Scientific Challenge Supports Competing Views of Complex Living Systems
In an empirical science like biology, in which experimentation and observed results rule the day, should data speak for itself? Well, not necessarily, said Peter Sorger. It depends on your philosophy.
In the 4th century BC, Plato described data interpretation best—and first—with his Allegory of the Cave. Prisoners chained to a wall inside a cave see only shadows dancing before them, projections of unknowable creatures cast by an unseen light.