Global View
Prior to the moon landings by NASA, we did not have a picture showing us the Earth was round. (Image credit: NASA)
Science helps us avoid dogmatism, where you base conclusions on authority (typically a religious authority, civic/political leader, or elder/parents). Yet, most of what you learn will be through dogmatism rather than personal experience. For example, how did you learn the fact that the earth is round?
- Your parents told you.
- Your grades school teacher told you.
- I told you (earlier in this module).
- The author of a textbook told you.
Have you ever figured out for yourself that the Earth is round? Since we typically learn science through dogmatism, it is important that you can trust the person making a scientific claim. You trust that this class is summarizing decades of scientific research. You trust that your instructor understands science. It is not enough to hear someone make a claim based on an experiment they ran in their garage. The peer review process and publication in a scientific journal builds trust within science. Most of the material in your textbook and this class repeats findings from scientific studies. Without the process, it would be difficult to separate good science from bad science, pseudoscience, religious doctrine, philosophy, and personal opinion.
Dogmatic conclusions are not necessarily invalid, but they force you to ask a question: How did the authorities come up with their claim or conclusion? How was it reasoned or supported? What discipline or way of knowing did they use? Was it appropriate? Based on what your answers to these questions, you can draw your own conclusions. Hopefully, you trust me. But if you do ever have any question, please let me know!
Please complete this section by taking the assessment.