ABSTRACT
Objective procedures have long been the essence of science. Strong proponents of objectivity can be traced back to Francis Bacon, who proposed that data gathering be carried out by illiterate assistants with no interest in whether an experiment turned out one way or another. In soft science, debates on the issues of “systematic (or objective)” approach can go on forever, because many researchers have trouble with “informal arguments” that are deemed “merely” philosophical and do not have the prestige of mathematical equations. Scientists are now using sophisticated mathematics to shed new light on phenomena that are usually called chaos. “Contrary to intuition,” says Garfinkel, “you need desynchronized firing of nerve cells in order to achieve smooth movement.” To sum up, instead of charging into disorder, scientists are looking for constrained randomness, or a harmony between order and chaos. After all, the reason why science works is because there is order in nature.
