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Many of them take an absolutist view of scienceJohn Clement <clement@HAL-PC.ORG> wrote >>>
because they have been taught it the way you might
teach revealed theological truth. Part of our job
is to help them understand NOS.
I couldn't agree more. We should be teaching students about the limits of science also. Since science describes physical phenomena, there are certain questions that are not answerable with science - unscientific questions, if you will - because they deal with non-physical phenomena. (examples include aesthetics, better described by philosophy; angels, better described by religion; etc.)
*How do you answer the question: "What was there"Pamela L. Gay" <pgay@FAS.HARVARD.EDU> wrote >>>
before the Big Bang?" I typically say, "Here be
dragons" and use magazine articles and popular
books to discuss some of the theories.
This question is actually a bad question, for a different reason than the general topic above. At the Big Bang was the commencement of time, as well as all other parts of the universe. Since "before" is a time relationship, it cannot be applied beyond the limit of time. A rather limited analogy would be a student asking what number comes after infinity on a number line. There is no answer because of the question itself.