හින්දු විද්‍යාව හා අපේ විද්‍යාව

හින්දු විද්‍යාව හා අපේ විද්‍යාව

මේ සතියේ (පෙබරවාරි 15) සයන්ස් සඟරාවේ හින්දු විද්‍යාව ගැන පළ වී තිබුණා. එය පළ වී ඇත්තේ බටහිර විද්‍යාව පැත්තෙන් විවේචනයක් ලෙස. හින්දු විද්‍යාව යනු ව්‍යාජයක් බවයි ඉන් කියැවෙන්නේ. මේ හින්දු විද්‍යාව අප කියන අපේ දැනුම සමග පටලවා ගැනීමට ඇතැමුන් උත්සාහ කරාවි. ඒ ඔවුන්ට අපේ විද්‍යාවක් ගැන කිසිම අවබෝධයක් නැති නිසයි.

අදාළ ප්‍රශ්නය පටන් ගැණුනේ ජනවාරි මස පැවැත්වුණු  ඉන්දීය විද්‍යා කොංග්‍රසයේ සමුළුවේ දී. එහි දී කතා කළ ඉන්දීය විද්‍යාඥයන් කිහිප දෙනකු ම කියා ඇත්තේ බටහිරයන් අභ්‍යාවකාශ පරීක්‍ෂණ, තොරතුරු තාක්‍ෂණය, අන්තර්ජාලය, න්‍යෂ්ටික අවි ආදිය ගැන කතා කරන්න අවුරුදු දහස් ගණනකට පෙර භාරතයේ ඒ දැන සිටි බවයි. ඔවුන් දඬුමොණරය ගැනත් කියා තිබෙනවා. ඔවුන්ගෙන් අයකුට අනුව මහාභාරතයේ ඇති කතාවක එක් කාන්තාවක් දරු ප්‍රසූත සියයක් කළ බව කියැවෙනවා. එයින් කියැවෙන්නේ එකල හින්දු විද්‍යාඥයන් ප්‍රජනන තාක්‍ෂණයෙහි මහත් දියුණුවක් අත්කර ගෙන ඇති බව යැයි ඔවුන් පවසනවා.

What is Science 1

What is Science 1 

Is there a specific method of acquiring knowledge, which is peculiar to Science? Starting with Bacon up to Kuhn, perhaps the Philosophers of Science had thought so, though the methods that they had identified were not the same. They were in agreement that Science differs from other subjects and systems of knowledge mainly because there was a “scientific method” in acquiring knowledge. Feyerabend¹ on the other hand was of the opinion that there was no scientific method as such.

Western Science, Astrology and Arsenic – III

What the gravitational physicists did after Maxwell was to introduce the concept of gravitational field in order to explain or understand how a particle exerts a gravitational force on any other particle wherever in the universe the two particles may be. However, it is a so called explanation as nobody understands what is meant by an explanation in this case. In this regard I would like to mention what I “learnt” from my Chemistry teacher in the fourth form (grade 10). He wanted the students to define an acid. When we could not define an acid to his satisfaction, he asked us to explain definition. Needless to say the fourteen year olds could not come up with an answer and then he in his inimitable style he said define explanation! With these questions he consciously or unconsciously exposed the inadequacy of linear thinking definitions etc., and introduced at least me to cyclic thinking (chakreeya chinthanaya) many years later.

Of course one could say that in the case of gravitational force it is a physical force but in the case of astrology it could be said that the grahayas influence even the mental state of bipedal hominids, and it is necessary to explain this phenomenon. As it is said at present there are physical, biological and mental states associated with the bipedal hominids, and some others would say these states are associated not only with bipedal hominids but with all animals whether with no feet two feet, four feet, or poly feet (apa, depa, sivupa or bahupa). When one could “demonstrate” that physical, biological and mental states are interconnected as in the case of say psycho somatic phenomena, one could come out with a “theory” or an “explanation” of how the grahayas influence the mental states of bipedal hominids. It could be through some ‘field”, say an astrological field exerted by the grahayas including Rahu and Kethu that are points of intersection of the paths of the sun and the moon relative to the earth. It could even be theorized that in general the points of intersection of the paths of sun and any planet or of the paths of any two planets or of the paths of the moon and any planet relative to the earth influence the bipedal hominids but they are negligible!

It is unfair if one wants to experience the astrological field in order to believe it or understand it or whatever, as to my knowledge nobody except that lecturer at the University of Kelaniya has experienced the gravitational field. Also it could be said a grahaya has many properties such as astrological, gravitational electromagnetic etc., and that some grahayas such as Rahu and Kethu exert only fields but not gravitational or electromagnetic fields. In the case of Sun it is believed in Newtonian Physics that it exerts gravitational as well as electromagnetic influences through relevant field and it may be that there are other fields such as astrological fields not recognized by the western scientists. The recognition by the western scientists need not be the sole criterion for us to accept, believe or whatever and we do not have to be guided by their dominant knowledge imposed on us. All theories western or otherwise are mere stories constructed in a certain chinthanaya relative to a culture. Merely because a theory is not accepted or believed in one culture it does not follow that the other cultures also should discard the theory.

There is a western scientific church or mafia and it is the high priests or the leaders of the mafia who decide which theory is to be accepted or rejected. As has been shown by Feyerabend this church is more dominant than the Catholic Church in medieval Europe, and they would not listen to alternative theories or explanations constructed even within the western culture. In the case of the Catholic Church the Pope was prepared to listen to Galileo and gave the latter a fair trial. The Pope did not object to Galileo believing that the earth went round the sun, but he wanted the latter to demonstrate it if he were to teach it to the general public. Galileo could not demonstrate that the earth went round the sun and the pope had no alternative but to imprison Galileo and keep him away from the public.

The present day high priests of the western scientific church do not have the power to imprison people but they debar theories and other knowledge not acceptable to them reaching the public through their so called learned societies and “internationally recognized” journals. Now if one were to ask who has the power to recognize these “internationally recognized journals” the answer is it is the internationally recognized people and societies. Thus it is a case of one recognizing oneself through societies and other instruments that have been empowered to do so by none other than the political powers of the particular culture. The Royal Society of London has been recognized by a Royal Charter and our own National Academy of Science has obtained its charter from the Parliament of Sri Lanka, though its Fellows have not produced anything original enough to be recognized by the “international community”. In this regard it has to be mentioned that when the University of Kelaniya group that studied the Chronic Kidney Disease unidentified etiology CKDu came out with Arsenic as the main cause of the disease, the National Academy of Science went so low as to reproduce cartoons that vilified me in their official website.

