KD McMahon
Reseda High School
Survey: Teaching Science in the Context of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful
1. Which “target” best represents science’s ability to describe nature:
a. precise, but not
accurate
b. neither precise
nor accurate
c. precise and
accurate
d. precise with
uncertain accuracy
Comment: ____________________________________________________________
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2. Which statement do you think best describes science’s ability to discover new
knowledge?
a. It is only a matter of time before that which is unknown will become known.
b. There will always be a limit to what can be known through science.
Comment: ____________________________________________________________
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3. Which statement best describes science as one of several possible ways of knowing?
a. Science is the best and truest path to all knowledge.
b. Science is best suited for studying the physical universe. Other ways of
knowing (intuition, faith, mysticism, etc.) may be more appropriate for the
metaphysical universe.
c. Science and other ways of knowing can work together to form a holistic
understanding of the cosmos and human experience.
d. Science and other ways of knowing are antithetical and will always be at odds
with each other.
Comment: ____________________________________________________________
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4. Consider the following statement made by Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and
Human Services during the Clinton Administration: “Let us ensure that our bioethics
are as sophisticated as our science.” This statement seems to be suggesting that bioethics, and perhaps ethics in general, should be based on science. Which of the
following statements would you agree with:
a. Science gives us the truest picture of what it means to be a human being, and
therefore it is appropriate that ethics be based on science.
b. Religion provides us with the only appropriate guide for human behavior.
c. Ethics is very personalistic. It is not for me to judge what another person
thinks or does with his or her life.
d. Ethics are determined by culture. Whatever a society deems legal or illegal
determines what is right or wrong.
Comment: ____________________________________________________________
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5. One type of science is known as “scientific materialism.” It is the position that all
there is is matter and therefore the best way to study and understand everything from
the universe to human is science. One such scientific materialist is evolutionary
biologist, William Provine who stated, “Humans are complex organic machines that
die completely with no survival of soul…. No inherent moral or ethical laws exist, nor
are there absolute guiding principles for human society. The universe cares nothing for
us and we have no ultimate meaning in life.” What type of society do you think would
evolve if an ethic based on scientific materialism was adopted?
a. It would be like John Lennon’s Imagine and the “world would live as one.”
b. Without purpose and “inherent moral or ethical laws” society would collapse
into anarchy.
c. Party!
d. Someone or something would fill the void and impose meaning and structure
one society.
Other/Comment:_______________________________________________________
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7. Rank in order of importance (most important first) the role of the following in
validating a scientific discovery or hypothesis: (a) experimentation, (b) the
community of professional scientists, (c) beauty, and (d) predictability.
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6. Which statement below best describes the nature of beauty?
a. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. [This is known as subjective beauty.]
b. Some objects are beautiful whether or not people recognize them as such.
[This is known as objective beauty].
Comment: ____________________________________________________________
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7. Scientists have sometimes referred to discoveries as beautiful. For example, Nobel
Prize winning physicist, Richard Feynman, said, “You can recognize truth [of a
scientific discovery or hypothesis] by its beauty and simplicity.” If beauty is
important in the process of science should aesthetics (study of beauty) be included
in your science instruction?
a. yes
b. no
c. only if it helps me do better on the exams
Comment: ____________________________________________________________
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8. What this survey has been inquiring about is sometimes referred to as the True, the
Good, and the Beautiful—terminology introduced by the Greek Philosopher, Plato.
These three ideas have developed into the three main branches of philosophy:
Epistemology (how we know), Ethics (how we are to act), and Ontology (the nature
of being). This survey suggests that there is a connection between the Good, the True
and the Beautiful with science. One a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being most relevant, 1 being
completely irrelevant) rank the value of teaching science in the context of the True,
the Good, and the Beautiful.
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. 5
Use the space below to make any comments regarding this or any other question asked
in this survey.
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KD McMahon
Reseda Science Magnet
Name: _______________________
Class: ___________ Date: _______
Something/Nothing
1. Several prompts were shown to you on a PowerPoint presentation. Write about any
two of the prompts. Please identify the prompts you are writing about.
Prompt #1:_______________________________________________________________
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2. Was there always something or was there a “time” when there was only nothing?
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3. Can something come from nothing and if so how? _____________________________
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4. Can something return to nothing and if so how? ______________________________
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5. If nothing “exists” where is it? ____________________________________________
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6. What, if any, relationship is there between nothing and science? _________________
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Now read the following quote: “What is it that breathes fire into equations and makes a
universe for them to describe? Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?”
7. What does this statement mean to you? _____________________________________
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8. Do you think learning about the something/nothing antinomy is worthwhile?
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KD McMahon
Reseda Science Magnet
Name: _______________________
Class: ___________ Date: _______
One/Many
1. Several prompts were shown to you on a PowerPoint presentation. Write about any
two of the prompts. Please identify the prompts you are writing about.
