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SCENE VII. Not In the Hands
of the Scientists

1 CHRISTIANUS. Well, at least I didn’t lose the waiter! Here he comes with our pizza! Praise the Lord!

2 KATHERINE. Ah, yes! It looks very good! Why don’t you start?

3 CHRISTIANUS. You are very merciful, my dear.

4 KATHERINE. You were saying?

5 CHRISTIANUS. I am not sure what I said; I lost track. Just smell the pizza! Ha!

6 KATHERINE. You said something about that I should make up my own mind about what happens at the time of death.

7 CHRISTIANUS. Ah, yes; now I remember. Well, I am sure that you, as a professional lawyer, can appreciate the idea that the scientists, like everyone else, have their agenda. Their project is to protect their theories, their jobs, their careers, and, ultimately, their position in society. They want to convince you to sponsor their activities, so that they can continue getting paid to do what they want to do, namely their own research.

8 KATHERINE. Of course they want to keep their theories, jobs and careers! Who doesn’t?

9 CHRISTIANUS. Sure. But the fact that they want to keep their jobs, their careers, and their points of view does not mean that you must support them having those jobs, those careers, and those points of view.

10 KATHERINE. How do you mean?

11 CHRISTIANUS. For example, the fact that some mafioso is very eager to keep his ideas, his habits, his palace, his private army of gangsters, and his overall position in society does not imply that I, or you, or the government, are obliged to support his plans, his actions, his mobsters, or his points of view; we are certainly entitled to protest in various ways against such a man’s activities, at least if we live in a country that not only advertises free speech and proper legal procedures but actually practices them.

12 KATHERINE. But how are scientists like mafiosos? Where’s the analogy?

13 CHRISTIANUS. It’s a long story. So let me put it like this instead: you don’t have to accept the invitation from the scientists to support their research, their educational activities, and their perspectives if you don’t want to. So you don’t have to enrol at Harvard or Princeton and pay large sums of money in the form of tuition and fees; and you don’t have to subscribe to Science or otherwise support the AAAS; and, above all, you don’t have to subscribe to any Darwinism, Big Bang, or quantum mechanics, if you don’t want to. It’s up to you. [31]

14 KATHERINE. What do you mean, their perspectives? Aren’t the scientists interested in objectivity?

15 CHRISTIANUS. Sure. But the scientists use various strategies to sell in their little theories; and the objectivity story is just one of those. But you don’t have to accept their objectivity proposal, if you don’t want to. No one has proven that objectivity is in principle possible, or that objectivity is the only road to knowledge, or that subjective knowledge is less worth, or any such things. And, more importantly, no one has proven that objectivity is good for you, or that subjectivity is not good for you. So why not fly your own way, like Jonathan Livingston Seagull? [32]

16 KATHERINE. You can’t be serious?

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Notes (SCENE VII)

[31] VII:13, AAAS: This is an acronym for the American Association for the Advancement of Science [http://www.aaas.org]; Science [http://www.scienceonline.org] is one of their publications.

[32] VII:15, Jonathan Livingston Seagull: There are many inspiring passages in Richard Bach’s book about a seagull who goes his own way. One passage is this: ‘Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn’t make it work. It’s all so pointless, he thought, deliberately dropping a hard-won anchovy to a hungry old gull chasing him. I could be spending all this time learning to fly. There’s so much to learn!’ (1973, p. 15).

RICHARD BACH (1973), Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Photographs by Russell Munson. London and Sydney: Pan Books.

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HOW TO CITE: Bo C. Klintberg (2008), ‘Not In the Hands of the Scientists’ in Katherine’s Questionable Quest for Love and Happiness. Online edition of Philosophical Plays, 1 Jan. 2008. Retrieved [today’s date] from http://philosophicalplays.googlepages.com/pgKQQv1sc07.htm.

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