Abstract
In her article “A Possible ‘Orality’ for Science?” (Interchange, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 227–244), Rampal argues that science can be made more relevant to students if its language is reformed and replaced by one that contains elements drawn from oral cultures. There is some point to this policy proposal, but it fails to note that the dispassionate and impersonal prose of science has its own function in the on-going practice of science. The real task for the teacher should not be reforming the language of science but rather using oral culture to lead students in the excitement of scientific theories and the joys of scientific research, bringing them in the end to a mastery of the prose style that the scientific community has found serves well its goal of increasing our knowledge of laws of nature.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bergmann, G. (1956).Philosophy of science. Madison: WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Cragg, G. R. (1950).From puritanism to the age of reason. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holmes, F., Broman, T. Nyhart, L., & Hunt, B. (1991). In P. Dear (Ed.),The literary structure of scientific argument: Historical studies. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Wilson, F. (1967a). Definition and discovery.British Journal for the Philosophy of Science,18, 287–303.
Wilson, F. (1967b). Definition and discovery.British Journal for the Philosophy of Science,19, 43–56.
Wilson, F. (1968). Is operationism unjust to temperature?Synthese,18, 394–422.
Wilson, F. (1969). Dispositions: Defined or reduced?Australasian Journal of Philosophy,47, 184–204.
Wilson, F. (1982). A note on Hempel on the logic of reduction.International Logic Review,13, 17–29.
Wilson, F. (1985).Explanation, causation and deduction. Dordrecht, Holland: Reidel.
Wilson, F. (1986). Hume and Derrida on language and meaning.Hume Studies,12, 99–121.
Wilson, F. (1991).Empiricism and Darwin's science. Dordrecht, Holland: Kluwer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wilson, F. Is science itself the cause of ineffective science teaching?. Interchange 23, 297–302 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01450191
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01450191