Abstract
“The idea of nature” (general model of how things work) that is accepted in a society strongly influences that group’s social and technological progress. Currently, science education concentrates on analysis of stable pre-existing items to minimum constituents. This emphasis is consistent with an outlook that has been widely accepted since the late Renaissance—that characteristics of individuals depend exclusively on the properties of their microscopic components. Much of 19th and 20th century science seems compatible with that now-traditional outlook. But major parts of contemporary science (and fundamental technological problems) deal with open-system dynamic coherences that display novel and important characteristics. These important entities are not adequately treated by the presently-dominant idea of nature. In contrast, the notion of how the world works that contemporary science and current technological practice generate emphasizes synthesis and self-organization of far-from-equilibrium “dissipative structures.” Arguably, eventual success in meeting the severe technological and social challenges occasioned by increasing world population will require general diffusion and appreciation of that newer overall outlook. Chemistry educators have been important in developing and disseminating the earlier worldview—they can and should provide leadership for widespread adoption of the alternative idea of nature.
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Notes
“And a century before Defoe [ca. 1660–1731], the English were beginning to learn from the Dutch the improving spirit of active, striving, laborious men such as will put their hand to the plow, try experiments, and give all their attention to what they are about.” This transition was also accompanied by a change in rhetoric: “It is a methodical and accounting rhetoric, tied to practical hope and courage, and foreign to the bold gestures in court and battlefield of an aristocratic society” (McCloskey 2010, pp. 367–368).
Chemsystems.com reports that: “The world consumed over 600 million tons of feedstocks in 2009 in the production of … basic petrochemicals.… Total global feedstock consumption is projected to reach 1 billion tons [per year] by 2025.”
Since the end of the Cold War had reduced the apparent military importance of high-energy physics, the US Congress cancelled its annual funding of the corresponding American experiment (The Superconducting Super Collider) in 1993—after more than two billion dollars had been spent on that project.
Tom Stoppard’s prize-winning 1993 play Arcadia now leads in this regard.
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The author gratefully acknowledges a research grant from the Graduate School of Georgetown University.
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Earley, J.E. A New ‘Idea of Nature’ for Chemical Education. Sci & Educ 22, 1775–1786 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-012-9525-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-012-9525-x