The irony is that the scientists in El Salvador have recognized that Arsenic is the cause of their Kidney Disease , and recently invited Drs. Channa Jayasumana and Kumudu Dahanayake to their country and thanked Sri Lanka for the information, knowledge or whatever on Arsenic that have been conveyed to them and other South American countries at a seminar held in another South American country by Dr. Jayasumana the most unwanted person the University of Kelaniya that attempts to deny him a postgraduate degree using so called University Autonomy throwing the work he has done during the last two and half years to the Kelani Ganga. In essence El Salvador has recognized Natha deviyan and Vipassaka deviyan when the imitators in Sri Lanka of high priests of the western scientific Church and its Cardinals and Pope refuse to do so. The Kelaniya Arsenic group holds a media conference today to inform the public more details of the El Salvador recognition.

The western scientific church did not recognize the work done by Rupert Sheldrake on what are known as Morphological fields. In essence what he says is that “past forms and behaviour of organisms influence present organisms through direct immaterial connections across time and space”. For example a crystal formed say for the first time at the University of Kelaniya with difficulties would influence the formation of a similar crystal in a University or research institute in El Salvador and it would be done much easily. This is what has happened in connection to Arsenic in Agro Chemicals with reference to the Kidney Disease. It could be said that the Arsenic experiments done at the University of Kelaniya for the first time have created a morphological field across space and time or space - time.In the South American countries cane farmers are affected by the Arsenic present in the Agro chemicals.

The high priests of the western scientific church object to research on Homeopathy. They do not recognize Homeopathy as a so called science or a technology and when some researchers in France about twenty five years ago were able to get a paper on Homeopathy principle based on dilution in the Nature the high priests of western science and medicine intervened and the editor of Nature had no alternative but to withdraw the published paper under pressure! That is the freedom of expression in the western scientific church and the high priests do not give even the freedom to believe that was not denied to Galileo by the Pope. (To be continued)

(13/05/15)

Nalin De Silva

On so called scientific knowledge – VIII

The so called science is nothing but western science and there is no science as such which is universal and common to all. It is true that we study so called science at schools and universities without paying attention to this problem not only in Sri Lanka but probably in the whole world where there are schools and universities of the western type. The curriculum has been forced on us and we have no alternative at present but to imitate it. The so called science has not become part of our culture and it has not been absorbed by us into the culture. The so called science meaning western science is being created in the Judaic Christian culture and is not independent of a culture. It is not difficult to show that the so called scientific knowledge is in essence nothing but Biblical knowledge, as given in the Old Testament, in Mathematical symbols and the jargon of western science.

Though so called scientific knowledge is supposed to be objective it is not so as it is culture dependent, like any other system of knowledge. There is no objective reality as such and nobody is capable of demonstrating that an objective reality exists without appealing to subjective concepts. Unless one can show that, without using any mental concepts or theories, there exists an objective reality (in my usage a so called objective reality) independent of the mind, in the sense of any concepts created by the mind, one cannot demonstrate the existence of an objective reality. It is not possible to say that so called scientific knowledge approaches Truth or objective Truth as without knowing the Truth in advance we do not know whether so called scientific knowledge is approaching Truth or not. On the other hand if we know the Truth already then there is no necessity for a so called science that attempts to discover the Truth. The objective reality is also a creation of the mind, and has no so called objective existence.

Then there are people who having failed to show that it approaches Truth or represents so called objective reality. claim that so called science is useful and dependable. These are based on instrumentalism and utilitarianism and such philosophical traditions in the west, but unfortunately for these proponents of western science it is not peculiar to so called scientific knowledge. People of yesteryear believed in Ayurveda, Sinhala Vedakama, Siddha, Unani and other systems and they were useful to them. Even today there are many people who would go to a non western medicine practitioner when they are not well, in spite of a teacher in the Faculty of (Western) Medicine of the University of Colombo who had apparently said in his lectures that there are some diseases that are cured when treated, while some diseases cannot be cured, whereas some diseases are cured even without taking and medicine. According to this particular lecturer the diseases cured by Ayurveda belong to the third category. The Ayurveda and other systems continue to exist even after the defamatory remarks such as the one purported to be made by the lecturer mentioned above, simply because many people have believed in these time tested systems of knowledge and as far as they are concerned such systems are useful. Thus it is not the prerogative of so called science to be dependable and useful, and even on this score western science loses its so called uniqueness.

While medicine and engineering belong to western technology and not western science one has to admit that there is a connection between western technology and western science. The western science and western technology are created in the same Greek Judaic Christian Chinthanaya and Judaic Christian Culture and in that sense they are interrelated. However it is not necessary that the practitioners of western technology should be educated in western science. It is well known that James Watt did not know the second law of Thermodynamics and that Thomas Alva Edison did not know Ohm’s Law. However, developments in western science have helped western technology and vice versa. In order to live in this society we have to make use of western technology the same way our ancestors made use of Sinhala Technology in the ancient times to live in that society. It is possible to go to an “aranya” and live without making use of any so called scientific knowledge but some people may prefer to live in the present society for various reasons, including criticizing so called western science.

There are some Professors of western scientific disciplines who would not want to identify western science and technology as such. Recently when western medicine was referred to as such by some others one of these Professors to whom western mathematics is only a tool, wanted to object to it claiming that there is no western medicine. He wanted to define western medicine and thought that if the term western medicine is not used in official documents in general then that implied that there was no western medicine as such. This person seems to think that if a term is not used in official documents or not defined then there is no entity that is represented by that particular term. The educated Sri Lankans who only imitate the west have been brainwashed to think that western medicine is medicine and western science is science. The westerners who think no end of themselves with their political cultural hegemony have named their science and technology the science and technology often considering the other systems of knowledge as myth, and some of the Professors of western disciplines in Sri Lanka who are mere imitators and who have not contributed any original concept or theory to their subjects want the others to obey meekly their masters in the west the way they do.

