Abstract
IN my little book on “Notes on the Composition of Scientific Papers” I have defended the use of “scientist”: it is quite a normal word, such as artist, economist, etc. Against it is the dislike of all new words or spellings; they are contrary to our habits, But there is more than this: in England (especially as compared with Germany or Scotland) there has been a certain prejudice against science as a profession. Many of our great men (e.g. Darwin, Rayleigh, Clerk Maxwell, etc.) have been great amateurs; and the generations bred upon letters only (e.g. Swift) have regarded science as too arid for exclusive culture. The amateur is saved from being narrow or inhuman. So there has been an unconscious antipathy to science as a calling or profession. But I am speaking of our prejudices—remnants of the past—which now are cobwebs, and no more. I should accept the word were I in your place. NATURE has set a good example in another very important—far more important—linguistic matter, namely, the use of “fact” as distinct from opinion, or inference, or axiom, or principle, or truth, etc., in the sense of general statement founded upon (assumed) facts. We collect our facts, and upon them are built fallible conclusions or laws, which not a few contributors call also “facts.” We must keep the word fact for the several events, and call our inferences opinions, conjectures, hypotheses, etc., and ultimately, when relatively certain, theories; theory is our highest scientific category. To mistake inferences or axioms for facts has been a curse of science.
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ALLBUTT, C. The Word “Scientist” or its Substitute. Nature 114, 823 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114823b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114823b0
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