Re: Critique of Science Today

[Guest guest]

In a brilliant book called Consilience, EO (sociobiologist) endeavors

to bridge the gap between science and the humanities, creating a sort of

unity fo knowledge. He writes that treating the physical or 'hard' sciences

and social sciences as separate entities seeking 'truth', is, if not

dangerous, at least erroneous. They nourish and broaden each other.

Lin Robins

Albany, NY

[Guest guest]

The Gould/ feud is not a new one. It rages beyond the ivy walls of the

dorms, labs and lecture halls where they both teach at Harvard. I read and

enjoy both of their work but dare say that Gould, though talented and

certainly bright, is an idealogue. In my opinion, is ever an honest

broker.

[When I questioned SJ Gould at an open seminar at my university about his ideas

on Punctuated Evolution possibly being influenced or stimulated by the work on

catastrophism of mathematicians such as Rene Thom and quantum behaviour by

various physicists, he seemed most indignant that anyone would suggest that he

had

been influenced by mathematical thinkers who had nothing directly to do with

paleaontology and evolution. Yet, Thom's work predated Gould's and featured

prominently in Scientific American and several other journals throughout the

world. It is hard to accept that one top scientist could remain unaware of some

of the most publicised advances being made in other scientific disciplines. I,

for

one, was moved by Thom's work to create a catastrophe theory model to explain

the

occurrence of injuries, a concept that I presented at a sports medicine

conference in

Israel in 1979. Anyway, that brief encounter with Gould made me wonder a

little. Mel Siff]

Lin Robins

.....City? USA

[Guest guest]

Lin Robins wrote :

<In a brilliant book called Consilience, EO (sociobiologist)

endeavors to bridge the gap between science and the humanities, creating a

sort of unity fo knowledge. He writes that treating the physical or 'hard'

sciences and social sciences as separate entities seeking 'truth', is, if

not dangerous, at least erroneous. They nourish and broaden each other.>

You might wish to look at two very negative reviews of " Consilience " by

Niles Eldredge and Jay Gould at :

<http://www.freethought-web.org/ctrl/archive/stephen_jay_gould/civilization_eowi\

lson.html>

Another interesting website is:

<http://www.world-of-dawkins.com/Catalano/the_g_files.htm>

" The Gould files : writings related to the ongoing debate involving

Jay Gould and others "

" others " includes Dawkins, Pinker, ,

Dennet, E. O. , Niles Eldredge, Rose.

Sandeep Krishna

Bangalore, India.