Then there is the claim that so called scientific knowledge is reliable. It is difficult to understand what is meant by reliable. Newtonian gravitation may be reliable to some such as the University Lecturer in Chemistry who claimed that gravitation could be felt and is sensory perceptible without knowing that according to Einstein apples “fall” due to the so called curvature of space time. It is known that Newtonian gravitation could predict the motion of planets around the Sun and may be reliable to some people as a method of calculation. However, it is only a story, and in fact Newton’s story on how apples fall to the ground. In spite of Einstein, not that he is the ultimate authority on knowledge, telling the world that apples “fall” to the ground due to the curvature of space time, there are millions who hold to the Newtonian view dogmatically. It is not easy to claim that so called scientific knowledge is tentatively true whereas other systems are dogmatic about truth. All systems of knowledge consist of stories created by the human beings and as long as these stories serve the people to “understand the world” (create a world for themselves) they believe that such knowledge is useful and help them to live in the relevant societies.

The so called western science is not unique as a system of knowledge and it is wrong to say that so called scientific knowledge has always brought happiness to the people. The technology related to the so called scientific knowledge has sometimes brought immense hardships to people and one cannot forget Thalidomide babies. It is now established that Arsenic from agrochemicals is the main cause of the Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease (RCKD) and whenever Arsenic present in agrochemicals mix with what is known as “Kumburu Pasa” and hard water the ground is set for the spread of RCKD. The innocent people in Rajarata and other areas where this particular soil and hard water is found continue to die of Arsenic poisoning and unfortunately the western medicine the counterpart of western agriculture in the field of medicine has no cure for the damage done by the latter. (To be continued)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

On so called scientific knowledge – VI

Western science especially its role model western Physics is abstract than any other system of knowledge that I can think of. I do not claim to know all the systems of knowledge but it can be safely said that western system is the most abstract of the systems of knowledge known to most of us. The concepts such as absolute space, absolute time, inertial frame of reference, object, gravitation, electromagnetism, quantum waves, space time curvature, string in modern Physics, to name a few are very abstract and an ordinary person would find it very difficult to grasp these concepts. Western knowledge in general, modelled after western Physics is abstract trying to concentrate on general systems rather than individual concrete systems. This is something that can be found not only in western science but also in western art, western music, western literature etc. There is an interaction between all these different disciplines and there are commonalities that can be found in western systems. For example it is said that Dostoevsky was one of the most abstract novelists and that his novels have influenced Einstein who happened to have one of the most abstract minds that the world has seen. In this regard a comment made by Martin Wickramesinghe who was the most abstract Sinhala novelist made on Kumaratunga Munidasa’s Piyasamara. Wickramesinghe had said that had Kumaratunga Munidasa tried to generalize the personal experience of the latter and created a work on the memory of a father in general Piyasamara would have become great poetry. The western novel in general creates generalized characters and in spite of “Gamperaliya” not representing a so called transformation of a village in the south it attempts do so with Piyal, Nanda, Kaisaruwatte and others supposed to be representing generalized characters. Kumaratunga Munidasa’s Piyasamara on the other hand was on the memory of his father and he never attempted to generalize his experience to present us a “generalized” father so to speak of. Gunadasa Amarasekera contrary to his writings in younger days is even more concrete in his nine volumes from Gamanaka Mula to Gamanaka Aga, and Piyadasa cannot be considered as an abstract character generalizing the “middle class” that the authour would have liked to portray sticking to his “philosophy” on novels. Piyadasa is not an abstract Piyal, and Amarsekera’s characters are more concrete than of Martin Wickremesinghe. In Amarasekera’s recent stories it is not very difficult to identify the characters with those around us but in the case of Wickremesinghe it is not easy to do so. The Sinhala Buddhist tradition has been very much concrete and in the Jathaka Kathas the Buduhamuduruwo himself identifies the characters without giving them a semblance of abstractness. The Sinhala Buddhists are very concrete people and no wonder that we have not been able to produce a western abstract novelist who could be compared with Martin Wickremesinghe during the last fifty years or so. Wickremesinghe was the first and the last Sinhala novelist who could be considered as a novelist who created somewhat abstract and generalized characters, though he was nowhere near a Dostoevsky.

In western Mathematics the concepts are very abstract and even if some of the Sinhala Buddhists were able to grasp these it has become almost impossible for them to create or construct new western Mathematical concepts. Take the case of a supposed to be the simple concept of a straight line. A straight line in western Mathematics has no breadth or with and one cannot imagine such a line (geometrical object) if one tries to do so. One imagines in images (in pictures, sounds etc) of sensory perceptible objects and it is needless to say that there are no straight lines in the “external” world for one to “see” them. What we used to draw as straight lines in the schools are not straight lines in a western Mathematical sense and a straight line could be drawn not with a very sharp pencil as the teachers used to tell us but with pencils with no point at all either blunt or sharp. It is not difficult to obtain A’s and distinctions in western Mathematics at GCE (O/L and A/L) examinations and also first classes and Ph. D’s in areas related to western Mathematics with not very refined Mathematical concepts but creating abstract concepts is a different kettle of fish all together.

The point about abstract concepts is that they cannot be “visualized”. On the other hand one cannot generalize without resorting to abstract concepts and western science has had to face this dilemma from the very beginning. Western science is said to belong to the empirical tradition and it is assumed that knowledge of the so called external world begins with sensory perceptions. Even if one assumes that there is an external world for the sake of argument, western science is interested in generalized knowledge and not in customized versions if I may use the jargon of computer people. The generalized versions of “nature” assuming that such “nature” exists independent observers as an objective reality cannot be “visualized” or grasped as sensory perceptible objects and what one “sees” is not a generalized abstract concept. Thus testing deductions of abstract generalized theories with concrete phenomena can be compared with a no win situation and western knowledge, especially in western Physics has almost reached the end of the road. The so called empiricism in western science may start with observations in concrete situations, then theorize in a general context in abstract concepts, deduce results from these abstract theories using dry abstract Aristotelian logic which itself is a generalization of concrete situations and then compare the deduced results with concrete situations. This is one of the most contradictory processes of constructing knowledge that has been created and is bound to fail sooner than later. This way of constructing knowledge has been already dropped in Computer Science (it is not a western science though it is called a science) and they are interested in customizing knowledge rather than in constructing generalized knowledge.

