Two poor arguments

There were two poor arguments that came up last week.  One was in the S.F. Chronicle by Richard N. Zare who argued that science wasn't getting enough respect in our society.  He argued that science has brought us countless medical and technical miracles as the reason we should accord a high status to science and he argued that science was not incompatible with religion. 

Sorry Dr. Zare, but astrology, religion, native medicine and alchemy have also provided useful tools and produced miracles.  What science provides is falsifiable theories that improve with time and with continued empirical research.  We appreciate science because it appeals to our Reason.  That doesn't make it incompatible with religion, just completely different.

The second argument was made on our public radio station, KQED, by the head of the Interdisciplinary department at San Francisco State University (one of the mediocre high school-level institutions in San Francisco). The Interdisciplinary department is being radically cut back during these times of State budget crunch.  This gentleman argued that the reason we need to have an interdisciplinary department is because it produces comprehensive thinkers and renaissance citizens. 

Sorry again.  The reason that interdisciplinary departments have proliferated at colleges and universities throughout the world is that discipline is not a stable concept.  In the 19th century higher education included the disciplines of phrenology, morality, metaphysics, belles & letters and poetics. Those disciplines came and went.

Entire disciplines have become outmoded in the 20^th century.  Cultural anthropology became questionable with the work of Clifford Geertz who encouraged researchers to stop counting and instead to write “thick descriptions.”  Sociology is in disfavor because “class” is no longer a useful tool. Science has trouble distinguishing biology, chemistry and physics.  My daughter has a PhD in biophysical-chemistry.

If you want comprehensive and renaissance thinkers you should follow the University of Chicago Great Books model. (My alma mater.) The University of Chicago has probably had more impact on contemporary America than any other university ... followed closely by Stanford.