The Scientific Point of View
The Scientific Point of View J. B.S. Haldane is among those few writers who have popularized science. They have written on scientific topics lucidly to familiarize common people with them. Most importantly, they have tried to remove the common man’s prejudices against science.
In this essay, J.B.S.Haldane speaks of the reservations that educated men continue to have towards scientific facts. This is revealed in their incomprehension of the true nature and range of science.
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Summarise The Scientific Point of View
For instance, they still do not understand that science is entirely objective and neutral. A scientist has no ethical concerns and yet he is very impartial. To him, both a tapeworm and the solar system are worthy subjects of study.
He is free from repulsion in the case of tapeworm and awe in the case of the solar system. As for the use of science, man does not hesitate at all in using the gadgets that science provides to him for his comfort and efficiency.
Telephones, motorcars, and airplanes are in regular use by men who are still skeptical of science. In many things, they rely on traditional opinion. J.B.S. Haldane gives an excellent example of this by citing white men’s reactions to negroes.
The scientific point of view summary
Though a scientist appreciates external differences between a white man and a negro that are seen in color, the texture of the skin shape of the skull, etc, he does not subscribe to the theory of political privileges to be enjoyed by the white man.
It is a pity that the man who accepts science in so many areas of life is not ready to see the apolitical bias of science. If only man comes to accept science in its totality it could provide solutions to many social and political problems.
A more peculiar behavior is noticeable in matters of disease management. A person visits a doctor when he is ill. He takes prescribed medicines also. But he neglects the doctor’s advice regarding their dosage, frequency, and regularity.
Summarise the essay The Scientific Point of View
As a result of this indifference complete recovery from disease is hampered. Through such instances, Haldane has exposed the common man’s eccentric approach, which does not let science fulfill its true humanitarian mission.
Only when men follow the scientific point of view they can fully benefit from science; the use of gadgets is not going to take them far.