Western knowledge is obsessed with something called Truth which for the western knowledge workers (can we call the intellectuals knowledge workers the way that prostitutes have been called sex workers probably by knowledge workers? In any event there is not much of a difference between knowledge workers and sex workers who are also working with an abstract man who can stand for Piyal, rather than with a concrete man like Piyadasa) has to be formulated in generalized abstract concepts. Western science is supposed to be moving towards this abstract truth but unfortunately there is no way of knowing that western science is approaching this truth. In order to know that western science is moving towards the Truth one should know what Truth is because without knowing Truth in advance it is not possible to assert that western science is approaching truth with a t or T. Newton was of the opinion that particles and objects could move with any velocity and there was no barrier for the speed of particles. However, Einstein came out with his Theory of Special Relativity in 1905 more than hundred years ago which said that no communication is possible with velocities greater than of light. However, in Quantum Mechanics entangled particles have been communicating with each other with superluminal velocities at least theoretically since the latter part of twenties with Bohr and “experimentally” since 1982 with the experiments carried out by Aspect. The recent “discovery” that neutrinos travel with superluminal velocities may or may not be correct as there could be experimental errors but the western Physicists have no alternative but to question the wisdom of Einstein. Now what is the truth? Could the particles travel with superluminal velocities as Newton assumed or not as was the opinion of Einstein? If the western Physicists are in the process of going back to Newton where does Truth lie? Are we to say that Truth lies with lies? Or that there is no difference between lies and Truth in an abstract way?

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

On so called scientific knowledge – II

We are concerned with knowledge and naturally two questions spring to mind. Now that sentence itself gives rise to another basic problem. Is it spring to mind or spring in the mind? I am not familiar with the usage in English but I am inclined to think that the first expression is in accordance with the English practice, whereas the second is the usual way of expressing it in Sinhala. In Sinhala one would say manasehi pena nagina prashana and not manasata peminena prashana. It is needless to say these differences make learning English difficult for Sinhala children and even in my old age I am still learning how to express myself in English. Leaving apart these differences in the two cultures for the time being I would mention that the two questions are what is knowledge and knowledge of what. There is no satisfactory definition of knowledge (there is no satisfactory definition of anything for that matter and definitions are involved in linear thinking) and we may formulate some of the auxiliary questions associated with the above two questions, namely is knowledge discovered or is it constructed and in either case who discovers or constructs knowledge, is there anything called true knowledge, does knowledge consists only of true propositions, what is meant by truth, what are illusions, delusions and hallucinations, are all propositions illusions, what are myths, etc. I tend to think the list of questions is very long and I would not attempt to answer all such questions, for the simple reason that the editor and above all the readers would not entertain the idea.

As I have said I am a failed western Theoretical Physicist and perhaps a failed Sinhala Buddhist “academic” as well. However, I tend to think that I have many things in common with Sinhala Buddhist culture than with western science. Sometimes it is said that western science is not a dogma, and the propositions or theories are only tentative. It is also said that according to Popper, in western science theories are falsifiable, and that the scientists attempt to falsify theories and western science advances through this process. Then there are others who claim that in western science theories gradually approach the truth though the theories may be approximate with respect to truth at best at present.

Even those who have an inclination to consider western science as non dogma have a tendency to treat non science as myth or non sense. That itself is a dogma as according to them western science is not a myth nor an illusion, delusion, hallucination. Some of those, if not all, ‘tentative theories” could have been myths, and not to treat them as myths while considering propositions in other systems as myths is not only dogmatic but hegemonic as well.

It is clear from the literature on knowledge, the western philosophical tradition is interested in the knowledge of an external world that exists independent of observers. With or without human observers, in the western tradition the animals who until recently did not have minds according to western biology which discovered the minds of the animals few years ago, are not considered as observers, the so called external world exists. Thus it is the knowledge of an external world independent of human observers that the westerners are interested in. Now what is meant by the knowledge of the external world, provided of course that we know that there is an external world? One could easily see that we go in a cycle and it is not consistent with Aristotelian logic which is two valued twofold and linear. In the Aristotelian scheme one is not allowed to define terms using the very same words and with respect to knowledge one is faced with the problem of defining knowledge in terms knowledge.

In order to know an external world one has to have knowledge of an external world that exists independent of human observers. Without knowing that there is an external world it is futile to attempt to have knowledge of the external world. Thus in order to have knowledge of an external world one should first know that an external world exists independent of human observers. Thus even before one could define the word knowledge, if it is possible at all, one has to know that an external world exists. Knowing that an external world exists independent of human observers, then to have knowledge of the external world in the western tradition, one should be able to both describe and explain the world.

One can say an object called the sun rises from a direction called the east and then having journeyed through the sky sets in the direction called the west. It is a description of what is believed to be happening in the external world and to that extent it is knowledge of the external world. Similarly one could say that the coconuts and apples fall to the ground or stones thrown upwards fall to the ground. Though these constitute descriptive knowledge of the so called external world, knowledge does not end there. Humans are very often not satisfied with description and want explanations. Explanations lead to theory and they in turn enable people to predict.

Now before we proceed, can we say that the description of sun’s journey constitutes knowledge? Is it an illusion? Is it a false interpretation of a phenomenon? Does the sun go round the earth? I believe that many of the educated would consider it as an illusion. However, for many ordinary people such as me it is a description of part of the world whether the existence of the world is a reality or not. It is a description according to some observers, and with respect to them the sun moves relative to the earth, while the earth remains at rest. However, one could always ask the following question. What is the object relative to which the earth is at rest? While people such as me are happy with the description that the sun moves around the earth and prepared to accept that it is (conventional) knowledge, there are others who are usually educated who would say that the earth goes around the sun without observing any motion of the earth with their eyes. Perhaps the educated people see the world through the eyes of the other people, and that may be one of the reasons that they are fond of quoting others.

Even those educated people who would consider the motion of the sun around the earth as an illusion or a false (not true) interpretation of a phenomenon and declare that the earth goes around the sun would not consider gravity as an illusion. Having said that the earth goes around the sun some would want to explain this description of a certain phenomenon. Though it is said that it was Copernicus who “discovered” that the earth moves around the sun it had been known to Bharath people for centuries, but if we allow Galileo to take the credit for propagating this “discovery” then the credit for explaining the phenomenon goes to Newton who is supposed to have “discovered” his universal theory of gravitation. In this case we see description being followed by explanation and Galileo and Newton or Copernicus and Newton form an ideal pair who combined in this game of description and explanation. As far as most of the educated people are concerned the theory of gravitation is not an illusion and they would vow that the coconuts fall to the ground because of gravitation. After all Newton’s theory of gravitation belongs to western Physics and it is still taught in our schools and universities in the Physics classes, not to mention the tuition classes of various sirs.