Prompt #1:_______________________________________________________________
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1. Do you think that there is one thing or idea that links everything together?
a. Yes
b. No
If you answered, “yes,” what do you think it is and why? _______________________
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2. Can you think of an example(s) of this One/Many antinomy in:
a. science: _____________________________________________________________
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b. religion: ____________________________________________________________
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c. politics/society: ______________________________________________________
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d. art: ________________________________________________________________
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4. Read the following quote from the philosopher, Frederick Nietzsche: “Greek
philosophy seems to begin with a preposterous fancy, with the proposition that water is
the origin and mother-womb of all things. Is it really necessary to stop there and become
serious? Yes… because in it is contained, although in the chrysalis state, the idea—
Everything is One.”
Nietzsche sees philosophy emerging from the “chrysalis” of the paradox between
the One/Many antinomy. What, if any, thoughts do you have on this?
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5. Now read the following quote from physicist and Nobel Laureate, Richard Feynman,
“You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity.” The study of beauty is called
aesthetics. List some characteristics of things that are beautiful.
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KD McMahon
Reseda Science Magnet
Name: _______________________
Class: ___________ Date: _______
Order/Chaos
1. Several prompts were shown to you on a PowerPoint presentation. Write about any
two of the prompts. Please identify the prompts you are writing about.
Prompt #1:_______________________________________________________________
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prompt #2: ______________________________________________________________
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2. Give one or more examples of the following:
Order: _______________________________________________________________
Chaos: _______________________________________________________________
3. Consider the illustration showing the balance between
Order and Chaos. Draw how you might shift this
balance in the following cases:
Your
Your
LifeLife
Order
Chaos
The World
4. Do you have the “power” to adjust this balance? Does anything? Explain:
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Now read the following quotes:
• Homer: “Would that strife would perish from among the gods and men.”
• Heraclitus: “He [Homer] did not see that he was praying for the destruction of the
universe, for if his prayer had been heard, all things would pass away.”
• Vaclav Havel, President of Czech Republic: “Just as the constant increase of entropy is
the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to be ever more highly
structured and to struggle against entropy.”
• Frederick Nietzsche: “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
5. Draw how you think each of the above writers, philosophers and politicians would
have viewed the balance between Order/Chaos antinomy.
Your
Homer
Life
Heraclitus
Havel
Nietzsche
6. What relationship do you think may exist between Order/Chaos and…
a. science: ____________________________________________________________
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b. art: ________________________________________________________________
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KD McMahon
Reseda Science Magnet
Name: _______________________
Class: ___________ Date: _______
Transcendent/Immanent
1. Several prompts were shown to you on a PowerPoint presentation. Write about any
two of the prompts. Please identify the prompts you are writing about.
Prompt #1:_______________________________________________________________
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2. The Russian author, Fyodor Dostoyevski, said, “Man cannot live without kneeling….”
What do you think he meant by this?
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3. Transcendence is generally defined as that which is beyond the normal sphere of
human experience. It represents the metaphysical or spiritual realm which exist outside
of space and “normal” time. The Immanent, on the other hand, represents our normal
physical experience of ourselves and world around us. Which statement best represents
your belief/attitude regarding the Transcendent/Immanent:
a. I believe that the Transcendent exists.
b. I believe that only the Immanent exist.
c. I’m not sure.
Comment: ________________________________________________________
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4. Have you ever experienced the transcendent in a piece of art or music? If so, how did
it make you feel about (a) the art/music, (b) yourself, and (c) others?
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5. Comment regarding the following: “The transcendent is the domain of religion. The
immanent is the domain of science.”
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6. Read the following quote from Professor of Physics, Chet Raymo: “Even today, in our
technically sophisticated times, a view of the night sky from a dark place – Hyakutake on
its westward arch, Venus among the Pleiades, the Moon rising in eclipse – cannot fail to
inspire dreams of a grandeur and a meaning greater than ourselves.” How do you think
Raymo would respond to question #3?
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KD McMahon
Reseda Science Magnet
Name: _______________________
Class: ___________ Date: _______
Knowable/Mystery
1. Several prompts were shown to you on a PowerPoint presentation. Write about any
two of the prompts. Please identify the prompts you are writing about.
Prompt #1:_______________________________________________________________
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2. Consider the Knowable (K) and Mystery (M) “thermometers” below. Fill in their
relative “temperatures” over time. Predict the “temperature” at 3000AD.
K
M
1000 BC
K
M
1AD
K
M
1000 AD
K
M
2000 AD
K
M
3000 AD
a. What role do you think science has played in how you drew your thermometers?
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b. Whether it is accurate or not Mystery is often considered the domain of religion.
If this is true, what role do you see for religion in the future given your
thermometers?
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3. Francis Bacon, the 16th English statesmen and scientist, said, “Knowledge is power.”
If this is true, than what is Mystery? _________________________________________
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5. Given what you have answered here, do you think that the Knowledge/Mystery
antinomy are inevitably in conflict with one another? ___________________________
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