Book contents
- What Science Is and How It Really Works
- What Science Is and How It Really Works
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I
- Part II
- Part III
- 9 Remedies That Science Uses to Compensate for How Humans Tend to Make Errors
- 10 The Analysis of a Phantom Apparition, or Has Science Really Been Studied Yet?
- 11 The Societal Factor, or How Social Dynamics Affect Science
- 12 A Holistic World of Scientific Entities, or Considering the Forest and the Trees Together
- 13 Putting It All Together to Describe “What Science Is and How It Really Works”
- About the Author
- Index
12 - A Holistic World of Scientific Entities, or Considering the Forest and the Trees Together
from Part III
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2019
- What Science Is and How It Really Works
- What Science Is and How It Really Works
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I
- Part II
- Part III
- 9 Remedies That Science Uses to Compensate for How Humans Tend to Make Errors
- 10 The Analysis of a Phantom Apparition, or Has Science Really Been Studied Yet?
- 11 The Societal Factor, or How Social Dynamics Affect Science
- 12 A Holistic World of Scientific Entities, or Considering the Forest and the Trees Together
- 13 Putting It All Together to Describe “What Science Is and How It Really Works”
- About the Author
- Index
Summary
In 1924, a South African named Josephine Salmons made a visit to the home of Pat Izod, a family friend. She noticed an odd, humanlike skull sitting on his mantelpiece. Curious, she asked him its origin and learned that it had been found by a miner working at the Buxton Limeworks. This miner wasn’t focusing on questions of human origin nor was he testing any particular hypothesis; rather, he was blasting through limestone in an effort to increase the output of the mine. He was no different than someone who goes out for a walk and notices an interesting tree or is taken by the shape and glimmer of a particular puddle. He noticed the skull and gave it to his employer, E. G. Izod, who was a visiting director of the Northern Lime Company, which managed the mine. E. G. Izod gave it to his son, who put it on his mantle. Josephine Salmons happened to be a young graduate student working in the laboratory of Dr. Raymond Dart at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Dr. Dart was an anthropologist of Australian origin who had taken the position of professor two years earlier.1
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- What Science Is and How It Really Works , pp. 335 - 352Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019