The theory of gravitation has become scientific knowledge, and when I asked a Cambridge educated senior lecturer in western Chemistry, after all Newton was at Cambridge, how he knew that gravitation exists, he said that he could feel it. Gravitation had become so much empirical to this Cambridge Doctor of Philosophy; he declared that he had sensory perception of gravity. Naturally I was interested in “discovering” the sense organ with which he felt gravitation. However, I was disappointed when I came to know that he has only the sense organs that the others have. (To be continued)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

On so called scientific knowledge - I

I am not sure whether Prof. Carlo Fonseka has any more memorial lectures, invited speeches delivered at august bodies, seminars etc., on scientific method, scientific process or whatever in store for us. However, he has so far discussed the so called scientific method in his articles and I am thankful to him for taking the trouble to reproduce his lectures on the so called scientific method. I must say at the outset that I am not in agreement with the statement that there is a scientific method, and as I have stated in Sinhala on many occasions this particular statement is a “pattapal boruwak” (damn lie). In this series of articles which will be interrupted as the necessity arises, I will attempt to outline what I consider to be knowledge, empiricism, reality, objectivity, paradigm, chinthanaya, domination of the world by the so called scientific knowledge, relativity of knowledge, science as western science and not as an objective system of knowledge, western knowledge as a tool of western colonialism, knowledge as a construction or creation and not as a discovery, absorption of knowledge constructed in one system by another system, nirmanathmaka sapekshathavadaya or constructive relativism which I consider as my contribution to epistemology, interpretation of Buddhism to the westerners by Sri Lankan Buddhist scholars etc. I only hope that the editor and the readers would bear with me for taking the space of the newspaper to write on topics which may not be interesting but boring very often. However, the present discussion on the Natha Deviyan and Arsenic compels me to pen down these words. In the process I may have to express certain views that are not in agreement with the “orthodox” Thervada Buddhism as accepted by the “praamaanika” scholars and I am looking forward for their responses.

I must also say that I am neither a Mathematician, Scientist nor a Philosopher but a person who wanted to be a scientist, a Theoretical Physicist for that matter, from the time I was at school, but failed miserably in that endeavor. Since about 1983, I have been teaching “anti science” at the universities except for a long sojourn at home thanks to some academics at the University of Colombo. A situation similar to that prevailed in the University of Colombo then has now arisen at the University of Kelaniya where some academics have all of a sudden realized that I am “anti science”. My break with science or western science was preceded by my break with Marxism in 1980, before the July strike, and I must say that my resignation from the NSSP was not caused by the July strike though some stalwarts of the party appear to think so. Ironically I broke away from Marxism on the grounds that Marxism was not scientific, though not in a Popperian sense and my long letter of resignation from the party was titled “Marxvadaya Vidyathmakada (Is Marxism scientific)”? My break from science came after I began to teach a course in Quantum Mechanics at the University of Colombo when I realized that no western paradigm within their chinthanaya could “explain” Quantum Mechanics. The words of Richard Feynman to the effect that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics speak volumes on that matter.

With that brief introduction we will get on with so called scientific knowledge, hereinafter called western scientific knowledge. Western science is said to be different from other systems of knowledge mainly due to the so called scientific method adapted therein. There are various expressions of scientific method, starting with what could be called the pre Popperian, then the Propperian and finally the Kuhnian. Of course, there are other shades of these expressions but for our discussion these three views are sufficient. I would not go into a discussion of the so called scientific method at this juncture, but I wish to bring to the attention of the readers that Paul Feyerabend in his “Against Method” and other books has shown that there is no scientific method as such. However, there is a difference between western knowledge after the so called Renaissance and the other systems of knowledge due to the revolution in the western Chinthanaya that took place mainly in Italy during the sixteenth century. I am of the view that it is not a method that was introduced by Galileo that differentiated western science from other systems of knowledge but the new Greek Judaic Christian Chinthanaya that was introduced by the Renaissance artists which was followed by Galileo, Newton and others in what are known as natural sciences. The same Chinthanaya has been followed in other areas of western knowledge within four important paradigms. The four paradigms have been Newtonian Paradigm, Thermodynamics Paradigm, Relativistic Paradigm and the Quantum Mechanics paradigm. It should be emphasized that there can be more than one Paradigm in a Chinthanaya and so called Postmodernist Social Sciences and Humanities have failed dismally in trying to get adapted to Quantum Mechanics Paradigm. In any event all these Paradigms work within Apo, Thejo, Vayo and Patavi and have blissfully ignored the fifth Bhutha according to South Asian Chinthanayas namely Akasa.

I will go against peer reviewing and first publishing in so called international journals and mention a few words on Akasa Shakthi. In 1997 it was observed that the universe has been expanding with acceleration for millions of years, though at the very beginning, a typical Judaic Christian concept, it had been expanding with deceleration. Many stories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon and they could be categorized under the so called cosmological constant and quintessence theories. All these stories are supposed to describe what is known as the dark energy, a form of energy of which the westerners do not know anything at present. Anything not clear is dark or black for the white skinned westerners and no wonder they come up with terms such as dark energy, dark matter and black holes. I have been working on this problem with my students and I am of the view that so called dark energy is nothing but Akasa Shakthi or energy due to space time. This energy is measured by the cosmological parameter which we consider to be a variable rather than a constant. The dark energy could be converted into matter and radiation and vice versa. We have worked out some models based on Akasa Shakthi which is the fifth of the pancha maha bhutha that has been ignored by the westerners. The universe expands with acceleration when the Akasa Shakthi density is greater than the energy density of matter radiation and also that due to pressure. The Akasa Shakthi may be invisible as Natha Deviyo to us but then so is the gravitational force or the field and the curvature tensor in General Relativity. We will discuss this in more detail under empiricism.

