"Americans have long prided themselves on their ability to see the world for what it is, as opposed to what someone says it is or what most people happen to believe."
Ahahahahahaha, maybe this delusion is the root of the problem.
"When the founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, scientist and inventor, wrote arguably the most important line in the Declaration of Independence—“We hold these truths to be self-evident”—they were asserting the fledgling nation's grounding in the primacy of reason based on evidence."
Actually, that's exactly the opposite of what that phrase means, IIUC. The Declaration claims that human equality is self-evident, meaning obviously true without the need to resort to empirical evidence or reason. According to Wikipedia, "a self-evident proposition is one that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof".[1]
While I sympathize with their concerns about antiscience politics, I can't help but feel this essay tries too hard to legitimize modern science by borrowing the authority of the American founders.
2 comments
[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 16.7 ms ] threadActually, that's exactly the opposite of what that phrase means, IIUC. The Declaration claims that human equality is self-evident, meaning obviously true without the need to resort to empirical evidence or reason. According to Wikipedia, "a self-evident proposition is one that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof".[1]
While I sympathize with their concerns about antiscience politics, I can't help but feel this essay tries too hard to legitimize modern science by borrowing the authority of the American founders.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-evidence