Darwin-L Message Log 5:9 (January 1994)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<5:9>From Mike.Dickison@vuw.ac.nz  Tue Jan  4 13:12:31 1994

Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 08:15:47 +1300
From: Mike.Dickison@vuw.ac.nz
To: DARWIN-L@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Hello all from a newcomer

Hello all, I'm new to Darwin-L so here's a short bio. My name's Mike
Dickison from Wellington, New Zealand. Presently working on philosophy of
biology at Victoria University, formerly at the Museum of New Zealand, now a
freelance science writer inter alia. Most interested in paleoecology,
practical environmental ethics, and evolutionary theory.

Re the popular linguistics debate: Some recent writers on popularising
science suggest that *educating* the public isn't the way to help them
distinguish between good science and sloppy science. They advocate not
teaching people science, but teaching them *about* science. Voters that are
not economists are still expected to assess the claims of rival economists
at election time. Jurors in a court have to deal with expert testimony. Of
course it is entirely debatable how well either of these processes work. But
*everyone* in academia has a field they would like the public to know more
about, and it seems a bit much to expect non-scientists to learn about all
of them.

Any thoughts? Mike Dickison, adzebill@matai.vuw.ac.nz

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