In this series of articles knowledge within a Chinthanaya is considered to be one single whole though in different paradigms and different areas such as Physical Sciences, Social sciences, Humanities they may take different forms. Even Ethics is defined within a Chinthanaya and is relative in that sense. For example Buddhist ethics is defined relative to Nibbana, and Nibbana though cannot be defined but attained is associated with Buddhist Chinthanaya. In fact, this is only an expression in English, I do not believe in absolute or objective facts which are not theory dependent, Nibbana is not even a concept just as much anicca, dukka and anatma are not concepts. Certainly anicca is not impermanence, nor the opposite of nithya or permanent, and if it was the case we could have understood anicca long time ago without going through our sansaric journey. Thus concepts such as reality or yathartha cannot be used with respect to anicca though some tend to think that anicca is Buddhist yathartha. (To be continued)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Devivaru Arsenic and Science V

Dr. Upali Samarajeewa in his article on 27th July expresses the view that the Kelaniya group that is on a “great mission to prove” that the Rajarata Kidney Disease is “due to exposure of humans to Arsenic” “start by attacking views of all other scientists examining the possible origins of the disease”. He claims that then we “create fear among the public with a story of high concentrations of arsenic in rice and water”. He admits that we presented our case at a seminar of the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Management in March 2011, which according to him was “later released to a local science tabloid.” Then according to his script “the story expands next to pesticides (conveniently forgetting their (Kelaniya group’s) earlier claims of high concentrations of arsenic in rice and water) and later takes a different turn that arsenic is added to pesticides at various points in the distribution chain, when they find that their arguments do not hold any more in the light of test reports coming out from an internationally accredited laboratory.” He further states that “manipulating their own data to suit the occasions has become a feature of these scientists”.

I must inform Dr. Samarajeewa that we are certainly not on a mission great or otherwise as we are not missionaries of any faith or belief, unlike the great scientists in Sri Lanka who are no more than glorified technicians not having introduced any concept theory or idea, who follow some procedures (some of which are called process by Prof. Carlo Fonseka), and who are on a mission on behalf of the western Christian science. Dr. Samarajeewa like all missionaries wants to attack the others while blaming the others for attacking him and the other missionaries. If he is not attacking our views what is he doing writing all these articles to the newspapers? I have no objections when he attacks us as we not being missionaries who follow Budun Vahanse would tolerate any opposing views.

We have reasons to believe (all the so called theories including Newton’s gravitational theory are nothing but beliefs or stories at best) that Rajarata Kidney Disease is caused by Arsenic through Calcium Arsenate that dissolves in water at certain temperatures at certain acidic levels indicated by the pH values. We have not deviated from this story and we have not dropped our claim that Arsenic is present in rice and water. In fact if Arsenic is not present in water in some form there is no possibility of Arsenic causing the Rajarata Kidney disease according to our script? (Please remember that Newton wrote his script on gravitation in the seventeenth century). In our script Arsenic goes into the system through drinking water that has a content of Calcium Arsenate.

We have not attempted to create fear among the public by claiming a high concentration of Arsenic in rice and water but only attempted to make them aware of the conditions. As I have repeatedly said the presence of Arsenic in rice had been known to great scientists such as Prof. Ranjith Jayasekera the cadre Senior Professor of Botany at the University of Kelaniya since 2004 or so and we were the fourth group to find Arsenic in rice. However, as we have said rice was not our main concern as we were interested in Rajarata Kidney Disease that was not caused by rice. People have been aware of the presence of “vasa visa” (poison) in pesticides and also in what we eat because of the use of pesticides in agriculture for sometime and our disclosure was not a surprise to most of them. In fact some have been engaged in other forms of agriculture such as organic farming in order to avoid poisonous substances for more than at least two decades. Al that we did was to identify Arsenic as one of the poisonous substances in the pesticides.

It was not only Arsenic that we had identified in pesticides but Mercury as well. We have announced this at various seminars and at least one other laboratory has reported on the presence of Mercury in pesticides. In fact the Devivaru had indicated the presence of other toxic matter in the pesticides, which will be disclosed in the near future. Dr. Samarajeewa makes a lame effort to accuse us of changing our claims when according to him our data are shown to be invalid by an internationally accredited laboratory. We have never done so and we must say that internationally accredited laboratories are in now confirming our results though the scientists of the caliber of Dr. Samarajeewa may not be aware of the latest developments.

We have not claimed that Arsenic or any toxic matter is added to pesticides at one or many points in the distribution chain but if the manufacturers of the pesticides claim that what they had exported are free of toxic matter and if we believe them, then Arsenic and other toxic matter have to be added somewhere along the line from the point of export to the point of distribution to the retail traders. It is also possible that the exporters are not telling the truth and that they export pesticides with one or many toxic substances. In this regard I wish to quote the following from the 3rd June 2009 issue of “Daily Nation” published in Kenya.

‘The Kenya Bureau of standards (Kebs) said the entire 20,000 tonnes of DAP fertilizer from the United States contained “very high” levels of poisonous elements – arsenic and cadmium. The agency said these would manifest themselves in crops if the fertilizer was used. On Wednesday, a Kenya Navy ship was said to be patrolling the area, with officers under strict instructions to keep vigilance and ensure the vessel carrying the fertilizer sails back.’

Of course this has happened two years ago in Kenya soon after the LTTE was defeated in Sri Lanka. It may be that we did not have time to look into the problems created by the importers of agrochemicals during the time LTTE was in action with the aid of self same westerners who export these chemicals to the Asian and African countries. Unfortunately the Afro Asian countries are not only in disarray but are dominated by western thinking and knowledge including western science and they can hardly do anything about dumping of toxic matter in the form of agrochemicals by the westerners. We are in a tricky situation as the westerners who export agrochemical with poisonous matter could ban our agricultural exports to them claiming that they contain toxic matter. The only way forward is to develop our own methods without depending on the so called scientific agriculture using agrochemicals produced in the west and the “Arsenic studies” group at Kelaniya is concerned with developing “Sinhala govikama” and of course our own science.

It is in this regard we have deliberately deviated from so called scientific process and obtained help from Devivaru who have instructed on “govikama” as well. It is not organic farming that we practice and the Science Faculty at the University of Kelaniya has already finished with four “kannas” on an experimental level in a paddy field near Kadawatha.

We have already divulged our methods to ITI and we are now testing in collaboration with them for Arsenic in pesticides.

