Yes, Virginia

[Kyburz at asu.edu]

On Sat, 9 Nov 1996, Tom Stanton wrote:

> > Murthy Yenamandra moves the discussion forward by asking:
> > "Why does giving ethics/culture control over science automatically result
> > in all sorts of caveman scenarios? Science is already subject to ethics
> > and culture - all we're looking for are better guidelines...
>  
> > Stefan Schuber wrote:
> > ... I maintain that it's dangerous to declare that the charge 
> > on an electron is such-and-so because the gods, disenfranchised 
> > Boomwadians, or any other group says so. Social/political
> > factors may determine how much money is available to fund research to
> > determine the charge with greater accuracy, but I don't believe that
> > social and political factors exercise a "controlling vote" over the
> > outcome.
> 
> Are we using "science" and "scientists" interchangeably & possibly
> incorrectly? "Science" is what Schuber has described: an objective
> observation that does not depend on the social role of the obser-
> ver. Is there any arguement here? But "Scientist" are those folks 
> who make the observations. They need funding. They may belong to
> churches. Some are very aggressive and, in cases like Von Braun,
> will prosecute their vision no matter what the cost. It is the
> scientists that TRP skewers, not the science. TRP doesn't denounce
> behavioralism, he denounces the practicioners who excuse their
> cruelty as objectivity. We'll see the St. Veronica scenes as a
> foreshadow of the concentration camp scenes later (Pokler).
> 
If Tom's defintion of "science" is correct (I don't argue that it can 
be quite this simplistic) then how can he/we deny that Pynchon could be 
denouncing it, even marginally?  And here is where I think the discussion 
gets messy.  Even the questions are loaded.  How can we even conceive of 
objectivity with our own biases?  And then to suggest that a practitioner 
could be anything but bias--without altering the meanings of that which 
she practices?  I don't see how it can be done.




Bonnie L. Kyburz, Instructor
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