Subject: Re: generalizations
From: William D Hulet <whulet@uoguelph.ca>
Organization: University of Guelph
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 14:49:02 -0400
Message-ID: <MOD$970922.26760@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$970922.22377@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
On Mon, 22 Sep 1997, Bill Robinson wrote:
> Andrew Lopez made some generalizations about synthetic materials vs.
> organic materials. Like most generalizations, I think that they are
I wonder about the structure of this debate. Is gardening a
cultural or a scientific enterprise? If it is cultural, then shouldn't we
be discussing values, rules of thumb, and, ways of envisioning the world?
If it is a science, then we should be arguing about details and evidence.
The problems that confront our society ( and our gardens ) don't
wait until all the evidence is in. Nor is there any way that we can ever
know if we've figured out the problem completely. (Science progresses
through the development of theories that can be proven wrong---not by
discovering the "ultimate truth".)
What I'm interested in is learning new viewpoints and finding new
questions to ask when I look at a problems. I think that it is pointless
to discuss the relative toxicity of a specific poison when it seems
obvious to me that the need to use poison on our garden is already a
statement to alienation from nature. I also think that it should be
obvious to anyone with insight that this alienation from nature is one of
the key problems that confronts our present society.
If I wanted to discuss the relative toxicity of one poison versus
another I think that I'd go to another conference. Here I want to learn
how people have found out to sidestep the whole problem. I am not a
scientist and I don't think that science will have very much to do with
any solutions to either problems in my garden or problems in my world.
> much like a growth hormone both in structure and in activity. I wouldn't
> expect
> the break down products to be any more toxic or less toxic than the break
> down products of a conventional protein or carbohydrate. How about some
> data?
>
> Bill