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Devivaru, Arsenic and Science - III

My reply to Prof. Carlo Fonseka can be postponed as it is more abstract, and compels me to go into a discussion on the so called Scientific Method at a deeper level than in the case of replies to Professors Oliver Ileperuma and Upali Samarajeewa. Currently what is more important is the direct impact of the comments by these learned scientists on research into the Rajarata Kidney disease and I would like to delve into the articles by Professors Ileperuma and Samarajeewa. Mr. Suranimala’s article that appeared on 11th July needs no elaborate reply as he is arguing at the level of a schoolboy. He merely says if Devivaru are capable of identifying Arsenic in samples of soil and water then there is no use of laboratories and scientists as the Devivaru could advice us on everything. The fallacy of his argument lies exactly there. From the experience of Arsenic he generalizes to other phenomena as well without knowing that even if the Devivaru are capable of giving us knowledge on all topics in a given field, they would not do so for the simple reason that their “divya balaya” would vanish if they do so. I do not want to go into a detailed discussion on this and all that I have to say at this juncture is that the samyak drshtika devivaru would communicate to us only that knowledge needed to make Sri Lanka a Dharmadweepa again. The devivaru are interested in taking out the farmers from the modern western agriculture which not only adds poison to food, in spite of so called food scientists of the caliber of world renowned Dr. Upali Samarajeewa who describes himself as an international expert in laboratory accreditation addressing the food safety issues associated with global trade, but also kills pests. It may be that in this era of super specialization Dr. Samarajeewa’s expertise is more on laboratory accreditation rather than directly on food safety issues. The devivaru are interested also in the welfare of the pests and also of the farmers, and want the latter to refrain from killing pests using pesticides with or without Arsenic. They are also interested in curing the Rajarata Kidney patients and any knowledge communicated to us would be along those lines. Certainly the devivaru would not tell us in advance the winner of the next one day international match Sri Lanka cricket team would play nor the winner of the next horse race.

We will first take Dr. Samarajeewa who albeit being an international expert has not done his homework properly. For example in his article on the 24th of June in “The Island” he says: “According to the information released to the press by the scientists who claim presence of arsenic in Sri Lankan rice, they have detected concentrations of 0.1 ppm. According to the information released by ITI concentrations of 0.334, 0.166 and 0.370 have been reported for 3 out of 28 samples tested and the Agriculture Department has indicated that those breed lines reported by ITI to be high, would be withdrawn. While these findings indicate presence of arsenic, the detected concentrations need not be used to create a public alarm, rather than addressing at the forum of scientists to bring in necessary controls, if required.” The figures he quotes from ITI are related to three brands of pesticides and not rice. A world renowned scientist is not supposed to mix data whether with respect to arsenic or food.

It has to be stated that the Registrar of Pesticides (RoP) is trying to confuse people or he is confused as to what is found in the samples of pesticides. We at Kelaniya have analysed 28 samples of pesticides and found that all of them contain Arsenic to some extent or other. The ITI on the other hand found Arsenic in 9 of the samples. What we are interested is in the presence of Arsenic and not with whether Arsenic found is associated with certain Chemicals or not. When the (RoP) tells the public pesticides contain only in three chemicals people are confused to say the least.

In any event our primary investigation is not on the presence of Arsenic in rice as we are interested in finding the cause(s) of Rajarata Kidney Disease and in finding a cure for the unfortunate victims who have no hope whatsoever in western medicine that does not know the origin of the disease. We have found Arsenic in rice though not in somewhat high proportion it is found in rice produced in USA. Rice has been given prominence by the media and unfortunately the government and some well meaning people have fallen into the trap of the importers of pesticides. They claim that there is no Arsenic in any pesticide that they import, but the Sri Lanka customs has taken steps to retain some containers with pesticides for presence of Arsenic based on tests done at other laboratories as well. Apparently these importers want to file a case against me in the courts of Sri Lanka, and I welcome the idea as I would be able to address the people from the courts. If somebody wants to ring the alarm bell on Arsenic in rice let him do so but for us it is not a big issue as rice is not a cause of the Rajarata Kidney Disease and we know that people do not die as a result of eating rice and curry.

Dr. Samarajeewa concentrates on his pet topic of method. Almost all the scientists in Sri Lanka are engaged in normal science in a Kuhnian sense and they are very much bothered about the so called scientific method though not in the sense of Prof. Carlo Fonseka. It is unfortunate that almost all the so called scientists in Sri Lanka are technicians who follow standard techniques given in text books or research papers, and most of them would not have heard of Popper, Kuhn or Feyarabend. I have come across Professors in Chemistry in Sri Lanka who have not heard of Theoretical Chemistry. For most of the so called scientists in Sri Lanka the scientific method is nothing but procedure that has to be adopted when doing tests. It is all about collection of samples, testing them under so called proper conditions, washing of test tubes and beakers, digestion, heating, using acids and other chemicals with “proper” concentrations etc. These may be important but as far as the scientific method in epistemology is concerned they are mundane practices and nothing more. I am not a believer in the scientific method even in an epistemological sense and I am more than happy to hear that the importers of pesticides have decided to indict me in courts as it will give me an opportunity to show not only that there is no scientific method but that matters concerned with science can be decided by people with no formal knowledge of science. This is an important issue as it has repercussion in the area of publication in so called research journals on which “scientists” such as Dr. Samarajeewa have very adamant views.

For these so called scientists the most important in western science are the so called method which is nothing other than procedures and publication in peer reviewed scientific journals. As I mentioned last week Dr. Samarajeewa has given inadvertently an example that goes against his argument that the western scientists should publish in peer reviewed journals. He has mentioned the case of a brilliant scientist from Sri Lanka who had withdrawn an article published in Nature (Nature and Science are supposed to be the pinnacle of scientific journals) after it was shown by scientists other than the reviewers that the content and conclusions, not the so called method according to Dr. Samarajeewa and others, were wrong. I have been informed that, according to an article published in “The Economist” some thirty percent of the papers published in Nature and Science after peer reviewing are found to be wrong within two or three years of publication. So much for so called peer reviewing by experts in the field.

Publication of scientific journals is also big business with Nature group publishing more than thirty journals. Research is funded by armed forces, big companies like agro chemical producers, government in countries such as Sri Lanka through the Universities, research institutes etc., and publication of scientific journals is not different from publication of newspapers as far as the proprietors are concerned. There is no democracy at all in the publication industry in the field of science, and proliferation of scientific journals in the recent past gives ample testimony to the control of these journals by big industry.

I am for publication in journals (may be e journals) without so called peer reviewing to which even the general public can contribute and should have access in any event. The fact that the Arsenic issue has become public is good as after all it is the politicians who would finally take important decisions regarding banning or not of pesticides with any toxic material. The politicians however corrupt they may be are responsible to the people, and at least once in a few years they have to go before the public, where as the so called scientists are not responsible to the general public once they are appointed to various posts. The politicians when they have to take decisions will have to consider the will of the public at least to a certain extent and we have to make science or knowledge for that matter of the official practitioners. As said of war, science (western or otherwise) is too serious business to be left in the hands of scientists only.

