{"id":199,"date":"2013-08-01T18:35:56","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T18:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/?p=199"},"modified":"2018-01-10T23:58:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T23:58:47","slug":"ideology-free-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/ideology-free-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicine needs a science free from ideology and ignorance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Science Blinded by Ideology<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

A recent debate in The<\/em> Irish Times<\/em> showed a bias and prejudice\u00a0regarding science. Having a particular mindset or ideology does not facilitate science. Here’s my response.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir, \u2013 in the recent letters debating religion and science, it\u2019s too easily assumed religion is anti-science but atheists are certainly not the natural allies of science. This became evident recently with the publication of atheist philosopher Prof. Thomas Nagel\u2019s book Mind and Cosmos pointing out the failings of the atheistic and reductionist approach to science and its overdependence on neo-Darwinian concepts which can\u2019t explain all of science. His former allies called him mad, even calling for his book to be banned. It seems modern materialistic science is the new religion. The Enlightenment heroes of the French revolution murdered great scientists like Lavoisier for no other reason than \u201cwe don\u2019t need scientists.\u201d They weren’t religious.\u00a0Albert Einstein wouldn\u2019t fit today\u2019s criteria; he\u2019d be refused a research grant for not being a reductionist and materialist and for mentioning “god.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Science isn\u2019t always an independent and objective method. The role of luck<\/span> is underestimated in science, e.g. the discovery of penicillin was in fact an accident, as is the role of business \"Medicineunderestimated; privately funded research has a higher incidence of positive outcomes than publicly funded research, so no group can claim a monopoly on science.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly, since the history and philosophy of science are not part of the school curriculum, for anyone wanting an honest account of the Catholic church\u2019s huge contribution to science, I highly recommend James Hannam\u2019s award-winning book God\u2019s Philosophers<\/a><\/span> and the CERN physicist and priest, Andrew Pinsent\u2019s enlightening talk freely available\u00a0on video<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0Parents and children will enjoy The Story of Science<\/a> by Anna Claybourne<\/span> <\/span>(publ. Usborne).<\/span><\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/strong>
\nSee my other posts on the<\/span> Enlightenment<\/a><\/span> and this latest from Prospect<\/em> magazine:<\/span>
\n Breaking the Enlightenment Spell: Idealising the age of reason as a perfect model of truth, virtue and knowledge is bad history as well as bad philosophy,\u00a0a review of the updated version of\u00a0<\/span>The Enlightenment: History of an Idea<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em>by Vincenzo Ferrone, translated by Elisabetta Tarantino (Princeton University Press, \u00a319.95),<\/span> is available here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Enlightenment: A Very Short Introduction<\/a> is now available<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Science Blinded by Ideology A recent debate in The Irish Times showed a bias and prejudice\u00a0regarding science. Having a particular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,22,14],"tags":[703,23,24,359,176],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-medicine","category-philosophy-of-medicine","category-science","tag-discoveries","tag-enlightenment","tag-religion-2","tag-science","tag-thomas-nagel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mh1I-3d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110,"url":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/atheistic-materialistc-reductivistic-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":0},"title":"Atheistic, materialistc reductivistic science is on the ropes","author":"Stephen Blendell","date":"17\/05\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The above category of science and philosophers who try to support it\u00a0is also a description of conventional Allopathic medicine. This approach, though criticised for at least 200 years is now facing opposition within its own ranks. First, atheistic philosopher, Prof Thomas Nagel has undermined this school of science in his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy of Medicine"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy of Medicine","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/category\/philosophy-of-medicine\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/JKHUaNAxsTg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":108,"url":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/atheists-dont-own-science-church-homeopathy\/","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":1},"title":"Atheists don’t own science","author":"Stephen Blendell","date":"17\/05\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A history of Catholicism and science is\u00a0given in an introduction and\u00a0video\u00a0here\u00a0by physicist and Catholic priest, Andrew Pinsent. An interesting tour for anyone interested in the histories of Church and science and an eye-opener for bigots. After watching this you will hopefully begin questioning science and what makes something - like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy of Medicine"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy of Medicine","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/category\/philosophy-of-medicine\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":546,"url":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/doctor-priest-modern-science-homeopathy\/","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":2},"title":"Catholics and homeopathy 3: doctor\/monk defends homeopathy","author":"Stephen Blendell","date":"08\/06\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Modern Science, the Church and Homeopathy On Catholics and homeopathy, religion and science, who better to refer to than a priest who is a doctor, scientist, philosopher and theologian? On Catholics and homeopathy, religion and science, who better to refer to than a priest who is a doctor, scientist, philosopher\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apologetics"","block_context":{"text":"Apologetics","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/category\/apologetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Modern science biology information chemistry matter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/images-300x164.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":101,"url":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/john-crown-enlightenment-bad-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":3},"title":"Prof John Crown’s unenlightening article: a reply","author":"Stephen Blendell","date":"16\/05\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Prof John Crown Unenlightened on Enlightenment Madam -\u00a0Senator John Crown's call to bring us back 200 years to the Enlightenment (We Need To Innoculate Ourselves Against Scientific Ignorance, 28.10.2012) is wonderfully ironic. The\u00a0Enlightenment did much good but also brought many problems until we were partly saved by Romanticism. It certainly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apologetics"","block_context":{"text":"Apologetics","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/category\/apologetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John Crown enlightenment science medicine","src":"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4JqmYQzEHMKE7A63uvIrZ2Ahjb3prH6iteBsdPhjHSI6b9_cDnQ","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":356,"url":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/cost-homeopathy-expensive-taxpayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":4},"title":"Cost of homeopathy “too expensive”!","author":"Stephen Blendell","date":"18\/03\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Misdiagnosing the Enlightenment - a Cost for Truth After a rant by a junior doctor against homeopathy at a BMA meeting and a subsequent article by Ed West,\u00a0in the Daily Telegraph (June 2010), objecting to the cost of homeopathy among other objections;\u00a0Homeopathy a Bitter Pill for the Taxpayer, I fired\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apologetics"","block_context":{"text":"Apologetics","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/category\/apologetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cost of homeopathy expensive NHS","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/c\/cf\/Salem_Witch_trial_engraving.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1190,"url":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/news-new-book-on-homoepathy-medicine\/","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":5},"title":"news and new book on homeopathy and medicine","author":"Stephen Blendell","date":"19\/07\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"New homeopathy book available You might like to know of 2 developments: first, my book Medicine That Makes Sense: Selected Writings on Homeopathy at the Juncture of Medicine, Nutrition, Philosophy and Science (pp. 420) is now available from myself or online at www.MayoBooks.ie Go ahead and take a look: https:\/\/www.mayobooks.ie\/Medicine-that-makes-sense\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Homeopathy"","block_context":{"text":"Homeopathy","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/category\/homeopathy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"homeopathy science philosophy book","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/Book-Cover-193x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}