首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Science is generally taken as meaning either (a) the exact sciences, such as chemistry, physics, etc., or (b) a method of though
Science is generally taken as meaning either (a) the exact sciences, such as chemistry, physics, etc., or (b) a method of though
admin
2012-12-01
54
问题
Science is generally taken as meaning either (a) the exact sciences, such as chemistry, physics, etc., or (b) a method of thought which obtains verifiable results by reasoning logically from observed fact.
If you ask any scientist, or indeed almost any educated person, "What is science?" you are likely to get an answer approximating to (b). In everyday life, however, both in speaking and in writing, when people say "science" they mean (a). Science means something that happens in a laboratory: the very word calls up a picture of graphs, test-tubes, balances, Bunsen burners, microscopes. A biologist, and astronomer, perhaps a psychologist or a mathematician is described as a "man of science": no one would think of applying this term to a statesman, a poet, a journalist or even a philosopher. And those who tell us that the young must be scientifically educated mean, almost invariably, that they should be taught more about radioactivity, or the stars, or the physiology or their own bodies, rather than that they should be taught to think more exactly.
This confusion of meaning, which is partly deliberate, has in it a great danger. Implied in the demand for more scientific education is the claim that if one has been scientifically trained, one’s approach to all subjects will be more intelligent than if one had had no such training. A scientist’s political opinions, it is assumed, his opinions on sociological questions, on morals, on philosophy, perhaps even on the arts, will be more valuable than those of a layman. The world, in other words, would be a better place if the scientists were in control of it. But a "scientist", as we have just seen, means in practice a specialist in one of the exact sciences. It follows that a chemist or a physicist, as such, is politically more intelligent than a poet or a lawyer, as such. And, in fact, there are already millions of people who do believe this.
But is it really true that a "scientist", in this narrower sense, is any likelier than other people to approach non-scientific problems in an objective way? There is not much reason for thinking so.
Take one simple test — the ability to withstand nationalism. It is often loosely said that "Science is international", but in practice the scientific workers of all countries line up behind their own governments with fewer scruples than are felt by the writers and the artists. The German scientific community, as a whole, made no resistance to Hitler. Hitler may have ruined the long-term prospects of German science, but there were still plenty of gifted men to do the necessary research on such things as synthetic oil, jet planes, rocket projectiles and the atomic bomb. Without them the German war machine could never have been built up.
Clearly, scientific education ought to mean the implanting of a rational, skeptical, experimental habit of mind. It ought to mean acquiring a method — a method that can be used on any problem that one meets — and not simply piling up a lot of facts. Put it in those words, and the apologist of scientific education will usually agree. Press him further, ask him to particularize, and somehow it always turns out that scientific education means more attention to the sciences, in other words — more facts. The idea that science means a way of looking at the world, and not simply a body of knowledge, is in practice strongly resisted. I think sheer professional jealousy is part of the reason for this. For if science is simply a method or an attitude, so that anyone whose thought-processes are sufficiently rational can in some sense be described as a scientist — what then becomes of the enormous prestige now enjoyed by the chemist, the physicist, etc. and his claim to be somehow wiser than the rest of us?
A hundred years ago, Charles Kingsley described science as "making nasty smell in a laboratory". A year or two ago a young industrial chemist informed me, smugly, that he "could not see what was the use of poetry". So the pendulum swings to and fro, but it does not seem to me that one attitude is any better than the other. At the moment, science is on the upgrade, and so we hear, quite rightly, the claim that the masses should be scientifically educated: we do not hear, as we ought, the counter-claim that the scientists themselves would benefit by a little education. Just before writing this, I saw in an American magazine the statement that a number of British and American physicists refused from the start to do research on the atomic bomb, well knowing what use would be made of it. Here you have a group of sane men in the middle of a world of lunatics. And though no names were published, I think it would be a safe guess that all of them were people with some kind of general cultural background, some acquaintance with history or literature or the arts — in short, people whose interests were not, in the current sense of the word, purely scientific.
The author thinks good scientists are those who have all the following EXCEPT
选项
A、some general cultural background.
B、some acquaintance with history or literature or the arts.
C、the knowledge in pure science.
D、the support for nationalism.
答案
D
解析
事实细节题。第四段第三句作者提到了the ability to withstand nationalism,接着对此展开讨论,联系上下文可以看出作者认为科学家应该“抵抗国家主义”(the ability to withstand nationalism),故[D]项错误,为答案。由尾段尾句可知[A]、[B]、[C]三项都是作者认为科学家应有的素质, 故这三项皆可排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/wRaO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Countries,businesses,andschoolsarethreeareasthatneedgoodleaders.Chooseoneofthesethreeareasanddescribethemost
Itisalongtimeforalargemountofbigcorporationsorinternationalcompaniestopaymuchattentiontoanever-importantsu
What’stherelationshipbetween"John’suncleboughtanewcaryesterday"and"Johnhasanuncle"?
A、goodhealthcareandotherservicesB、fewerandfewerchallengesandpressuresC、moreinternationaldiscussionsbetweencountr
Theromanticarchetypeofthepoor,isolatedwriterlivingabroadwasperhapsbestimmortalizedbyErnestHemingwayin"AMoveab
Whichofthefollowingstatementsabouttenorofdiscourseiscorrect?
Recently,CAS(中国科学院)memberswarninaconsultativereportsubmittedtothecentralauthoritiesthatin2008,thenumberofChin
Whatisthepublicreactiontowardsthenewsthatavaccineagainstcervicalcanceristobeputonthemarket?
A、Reserved.B、Prejudiced.C、Polite.D、Prudent.B
随机试题
A.A类在孕妇中证实无危险性B.B类动物中研究无危险性,但人类研究资料不充分,对动物有毒性,但人类研究无危险性C.C类动物研究显毒性,人体资料研究不充分,但用药时可能患者的受益大于危险性D.D类已证实对人类有危险性,但仍可能受
A.命门、安肾B.百会、后海C.阳明、滴明D.肛脱、后海E.胸膛、通关治疗奶牛不孕宜选
男性,因皮肤病曾有长期服用激素病史,近2年双髋关节疼痛、活动受限。初步诊断是
窦性心动过速是指心率超过110次/分。()
上海甲公司作为卖方和澳门乙公司订立了一项铜材购销合同,约定有关合同的争议在中国内地仲裁。乙公司在内地和澳门均有营业机构。双方发生争议后.仲裁庭裁决乙公司对甲公司进行赔偿。乙公司未在规定的期限内履行仲裁裁决。关于甲公司对此采取的做法,下列哪些选项是正确的?(
场景甲机电公司承接某新建油库的球罐现场组装焊接工程,要求采用散装法施工。机电公司编制了施工设计和球罐现场组装方案,经总工程师批准开始施工,工程按方案进展的很顺利。球罐安装完毕,进行充水试验,发现罐壁不严密,而且产品焊接试板和球罐焊后几何尺寸也不符合要求。
“账外账”是指不在依法设置的会计账簿上对经济业务事项进行统一登记核算,而另外私自设置会计账簿进行登记核算的行为。()
绩效管理表现为一个有序的复杂的管理活动过程,它首先要()。
Thespeedwhichthecarracesis______makeeveryonethereastonished.
ThefearofFridaythe13thstemsfromtwoseparatefears--thefearofthenumber13andthefearofFridays.Bothfearshavede
最新回复
(
0
)