You wrote:
>It seems to me that Dale has consistently empasized the peer review and
>verification (repeatability) processes and I agree as to their importance.
On
>the other hand, both the logical structure and conceptual overview
(foundation
>& scope) must be consistent, as well as any methodology used in experiments.
>
>Lastly, while ideas are cheap (unless the reality is there at bottom, in
which
>case they may not have been cheap to come by), one gets to choose his /
her own
>peers, to a certain extent. Of course the best concepts and science stand on
>their own, and outlive (and perhaps immortalize) their makers (they're always
>collaborative, and the best ones are capable of changing the course of
history
>in significant ways).
Thank you for your reply to the question. I'm thinking of a comment I read
in some book or other -- "Students often leave biology and other
introductory science classes with no more than a few facts which they
probably remember wrongly, and a lot of misconceptions about the scientific
method."
Since I've taught college bio and intend to do it again some day, this got
me thinking about just what I think the scientific method is, and where it
does and should fit into the way I view the world even though I don't do
much research myself. That's where the question came from. The anecdotal
info dialogue seemed like a good opportunity to learn more from a lot of
different people.
Victoria wrote:
>> I would like to express my appreciation to Dale for being willing to keep
>> on contributing patiently to this list in the face of some of the criticism
>> he has received.
You wrote:
>Are you kidding? This is how he keeps in shape.
Truly, I have been grateful for Dale Wilson's contributions and I wanted to
tell him so publicly. I have appreciated Mr. Wilson mostly because one of
the real needs (IMO) of the sustainable agriculture movement -- defined
however you like -- is to open up the little cliques, include some people
from the institutions we don't approve of, and learn from them and let them
learn from us. Mr. Wilson is a bridge between this group and his
colleagues at Pioneer, and I hope we can support him in his efforts.
Learning does not mean that you change your mind, of course, only that you
consider other ideas. (Perhaps you even strengthen your original
position.) Mr. Wilson has expressed some unpopular ideas in this group and
is willing, for whatever reason, to respond fairly mildly when others lash
out at those ideas and even at him personally. I appreciate the ideas he
provides and the thinking he provokes, and I don't want him to stop, and
I'd like it if others would follow his example.
Back to the scientific method, can you give an in-the field example of what
you mean by "logical structure and conceptual overview"?
Sincerely,
Victoria Mundy
Univ. of Kentucky
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