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Devivaru, Arsenic and Science - II

A number of Sri Lankan “scientists” have expressed their opinions on Arsenic and Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease (RCKD) and also on the so called scientific method. Prof. Ajit Abeysekera is mainly interested in seeing that our work is published in a peer reviewed journal so that the information is available in the public domain. We are in the process of publishing our results in a journal or proceedings of a scientific session of an “accepted” association but in the meantime I must say if anybody is interested in our method of detecting Arsenic in “hard water” found in Rajarata areas we could provide it without waiting for the publication, provided of course we are requested to do so in writing. In fact we have provided the method to Water Resource Board and they have tested positive for Arsenic and also for Mercury in samples provided by the Sri Lankan customs. Thus in a sense the information is already in the public domain though the “publications are not peer reviewed as such”. I thank Prof. Abeysekera for his suggestion but I have to reiterate my position, albeit not that of the Kelaniya group, that I prefer to publish my original work in newspapers as they can be judged by a bigger audience, though they may not be so called experts in the field. I must also sate that peer reviewing does not make sure that a paper is “correct” as it is judged by only two experts and I doubt very much that the reviewers carry out the experiments themselves to see that the methods and contents are correct. In fact in certain cases the samples are not available to them and they can only check whether the standard procedure had been followed. The real testing comes only after the publication, by other groups interested in the work and in our case any group is free to test our method in their laboratories without waiting for the publication. The case pointed out by Prof. Upali Samarajeewa regarding a paper published in Nature which had to be apparently withdrawn subsequently, in fact goes against what he wishes to establish. I will discuss this in more detail later when I come to the articles by Professors Ileperuma and Samrajeewa hopefully in the next installment.

For the moment I would like to concentrate on what Prof. Carlo Fonseka has written on Arsenic, RCKD and scientific process. While Professors Ileperuma and Samarajeewa, attempt to find fault with “playing god” Prof. Fonseka has no objection to receiving ideas from devivaru. I quote Prof. Fonseka at length from his article on “Aesenic, RCKD and scientific process” published on 22nd June in the Midweek Review. “In practice the scientific process is HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE. This means that it essentially involves formulating a hypothesis to explain a given set of observations in the real world and then deducing consequences from the hypothesis which can be rigorously tested experimentally to see whether the results square with the hypothesis. A hypothesis is simply an explanatory conjecture. Therefore formulating a hypothesis means nothing more than having some explanatory idea. The process of having ideas itself is, of course, outside logic. Therefore Prof. Nalin de Silva’s claim that the idea (hypothesis) that Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease (RCKD) is caused by arsenic came from devivaru is totally acceptable as a hypothesis. The pragmatist American philosopher C.S. Peirce (1839 – 1914) once said that hypotheses often come from "the spontaneous conjectures of instinctive reasoning." Thus, how the hypothesis that RCKD is caused by arsenic came to Prof. de Silva does not matter at all. The important thing is to test it rigorously to see whether it is true. Prof. Ajit has lucidly laid down the procedure acceptable to modern science for doing so.

I believe that what scientists should do is to offer explanations for things that happen in real life that others can verify for themselves for the purpose of promoting human welfare. Nobel Laureate for Medicine Sir Peter Medawar, FRS, once remarked that are building explanatory structures, telling stories which are scrupulously tested to see if they are stories about real life." The Kelaniya group of scientists are also telling us stories and they must be scrupulously tested along the lines suggested by Prof. Ajit. Who knows, they may turn out to be true. For my part, I do not believe that devivaru can help us one bit to achieve anything worthwhile in this world. In fact, I have been in the business of trying to demonstrate scientifically that some ‘miraculous’ things allegedly done entirely through the help of devivaru can be done without their help at all. I know, however, that for me to claim that my demonstrations are ‘scientific’ I am obliged to go through the process that Scientist Ajit Abeysekera has prescribed. Forty-one years ago I presented evidence to the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) that fire-walking can be done without divine aid. I give notice here that this year I expect to present evidence to SLAAS that there is nothing supernatural about the ritualistic ‘hanging on hooks’.”

I believe in the Sinhala Buddhist approach and for me “ehi passiko” or come and see is a better method than quoting experts, specialists or books. I am not a person who would quote chapter a verse an essentially Biblical approach. Our methods of detecting Arsenic in hard water and other substances are there for anybody to see, and if they come to our laboratories, after testing them in the tradition of Mahavira Bhikkus who tested Ven. Buddhaghosa Thera we will allow them to work there and see for themselves whether the method is correct. However, at the same time I know that the western Judaic Christian tradition is hegemonic at present and for the sake of western scientists trained in that tradition we have to adopt their methods as well if we want to get our results accepted by them. Personally that problem does not occur to me as I am not interested in their acceptance of my ideas and methods.

Prof. Peirce may be a world renowned philosopher as they say but even without him we know that ideas do not come in a logical manner. The logic, which is none other than the Aristotelian logic for the overwhelming majority of scientists is only an abstraction of day to day sensory perceptible experience. The problem is that there are extra sensory perceptible experience where Aristotelian logic is thoroughly inadequate. In our day to day experience we know that an object can be only at one position at a given time (it has to be emphasised that even time is an abstract concept, and cannot be perceived by human beings. Time is our creation or “pannaththi” in the words of Ven. Buddhaghosa Thera. Time arises or this particular concept – pannaththi is created by human beings, and perhaps by some other animals as well, due to change and our memory. If there is no change or no memory there is no need for the pannaththi called time) but it is possible for some objects (for example Quantum particles) to exist at more than one place at a given time. Prof. Fonseka who is familiar with Buddhist ideas would probably remember the story of Ven. Cullapanthaka Tissa Thera in this regard, though the Thera cannot be compared with Quantum particles. However, sometime ago when I was working on a reinterpretation of Quantum Mechanics I got the idea of a particle existing at different places at the same time from the story of Ven. Cullapanthaka Tissa Thera in our culture.

The ideas come in different ways to different people and I am glad that unlike Prof. Ileperuma and Samarajeewa Prof. Fonseka has no quarrel about the origin of ideas. However, it appears that even with respect to western Philosophy of Science Prof. Fonseka still lives in a pre Popperian world and he does not seem to follow Popper, Kuhn, Feyarabend or any other modern western philosophers of science. I must say that I am not insisting that Prof. Fonseka should follow them. However, the so called hypothetico – deductive method is not consistent with the development of western science. (To be continued) (2011/06/29 -The Island)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva