from Social Issues

Self-Deception in Science:
"Harter's Precept"

"Self-deception plays an astonishing role in science," says German biologist Bruno Muller-Hill. He relates an amusing story--told in a book by Berkeley law professor Philip Johnson--to illustrate this concept:

"When I was a student in a German gymnasium [school] and thirteen years old, I learned a lesson that I have not forgotten...One early morning, our physics teacher placed a telescope in the schoolyard to show us a certain planet and its moons. So we stood in a long line, about forty of us...

"The teacher asked the first student whether he could see the planet. No; he had difficulties, because he was nearsighted. The teacher showed him how to adjust the focus, and that student could finally see the planet and the moons. Others had no difficulty; they saw them right away. The students saw, after awhile, what they were supposed to see.

"Then the student standing just befor me--his name was Harter--announced that he could not see anything. 'You idiot,' shouted the teacher, 'you have to adjust the lenses.' The student did that, and said, after awhile, 'I do not see anything, it is all black.'

"The teacher then looked through the telescope himself. After some seconds, he looked up with a strange expression on his face. And then my comrades and I also saw that the telescope was nonfunctioning; it was closed by a cover over the lens. Indeed, no one could see anything through it."

One of the docile students, Muller-Hill says, later became a professor of philosophy, another a professor of physics, and a third a professor of botany. The honest student Harter "had to leave school and go to work in a factory."

"Harter's Precept," Philip Johnson concludes, "says that the way to advance in academic life is to learn to see what you are supposed to see, whether it is there or not."

-- Johnson, Philip E. (1998) Objections Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law and Culture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, pp. 156-157.

Gay Group Says:
"Take the Boy Scouts Out of the Schools"

School districts across the country will soon be lobbied by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to "end the unique and special access" the Boy Scouts get from the public schools, according to M.K. Cullen, GLSEN's public policy director.

"The Boy Scouts can present in someone's homeroom, they can get the school list of students, they can have posters in the halls," Ms. Cullen said. "It's a very unique, special access that most other clubs do not enjoy, and at the same time it's a discriminatory club."

The Scouts contend that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with their values. Said the BSA's national spokesman, Gregg Shields: "We recognize the right of people to disagree with us and with our positions. We simply ask those people to have tolerance for our values and beliefs even though they differ from theirs." Boy Scouts troops are only asking, he said, for the same access to the schools that other groups receive.

Some schools have already cut their ties with the Boy Scouts--in fact, a New York City school board voted in October to bar its 42 schools from sponsoring troops. In 1998, the city of Chicago instituted a similar ban in response to an ACLU lawsuit.

(excerpted from the Los Angeles Times, "Gays Ask Schools to End Scout Affiliation," Oct. 7, 2000, p. 15A.)

American Psychological Association
Files a Legal Brief Against the Boy Scouts:
NARTH Dismissed as "Anti-Gay"

In the recent Supreme Court case in which former Boy Scout James Dale attempted to force the Boy Scouts to revise their policy of excluding gay scoutmasters, the A.P.A. filed a legal brief--not surprisingly, against the Scouts.

The A.P.A. brief is succinct, clearly written and comprehensive, advising the court on matters such as how homosexuality develops, whether it can be changed, whether the condition should be considered a disorder, whether gay men present a heightened risk of sexual abuse, and whether gay parents are as competent in raising children as are heterosexual parents.

The document provides a valuable summary of the A.P.A position on many matters relating to homosexuality, and includes extensive and useful research references.

The A.P.A. report reads, not surprisingly, like a position paper from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In a footnote in the brief, the A.P.A. dismisses statements from NARTH by labeling NARTH an "anti-gay organization."

Of course, the A.P.A. makes no statements about its own philosophical precommitments.

And at the same time that the A.P.A. positions NARTH as ideological, it fails to identify the researchers whose work it relies on--a large proportion of whom are gay or lesbian themselves, and known in the gay community as political and ideological activists.

For example, prominent gay-activist psychologist Douglas Haldeman is relied upon to summarize the research on conversion therapy. In the section, "Can Homosexuality Be Changed?" Dr. Haldeman is quoted as saying there is no reliable evidence that "sexual orientation is amenable to redirection or significant influence from psychological intervention."

Yet in its Supreme Court brief, the A.P.A. identifies Dr. Haldeman in a non-partison fashion, simply as "a scholar."

There is an extensive section on gay parenting. Research is cited that purports to show that gay men and lesbians are as effective as--indeed, possibly better than--heterosexual parents. "Some researchers have found," the brief says, "that gay fathers make greater efforts to create a stable home environment and positive relationship with their children than heterosexual fathers." Another A.P.A.-quoted study concluded that "gay fathers are at least equal to heterosexual fathers in the quality of their parenting."

Psychologists for a Free APA

Psychologist Ray Johnson, Ph.D. of Denton, Texas is the founder of a group to oppose the socio-political activism of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Johnson objects to the APA's representation of itself as a strictly scientific and professional organization, when it actively supports political causes such as radical feminism, gay activism, and the redefinition of the natural family.

The APA has an enormous membership (over 155,000 members), Dr. Johnson says, and is funded by a staggering annual budget. It is the only organization which represents psychologists' professional interests on a national level. The core of the problem, however, is that its membership-at-large does not have a voice in the A.P.A.'s socio-political positions. The A.P.A.'s research tends to be interpreted through its philosophical precommitments, which are liberal-to-radical, but which are represented to the public as neutral and "scientific."

The situation is much the same within the American Library Association and the National Education Association. Like the APA, those trade associations have a monopoly on representation of their members' financial and legal interests, but their leadership is one-sidedly liberal and historically insensitive to other perspectives.

Psychologists interested in helping Dr. Johnson in his quest to open the APA to alternate views should write him at 1807 N. Elm, #321, Denton, Texas 76201 of e-mail him at freeapa@excite.com.

Does Tolerance
Mandate Inclusiveness?

The Jewish journal Midstream recently clarified some important points about the nature of tolerance and inclusiveness.

When we are tolerant, we allow differing opinions and behaviors to coexist with our own. This does not, however, mean that we must have no convictions of our own, or that we believe that all belief systems are valid.

Tolerance is good for society because:

1. It recognizes that beliefs cannot be enforced--one can only offer proof and persuasion;
2. In many instances, one cannot be absolutely sure of the rightness of one's opinions, so it is best not to force one's opinion on others;
3. Tolerance recognizes and respects the dignity and autonomy of the individual.

But even tolerance, he says, must operate within limits. We do not tolerate crime, violence, and cheating, for example. We do not discard the normative principles of right and wrong. Nor do we tolerate a violation of the the distinctions between true and false--there can be no tolerance, for example, for teaching the concept that the earth is flat, or that two plus two equals five.

The principle contributor to the ethical consciousness of Western civilization has been Judaism. Jewish thought has a long history of promoting tolerance for dissenting viewpoints and lifestyles, and it is this tradition, the author believes, that is the reason for the predominance of liberal thinking among the Jewish people.

But liberal toleration need not require inclusiveness. Mr. Roshwald explains that "inclusiveness" may actually entail the undermining of an established belief system. And the tolerant person cannot be expected to assimilate alien elements into his belief system when they will have the effect of destroying its basic identity.

Thus, he says, we must be wary of the trend toward assimilating everything we have agreed to tolerate.

If the Jewish people, in particular, do not want to deny their "Jewish essence," he concludes, then they "cannot accept new family concepts based on different sexual orientation."

Reference
"Toleration, Inclusiveness, and Judaism," by Mordecai Roshwald, Midstream, July/August 2000, p. 15-17.

Updated: 8 February 2008

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