Scientific
Method, which is a relatively recent historical phenomenon,
is one of the most potent means of understanding its particular aspect
of reality. In 
the
metaphor of the Blind Men and the Elephant, the blind man
who employs Scientific method would probably learn much more detail concerning
the part of the elephant he touched then the others would about the parts
they touched.
Unfortunantely, some individuals claim that the fact that scientific
method is so good at describing that little part of reality it is in contact
with somehow means that all the other realities it is not in contact with
do not exist. This rather absurd assumption, known as 
Scientism,
forms the basis for many modern 
materialistic
and rationalistic philosophies.
Another problem in modern science is institutionalisation, the way at science has become caught up in bureaucracy and large organisations. The 19th century free scientist is long since gone.
A
critique on the modern scientific establishment
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page uploaded 30 September 1999