I'm more, and just went through this on #fiftychat, predisposed to being anti-scientist because of what I perceive to be an unwarranted, and misplaced, arrogance by them.
Well, in that case, you're misidentifying the issue, IMHO.
What you're describing is prejudice toward experience that you see in
ANY VOCATION, be it pro sports or running the local McDonalds. That said, I do think scientists can come off as arrogant. But, keep in mind, they're not trained in PR or psychology (unless that's the discipline at hand of course), they're trained in their field and how to research, etc... so, it will happen that at times they are dismissive, whatever. That said, I'm adult enough to not let me feelings get hurt when the doctor corrects me of some naively held idea about why I have a wart.
And, your doctor is a great example of what I'm saying. A lot of docs have HORRIBLE bedside manner. That doesn't mean they're not right.
I think people often have emotional reactions to these thing and get very personally invested when they should be cool and logical instead.
Let me give you an example of my perspective, from first hand experience. I have an MA in US History and I teach p/t in the Junior College system. Tell me, if I have a student that insists that Thomas Jefferson helped write the Constitution, does it make it correct if they can find 10 other students that agree? Does it make it correct if they feel that when I inform them he had nothing to do with it I say it in a non-flattering manner?
You will get some resentment from academics, because we know exactly what we're dealing with and we have to contend w/ the fact that you probably don't. Now, if we're good, we'll take into account that A. we're fallible and B. there are other ways to obtain knowledge other than secondary education. To that end, I have had many students who've helped me refine or add onto my knowledge base.
Additionaly, we're trained to be objective (not that we always succeed, but I doubt Jethro and Cletus could even explain the difference between subjective and objective) so when Cletus and Jethro try to correct me, I do have an instinct to be dismissive.
Or, maybe here's a better example. My day job is "Business Systems Manager" (recently promoted from Analyst thank you very much!
) and in that capacity I have to deal w/ users who describe system problems, then hash those out to the developers who fix them. What this has taught me is to be very skeptical toward first-hand user accounts. They often don't fully understand what they're working with or the relationship between say, picking a piece of product and how that's best viewed in the reporting software.
90% of what is brought to me is... user error. The rest, the users typically don't even know what exactly is wrong or have any idea of what it is. They're simply going by what's on the surface. I, because I'm trained and because I have skill in critical and analytical thinking, have to hash it out and make sense of it.
Lastly, let me refer you to
Plato's Cave Analogy....
But that doesn't mean they should be dismissed outright either. Check 'em out.
Hence the last comment I made there. If they do work its the scientific method that will determine it.
Funny barb, actually.
:
