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I'll look for Chuck's response, but I would say the Creationists  
tried to use pseudo-science as  the smokescreen - to try and attack  
from within an expert culture rather than as outside.  The  
Phrenologists were working from a bad premise, but, as Chuck points  
out, it certainly didn't stop them from applying methodology on a  
rotten core.

Another good example of cultural bias within science was the heated  
debate concerning the Flores "Hobbit."  Human or not?  Those opposed  
had a strong bias that something so recent couldn't possibly be non- 
human, that it had to be a form of microcephly.  Evidence seems to  
support the opposite point of view.  Or how about the not-too-distant  
debate over the relationship of birds and dinosaurs (I confess I  
can't watch a grackle walking the ground and not see a cousin of a  
velociraptor!)


	


On Jun 10, 2009, at 3:46 PM, Tom Nielsen wrote:

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> Chuck,
>
> Granted that scientists inevitably bring bias to their work --  yet  
> isn't the goal of their effort to see only the evidence and recant  
> a  hypotheses when it is disproved?  Science, then to me seems the  
> antidote  to bias.  But the "differing value" you mention have me  
> worried - what might they be? A can of worms, or a box of  
> Pandora's, for sure.  Don't Creationists  and climate change  
> deniers ask for "the opportunity to challenge ... another's work"  
> based not on evidence but on differing values?
>
> Tom Nielsen
> The Exhibit Guys
>
>
> On Jun 10, 2009, at 12:36 PM, Chuck Howarth wrote:
>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
>> Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
>> institutions.
>> ********************************************************************* 
>> ********
>>
>> Adding to Jeff's comments, many if not most of Stephen Jay Gould's  
>> essays address cultural biases in science.  For example, 19th  
>> century scientists spent a good bit of time documenting the ways  
>> in which, in their view, some races were superior to others.  They  
>> brought that racist perspective with them to their science, and it  
>> guided their work.  Gould cites many other similar examples from  
>> many different periods of history.
>>
>> Do scientists today bring biases to their  work?  Of course!  But  
>> other scientists with differing values and biases have the  
>> opportunity to challenge them.   Which suggests that science works  
>> best when people of all cultures and both genders participate and  
>> have the opportunity to challenge one another's work.
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Wayne, you write:
>>>
>>> "That is, science does not have a cultural basis."
>>>
>>> I'm wondering if we're not confusing phenomena with the practice  
>>> of science.  I would suggest science clearly has a cultural  
>>> basis.  Without such a foundation, there would have been no  
>>> development of an expert culture, of words, of symbols, of  
>>> methodology, etc.  The phrase "Natural Philosophy," at least as  
>>> it pertains to the history of euro-centric science, comes to  
>>> mind.  Science and culture have always been mixed - cultural  
>>> perspective has time and again limited the vision of practicing  
>>> scientists.
>>>
>>> ******************************************************************** 
>>> ***
>> Chuck Howarth
>> Gyroscope, Inc.
>> 283 Fourth Street, Suite 201
>> Oakland, CA  94607
>> [log in to unmask]
>> 510-986-0111
>>
>> http://www.gyroscopeinc.com
>>
>> Check out our blog!
>> http://museums-now.blogspot.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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