is >> a common metric that one can use to compare the achievements >> in different domains of the sciences. I wonder which >> metric(s) Prof. Smith is using as the basis for this? Can he >> enlighten us? > > I share your curiosity. > > I often get into this discussion with people in the "hard" sciences. When I > ask them to tell me what differentiates a "hard" from "soft" science, they > can't do it. > > When I ask them why biology is considered a "hard" science, especially given > parts of biology that are in no way I can determine different from > psychological science, they can't tell me. > > So I would really like to know. > > Science is method, not content, and doesn't have anything to do with the > difference in variability or reliability of the result. It's a method for > finding things out (or more accurately, it's a method for telling you when > you're wrong). Physics uses it, biology uses it, psychology uses, and so on. > I don't get the distinction between hard and soft science -- it literally > makes no sense to me. We differ in technique, in subject of investigation, > in accuracy in prediction (for many things -- things which I as a behaviorist > would say are due to the scientists' ignorance and not anything intrinsic to > the subject). > > But none of those have to do with the method. > > m > > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto > ("e-mail") is sent by Baker University ("BU") and is intended to be > confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. > The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures > acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended > recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or > copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this > e-mail in error please immediately notify Baker University by email reply and > immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments > thereto. Thank you. > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: peter...@svsu.edu. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd94b&n=T&l=tips&o=3561 > or send a blank email to > leave-3561-13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=3562 or send a blank email to leave-3562-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
