Pentecost
Homily for May 27, 2012
return to cycle B
Zum gruenen Baum
This article about polarization in politics has me thinking about something that has bothered me for some time - the confusion over subjective and objective.
My perspective comes from training in science. Let's start with "What is the scientific method?"
It's a way of understanding reality. At this point we could pick nits and ask "What is reality?" For now, it's anything on the sending side of our senses - whatever our senses are detecting, including ourself. For our eyes, that is electromagnetic radiation of a small limited portion of the spectrum. For our ears, that is acoutstic radiation of a small limited portion of the spectrum. For our nose, that is some of the gaseous material in the air. For our tongue (taste), that is a certain number of chemicals. For our touch, the interaction of the sensors in our skin.
Reality is objective. The thing we interact with is the same for all actors. On the other side of our senses, inside ourselves, all is subjective.
So science is about interacting with real things and correlating the results: by comparing the results for different things; by correlating two measurements of the same thing at different times or at the same time by two different actors/measurers.
When we find a pattern between measurements, we call that pattern a theory, an intellectual model of reality. Our goal is for our theories to be objective and true. Because their roots are in subjective measurements, they can never be totally either. Hard as it is to do, scientists have to be humble and admit that.
to be continued
My perspective comes from training in science. Let's start with "What is the scientific method?"
It's a way of understanding reality. At this point we could pick nits and ask "What is reality?" For now, it's anything on the sending side of our senses - whatever our senses are detecting, including ourself. For our eyes, that is electromagnetic radiation of a small limited portion of the spectrum. For our ears, that is acoutstic radiation of a small limited portion of the spectrum. For our nose, that is some of the gaseous material in the air. For our tongue (taste), that is a certain number of chemicals. For our touch, the interaction of the sensors in our skin.
Reality is objective. The thing we interact with is the same for all actors. On the other side of our senses, inside ourselves, all is subjective.
So science is about interacting with real things and correlating the results: by comparing the results for different things; by correlating two measurements of the same thing at different times or at the same time by two different actors/measurers.
When we find a pattern between measurements, we call that pattern a theory, an intellectual model of reality. Our goal is for our theories to be objective and true. Because their roots are in subjective measurements, they can never be totally either. Hard as it is to do, scientists have to be humble and admit that.
to be continued
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