Wednesday, June 04, 2003

Four-fingered objectivity 

The latest issue of Science Insights (in .pdf) from the National Association of Scholars calls attention to a publication by the SHiPS Teachers' Network on Women, Gender and Science. One of the subjects is on the "bias in "objective" knowledge based on sex". As John Wenger at NAS points out,
Carol Iannone made a wonderful comment [at an NAS meeting --kb] about people who cannot use the word �truth� without four fingers in the air (making quotation marks). The author of this essay is a perfect example of this phenomenon, as I once again ask why �objective� has quotation marks around it. I realize this is getting tiresome, but the objection has to be made, because a lot is at stake. Is science made objective if both men and women examine something, or is the inclusion of women merely meant to broaden arbitrary perspectives? Who can tell?
As I discovered here one day, using a capital T on the word Truth draws great derision from the Left. Jack warned us months ago -- I should listen to him more.

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