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History and philosophy of science.

Article Excerpt
Chair: John D. Davis, Jackson, MS

Vice-chair: Mac H. Alford, University of Southern Mississippi

FRIDAY MORNING

Chesnut

O7.01

8:30 IS SCIENCE FREE?

Kant Vajpayee

University of Southern Mississippi

Since its beginning science has been the basis of material progress. One reason it has helped us get this far is that it has been relatively free in the past to generate fundamental knowledge of nature. Recently however, it has been losing its freedom. It is increasingly getting under the grip of profit-driven market forces. Such forces dictate the direction of discovery to the effect that science is becoming less free to do what interests its worshipers. The only science advancing today is the one that has potential for the market. The scientists' hands have been tightened behind their backs; or should I say that their brains have been fenced!. Science's freedom today must be compatible with the needs of the governments and their agencies, and/or the dreams of the wealthy donors, or their foundations/trusts, who are enlightened enough to appreciate the importance of science to humanity. In such situations science becomes less divine since it caters to the needs of the body, not of the soul. A science that is not dictated by the desires of the scientists is less enjoyable, less romantic, less heavenly. Enslaved science is dry and earthly, a chore. The domestication of science by the market forces is perhaps similar to its treatment by the religious forces at its infancy. Free science serveS humanity better by fulfilling the spiritual needs as well.

O7.02

9:00 INDUCTION AND ABDUCTION AS MODELS OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION: CAN THE INFERENCE TO THE BEST EXPLANATION SAVE SCIENCE FROM UNCERTAINTY?

Michael Dodge

University of Mississippi School of Law

Contemporaneously, there are extant many modes of scientific explanation. Of these, some claim more authority than others; however, a danger inheres in many of these systems because the...

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