CMP Review 2025-02-25

February 25, 2025

“Scientism,” writes Dr. Charles T. Tart, “is a psychological process of taking the current scientific theories that work well about how the universe functions and subtlety starting to regard them as if they were the absolute truth, beyond any further serious questioning… Thus the process of science becomes an ‘ism,’ becomes a psychological stopping point, becomes a dogmatic belief system, like many of our most dogmatic religions.”

Dr. Tart contrasts scientism with “real science.” “Real science, essential science,” he explains, “is about always being open to the facts, about always taking your own beliefs and theories lightly, about always subjecting them to further tests and never making a psychological ‘ism’ of them.”

In 1928, Dr. Telford Petrie approached the question of school science. He began with the definition of science, and then he explored Charlotte Mason’s insistence that “science should not be divorced from the humanities.” Finally, he published his notes in the Parents’ Review.

Who was Dr. Petrie? How do his notes from 1928 relate to the scientism of our day? And what implication does all this have for us as we teach our children? Dawn Rhymer, home educator, teacher, and scientist, ties together these threads in an original editor’s note before sharing Petrie’s notes. Hear it at the here.

@artmiddlekauff