[lit-ideas] Richard Dawkins on Kansas, scientific logic and mystery

  • From: Brian <cabrian@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 11:37:38 -0500

Excerpt:

Science feeds on mystery... Mystery  that which we dont yet know;  
that which we dont yet understand  is the mother lode that scientists  
seek out. Mystics exult in mystery and want it to stay mysterious.  
Scientists exult in mystery for a very different reason: it gives  
them something to do.

Admissions of ignorance and mystification are vital to good science.  
It is therefore galling, to say the least, when enemies of science  
turn those constructive admissions around and abuse them for  
political advantage. Worse, it threatens the enterprise of science  
itself. This is exactly the effect that creationism or intelligent  
design theory (ID) is having, especially because its propagandists  
are slick, superficially plausible and, above all, well financed.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-196-1619264,00.html
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