Overturned 'Truths'

Irving Klotz's "Opinion" piece (The Scientist, July 22, 1996, page 9) against postmodernism in science disturbed me greatly. Klotz held that the postmodernist view of science is put forth by nonscientists, that it is untenable, there being absolute truths, and that our scientific views are uncolored by who we are. The assertion that philosophers writing about science, but not actual scientists, hold postmodernist beliefs is not supported by data.

I imagine that there are many practicing scientists, like myself, who believe that the modernist attitudes exemplified by Klotz's piece impede the progress of science. I train my students to distinguish observational facts from their interpretations. By teaching the students to be aware that new observations can cause us to revise current interpretations, I believe, I am better preparing them to make new discoveries.

The history of science is replete with examples of "truths" that at the time...