The Art and Science of Pseudology
Szasz, Thomas, Freeman
The common belief that the scientist's job is to reveal the secrets of nature is erroneous. Nature has no secrets; only persons do. Secrecy implies agency, which is absent in nature. This is the main reason the so-called "behavioral sciences" are not merely unlike the physical sciences but are in many ways their opposites.
"Nature," observed Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), "admits no lie." While nature neither lies nor tells the truth, persons habitually do both. As the famous French mathematician and philosopher Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801-1877) observed, "It is inconceivable that [in the science of politics] telling the truth can ever become more profitable than telling lies." …
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Publication information:
Article title: The Art and Science of Pseudology.
Contributors: Szasz, Thomas - Author.
Magazine title: Freeman.
Volume: 60.
Issue: 6
Publication date: July/August 2010.
Page number: 14+.
© Foundation for Economic Education, Incorporated Jan/Feb 2009.
Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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