Unit 5 Science and the Scientific Attitude课文翻译大学英语五

Unit 5

Science and the Scientific Attitude

Science is the body of knowledge about nature that represents the collective efforts,

insights, findings, and wisdom of the human race. Science is not something new but had

its

beginnings

before

recorded

history

when

humans

first

discovered

reoccurring

relationships

around

them.

Through

careful

observations

of

these

relationships,

they

began

to

know

nature

and,

because

of

nature's

dependability,

found

they

could

make

predictions to enable some control over their surroundings.

Science

made

its

greatest

headway

in

the

sixteenth

century

when

people

began

asking answerable questions about nature -- when they began replacing superstition by a

systematic search for order -- when experiment in addition to logic was used to test ideas.

Where people once tried to influence natural events with magic and supernatural forces,

they now had science to guide them. Advance was slow, however, because of the powerful

opposition to scientific methods and ideas.

In about 1510 Copernicus suggested that the sun was stationary and that the earth

revolved about the sun. He refuted the idea that the earth was the center of the universe.

After years of hesitation, he published his findings but died before his book was circulated.

His book was considered heretical and dangerous and was banned by the Church for 200

years. A century after Copernicus, the mathematician Bruno was burned at the stake

--

largely

for

supporting

Copernicus,

suggesting

the

sun

to

be

a

star,

and

suggesting

that

space was infinite. Galileo was imprisoned for popularizing the Copernican theory and for

his other contributions to scientific thought. Yet a couple of centuries later, Copernican

advocates seemed harmless.

This

happens

age

after

age.

In

the

early

1800s

geologists

met

with

violent

condemnation

because

they

differed

with

the

Genesis

account

of

creation.

Later

in

the

same

century,

geology

was

safe,

but

theories

of

evolution

were

condemned

and

the

teaching of them forbidden. This most likely continues.

that leads to the future, each progressive spirit is opposed by a thousand men appointed

to

guard

the

past.

Every

age

has

one

or

more

groups

of

intellectual

rebels

who

are

persecuted, condemned, or suppressed at the time; but to a later age, they seem harmless

and often essential to the elevation of human conditions.

The

enormous

success

of

science

has

led

to

the

general

belief

that

scientists

have

developed and ate employing a

organizing, and applying new knowledge. Galileo, famous scientist of the 1600s, is usually

credited

with

being

the

of

the

Scientific

Method.

His

method

is

essentially

as

follows:

1. Recognize a problem.

2. Guess an answer.

3. Predict the consequences of the guess.

4. Perform experiments to test predictions.

5.

Formulate

the

simplest

theory

organizes

the

three

main

ingredients:

guess,

prediction, experimental outcome.

Although this cookbook method has a certain appeal, to has not been the key to most

of the breakthroughs and discoveries in science. Trial and error, experimentation without

guessing,

accidental

discovery,

and

other

methods

account

for

much

of

the

progress

in

science. Rather than a particular method, the success of science has more to do with an

attitude common to scientists. This attitude is essentially one of inquiry, experimentation,

and

humility

before

the

facts.

If

a

scientist

holds

an

idea

to

be

true

and

finds

any

counterevidence

whatever,

the

idea

is

either

modified

or

abandoned.

In

the

scientific

spirit, the idea must be modified or abandoned in spite of the reputation of the person

advocating it. As an example, the greatly respected Greek philosopher Aristotle said that

falling bodies fall at a speed proportional to their weight. This false idea was held to be

true for more than 2,000 years because of Aristotle's immense authority. In the scientific

spirit,

however,

a

single

verifiable

experiment

to

the

contrary

outweighs

any

authority,

regardless of reputation or the number of followers and advocates.

Scientists

must

accept

facts

even

when

they

would

like

them

to

be

different.

They

must

strive

to

distinguish

between

what

they

see

and

what

they

wish

to

see

--

for

humanity's capacity for self-deception is vast. People have traditionally tended to adopt

general

rules,

beliefs,

creeds,

theories,

and

ideas

without

thoroughly

questioning

their

validity and to retain them long after they have been shown to be meaningless, false, or at

least

questionable.

The

most

widespread

assumptions

are

the

least

questioned.

Most

often, when an idea is adopted, particular attention is given to cases that seem to support

it,

while

cases

that

seem

to

refute

it

are

distorted,

belittled,

or

ignored.

We

feel

deeply

that it is a sign of weakness to

be expert at changing their minds. This is because science seeks not to defend our beliefs

but

to

improve

them.

Better

theories

are

made

by

those

who

are

not

hung

up

on

prevailing ones.

Away from their profession, scientists are inherently no more honest or ethical than

other people. But in their profession they work in an arena that puts a high premium on