Issue 41

leepmoUID: 2296903

TOPIC: ISSUE41 - "Such nonmainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society by satisfying human needs that are not addressed by mainstream science."


The author asserts that some nonmainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society since they meet the needs that is not addressed by mainstream science. I agree with the author insofar as nonmainstream areas address the needs. However, the author overlooks the possible shortcoming of the nonmainstream.

Admittedly, the nonmainstream areas play an important part in society. They meet the needs which mainstream science and other areas of inquiry cannot. Faced with the complex world, people experience confusion, uncertainty and uneasiness. Will the people go to the so-called "other world" after death? Do the ghosts really exist? Have the UFO been to the earth? Such kinds of questions confuse the people, while the nonmainstream areas may prevent the people from such bad feeling. Besides, today's nonmainstream areas may become the mainstream tomorrow. In middle ages, Copernicus, an astronomer, and his heliocentric ordering of planets were thought to been nonmainstream even poison the people. While, at that time, the mainstream areas were trying to find out how many archangels can stand in a needlepoint. We can easily to see that the theory of Copernicus is more important from today's view. The theroy of his heliocentric ordering of planets has come to be considered a seminal text of modern astronomy.

The nonmainstream areas are of importance. However, the flaws of nonmainstream should not be neglected. First of all, most of the nonmainstream studies are not rooted in reason. We cannot assess if they are true or not since they are unable to be explained by the theories which are accepted by people. So the evaluations become impossible. For instance, it seems impossible to evaluate the credibility of a tarot card or what a future teller said. We can know if it is true only when the incident happened. In the second place, since the nonmainsteam areas are uneasy to evaluate the credibility, they become the favorites of some people have ulterior motives. Participants are likely to be harmed because of the illogical thinking and enthusiasm. For example, the Japanese Aum Doomsday cult, which uses the superstition of the common people, created the shocking tragedy by using the poison gas in the subway.

In sum, I concede that the nonmainstream areas play a vital role in society by satisfying human needs. However, the nonmainstream cannot serve as substitutes for reason and logic. So the shortcoming of the nonmainstream areas may not be overlooked.

kito9695UID: 209685

发帖格式错误，请参考置顶帖自己修改。