Scientific Truth Must Come Out of Controversy

Scientific truth, like puristic truth, must come about by controversy. Personally this view is abhorrent to me. It seems to mean that scientific truth must transcend the individual, that the best hope of science lies in its greatest minds being often brilliantly and determinedly wrong, but in opposition, with some third, eclectically minded, middle-of-the-road nonentity seizing the prize while the great fight for it, running off with it, and sticking it into a textbook for sophomores written from no point of view and in defense of nothing whatsoever. I hate this view, for it is not dramatic and it is not fair; and yet I believe that it is the verdict of the history of science.

Notes:

There is the ideal of scientific facts taught without passion and the reality of impassioned conflict within scientific exploration.

Folksonomies: education conflict facts paradigm

Taxonomies:
/society/crime (0.574952)
/society (0.324421)
/science (0.240277)

Keywords:
scientific truth (0.916265 (positive:0.595679)), puristic truth (0.695311 (positive:0.209222)), middle-of-the-road nonentity (0.650486 (negative:-0.246183)), greatest minds (0.626735 (positive:0.547569)), scientific facts (0.608536 (positive:0.834091)), scientific exploration (0.605996 (positive:0.834091)), great fight (0.603466 (negative:-0.246183)), best hope (0.603027 (positive:0.547569)), science lies (0.598587 (positive:0.547569)), controversy (0.493228 (positive:0.834091)), view (0.490616 (negative:-0.606224)), sophomores (0.408916 (negative:-0.257976)), ideal (0.382914 (positive:0.834091)), Come (0.382815 (positive:0.834091)), verdict (0.379794 (negative:-0.336167)), passion (0.379693 (positive:0.834091)), opposition (0.379489 (neutral:0.000000)), conflict (0.376995 (positive:0.834091)), reality (0.374481 (positive:0.834091)), textbook (0.369556 (negative:-0.257976)), prize (0.365544 (negative:-0.246183)), individual (0.358865 (neutral:0.000000)), history (0.357129 (negative:-0.336167))

Concepts:
Scientific method (0.966750): dbpedia | freebase
Reality (0.818002): dbpedia | freebase
Science (0.767197): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Theory (0.766292): dbpedia | freebase
Truth (0.717288): dbpedia | freebase
Core issues in ethics (0.715179): dbpedia
Social sciences (0.708661): dbpedia | opencyc
Fact (0.708414): dbpedia | freebase

 History, psychology, and science
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Boring , Edwin Garrigues (1963), History, psychology, and science, Retrieved on 2012-01-24
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: psychology