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 %WHEN POSSIBLE SCIENTIST BEING OBJECTIVE REFLEXIVE 891002

     When is it possible for a scientist to be objective?

     It  is  not possible for a scientist to be  objective
when  applying  for funding,  because the  object  of  the
application  is intimately related to the personal welfare
of the scientist.

     It   is not possible for a scientist to be  objective
when  serving  on  a  panel of  experts  making  decisions
regarding   funding,   because  such  experts  are  making
decisions which will intimately affect their peers.

     It  is not possible for a scientist to  be  objective
when  applying  for  promotion or serving on  a  committee
considering  such applications,  because in each  instance
the personal welfare of close peers is involved.

     It  is not possible for a scientist to  be  objective
when   making   lesson  assignments,   because  all   such
assignments entail value judgments regarding how  students
should  spend  some of the most precious moments of  their
lives.

     It  is  not possible for a scientist to be  objective
when   grading   students'    assignments,    tests,    or
performances;  because in such evaluations value judgments
are made regarding what balance should be achieved between
the various demands upon students' time and energy.

     It  is not possible for a scientists to be  objective
when  writing a text book,  because in such writing  value
judgments   are   constantly  being  made  as   to   which
information and skills should receive the greater and  the
lesser emphasis.

     It  is  not possible for a scientist to be  objective
when engaged in both teaching and research duties, because
there  are constant decisions regarding whether or not  to
spend additional time on helping students,  or  additional
time on pressing forward on research and publication.

     It  is not possible for a scientists to be  objective
when engaged narrowly in pure research,  because doing  so
is  an  affirmation  of the supreme  importance  of  being
engaged in pure research.

     Rarely does a scientist engage in objective behavior.
Most of the time a scientist is engaged in behavior  which
is reflexive, value-laden, and so is not objective.

     It  is important to recognize the occasions of,   and
the  nature  of,  objective behavior;  for  they  play  an
important role in discovering,  clarifying, communicating,
and  putting to practical use the  objectively  understood
laws  of nature.  Not all behavior is non-objective.  Some
behavior  is objective behavior and it plays an  essential
role in the evolution of effective ways of coping with new
situations.   We need to develop skill in recognizing  and
characterizing objective behavior in the few but important
occasions when it does occur.

     We will not  be able to develop such skill so long as
we  deceive  ourselves  about  how  rarely  we  engage  in
genuinely  objective behavior.  Dishonest behavior is  not
objective behavior.  To be genuinely objective we need  to
learn  how  to be honest about ourselves and what  we  do.
However,  it is nearly impossible to be objectively honest
about  those  aspects of our selves  which  embarrass  us;
e.g.,  about the occasions when we are not being objective
when we believe that we should be objective.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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