Posted on 10/30/2002 8:03:45 PM PST by cornelis
It is not so obvious that physical scientists need a liberal arts education, rooted in the study of language. They themselves assert that they have no time for it. They have insisted on the abolition of language requirements in almost every university graduate program in America. This development is directly related to the massive amount of fraud which now typifies scientific publication in this country. This scientific community has lost track of the historical and ethical roots of our civilization, the only civilization which has fostered the scientific ethic and considerable scientific research and discovery. Increasingly young men enter the sciences who do not understand that science is not a given, but an achievement, a tradition of research and discovery which si the hard-won accomplishment of one culture, fostered carefully and slowly for millenia until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Scientists have lost touch with their own culture. They live without a narrative structure which frames and makes moral sense of their lives. They seem to belong to no culture and feel the claims of no cultural norms, claims that would be introduced and reinforced by a rigorous study of their own cultural traditions over the past twenty-five hundred years. For such people the borderline between fudging, misreporting of results, and outright fraud becomes as unclear as their own cultural heritage. All too often it is those who report or investigate such fraud who find themselves de-funded by the "profession." The attainment of truth is possible only within a tradition, as Alasdair MacIntyre has suggested. A rootless, traditionless, monoglot scientific elite has lost the basis of discovery, in science or any other area. Since they cannot discover truth and will not live without grants, they must lie.Recently conservatives have talked much of valuing creativity and an openness to the real world. If such an attitude is to be more than talk, we must face the fact that creativity is not found in every tradition. Ours is one of the few creative ones and we must work to re-establish our children's direct contact with that tradition, which is their own, after all. Despite all the changes recent decades have seen, culture is still transmitted primarily through language. The essential works necessary for understanding and transmitting our culture were written in Greek and Latin. Translations are marvelous tools, but no translation can be safely used or taught except by one who knows the original tongue. An educational curriculum founded on Greek and Latin gave us Jefferson and Adams, Burke and Samuel Johnson, not to mention Copernicus and Newton, Luther and Calvin, Michaelangelo and Bach. Educators have developed curricula and texts which can teach these languages on any level from pre-school through college. Most subjects that are important for formative education can be be taught through and with these languages. The materials are out there, lying in the warehouses of the Cambridge and Oxford University Presses. We have in our hands the making of a reactionary revolution of excellence. The questions we must ask ourselves are the following: Do we have the will to give our children their own culture back again? Do we have the courage to restore meaning and creativity to our nation?
Kopff also notes earlier in the article that "When Donald Kagan, an ancient historian, addressed the National Association of Scholars in June 1990, he said that as new Dean of Yale College, he planned to improve the quality of the faculty by hiring scientists. He had given up on the humanities."
Exactly.
In physics class you learn how a P-N junction diode works, whereas in sociology you would discuss how you feel about semiconductors :P
As a professor in classic he would correct you on that: have you not read Cicero? I suppose the Boston Tea Party happened at Pearl Harbor?
Moreover, all of these falsifications that make such waves in the press are almost universally scorned by knowlegeble folks. These guys who go straight to the press instead of waiting of the peer-review process set off all sorts of alarms in the minds of most professional scientists; it is a prime indicator of fraud. Very rarely does fraud sneak by editors of professional jornals, and when it does (as with the element 118 guy) it is quicky reported on and discussed. There is no epidemic of "fudging, misreporting of results, and outright fraud" due to an "unclear cultural heritage."
Nor is there some evil conspiracy in the "profession" to squash whistleblowers. Such accusations, however, are often made by raving nutters whose pet (mathematically inconsitent) theory is easily smashed by a bunch of 16 year olds on an astronomy bbs.
And where does this guy get off claiming we have no "narrative structure" or "moral sense"?! some of the world's most influential figures have a background in science. Heck, the "Man of the Century" is the also the world's best-known physicist! Furthermore, to claim scientists have no culture is simply ignorant. Vast collections of works have been written about the unique cultures within the scientific community. An entire genre of literature, science fiction, often scorned by this sort of intellectual snob, is largely written and consumed by scientists and scientifically trained people.
Personally, I don't care what any freaking journalism-major thinks about the issue. Whether or not a scientist appreciates Shakespeare or Italian opera has no impact on his ability to objectively ferret out the deep mysteries of nature. I DO NOT WANT OR NEED useless intellectual-appendix "liberal arts" courses on top of quantum mechanics, optics, partial differential equations, and abstract math to help me understand the laws of nature. This guy can take is "reactionary revolution" and shove it up his...ear!
GRRRRR!
< /rant >
Temper, temper!
I believe the university's job is to make you an educated engineer. As such the humanities will be needed.
BTW, IMO no amount of schooling can make you a good engineer. They're born that way. Schooling just gives them the tools they need.
I know a guy who didn't get his engineering degree for nearly two decades because he couldn't pass some silly writing course. Luckily he was able to find an employer who recognized his talents in his specialty and hired him without a diploma.
Ahh...spleen pressure falling...:o)
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