Science vs. Myths III

"Today the function of the artist is to bring imagination to science and science to imagination, where they meet, in the myth." (Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave, 1945)

"For what are myths if not the imposing of order on phenomena that do not possess order in themselves? And all myths, however they differ from philosophical systems and scientific theories, share this with them, that they negate the principle of randomness in the world." (Stanisław Lem, "Highcastle: A Remembrance", 1965)

"Both the myths of religion and the laws of science, it is now becoming apparent, are not so much descriptions of facts as symbolic expressions of cosmic truths." (René J Dubos, A God Within, 1972)

"A scientist can not be measured quantitatively by the number of degrees or the accumulation of information. A true scientist should have a measure of courage to correct error and seek truth - no matter how painful. The alternative is more painful. To build error upon error is to drift into dogmas, metaphysics, science fiction, and mythology." (Alexander Wilf, "Origin and Destiny of the Moral Species", 1969)

"Science never starts from scratch; it can never be described as free from assumptions; for at every instant it presupposes a horizon of expectations - yesterday’s horizon of expectations, as it were. Today’s science is built upon yesterday’s science (and so it is the result of yesterday’s searchlight); and yesterday’s science, in turn, is based on the science of the day before. And the oldest scientific theories are built on pre- scientific myths, and these, in their turn, on still older expectations." (Karl R Popper, "Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach", 1972)

"The mythology of science asserts that with many different scientists all asking their own questions and evaluating the answers independently, whatever personal bias creeps into their individual answers is canceled out when the large picture is put together." (Ruth Hubbard, "Women Look at Biology Looking at Women", 1979)

"However, for most of us, science functions like myth in that we have no personal experience in the matter. We put our trust in the scientific view given us by our culture and enshrined in its myths. If asked why leaves are green, most of us would probably mutter something about “chlorophyll.” But unless we were specialists, we would simply be repeating the story of someone else’s experience." (Wallace B Clift, "Jung and Christianity", 1982)

"It is important that we, as working scientists, combat these myths of our profession as something superior and apart. The myths may serve us well in the short and narrow as rationale for a lobbying strategy - give us the funding and leave us alone, for we know what we’re doing and you don’t understand anyway. But science can only be harmed in the long run by its self-proclaimed separation as a priesthood guarding a sacred rite called the scientific method." (Stephen J Gould, "Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time", 1987)

"Myths are errors that result [both from] scientists bringing societal preconceptions into science and […] scientists feeding society ideas that masquerade as science." (MN Mahadeva, "From Misinterpretations to Myths", Science Teacher Vol. 56 (4), 1989)

"There is no good reason to discard the scientific method as an ideal; rather, there is good reason to keep it so. Myths, after all, even if not literally true, are stories that embody moral truths." (Henry H Bauer, "Scientific Literacy and the Myth of the Scientific Method", 1992)