On the Role of Scientific Thought

Abstract

Essentially, this essay contains nothing new; on the contrary, its subject matter is so old that sometimes it seems forgotten. It is written in an effort to undo some of the more common misunderstandings that I encounter (nearly daily) in my professional world of computing scientists, programmers, computer users and computer designers, and even colleagues engaged in educational politics. The decision to write this essay now was taken because I suddenly realized that my confrontation with this same pattern of misunderstanding was becoming a regular occurrence.