Quote for Thought: Scientific Reductionism
Scientific reductionism is an undeniably powerful tool, but it can mislead us too, especially when applied to something as complex as, on the one side, a food, and on the other, a human eater. It encourages us to take a mechanistic view of that transaction: put in this nutrient; get out that physiological result.
Writes Michael Pollan, the Knight professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley and author of Unhappy Meals in today’s New York Times. How did eating ever get so complicated—ever get to be so much a matter of what nutrients to eat or not to, what foods or superfoods (remember oat bran?) to stock up on?
Applying Pollan’s statement to autism:
Scientific reductionism is an undeniably powerful tool, but it can mislead us too, especially when applied to something as complex as, on the one side, autism, and on the other, a human being.
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POSTED IN: Food and Diet, Science
2 opinions for Quote for Thought: Scientific Reductionism
Club 166
Jan 28, 2007 at 9:08 pm
The interactions that I hate the most are the ones where I’m dealing with so called “experts” who are obviously clueless.
Last year in school the “autism expert” decided that my then 5 year old son needed deep pressure when he was “getting out of control”. Well, when my very verbal son was having some trouble with a transition they decided to do the deep pressure thing (basically rolling him in a carpet) despite the fact that he told them he didn’t want it.
Then they wondered why he started screaming at them.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jan 28, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Pseudo-scientific reductionism is not much better!
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