Sustained scientific debate, sometimes scientific controversyAnne E. Egger, Ph.D., and Ph.D. Anthony Carpi. “Scientific Controversy: Process of Science.” Visionlearning, Visionlearning, Inc., 12 Feb. 2017, www.visionlearning.com/en/library/Process-of-Science/49/Scientific-Controversy/181.
/ref> or persistent disagreement,
/ref> is any a substantial disagreement among

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

s. A scientific controversy may involve issues such as the interpretation of

data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...

, which ideas are most supported by

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

, and which ideas are most worth pursuing. Controversies between scientific and non-scientific ideas are not within the realm of science and are not true scientific controversies.What Controversy: Is a Controversy Misrepresented or Blown out of Proportion?, undsci.berkeley.edu/article/0_0_0/sciencetoolkit_06.
/ref> A genuine scientific controversy entails an ongoing discussion within the wider scientific community. Well known examples include the debate over the existence of the atom that lasted until the turn of the 20th century, the Bohr–Einstein debates, the

linguistics wars The linguistics wars were extended disputes among American theoretical linguists that occurred mostly during the 1960s and 1970s, stemming from a disagreement between Noam Chomsky and several of his associates and students. The debates started in ...

, or the debate over the causes of ADHD.

Academic debate

Scientific discourse happens almost exclusively in writing. Before speaking on a conference, scientists will have written on their subject. Everything prior to writing is usually considered

scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and medieval world. The ...

Science-related public debate

Conflict with beliefs

In the situation of even presenting clear and scientifically proven evidence, people will always have their own opinion. "Controversy can be rooted in differing beliefs and values; personal, political, social, and economic interests; fears; and moral and ethical considerations—all of which are central to decisions and typically subject to public debate"."Home - Books - NCBI." National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books.
/ref> As described above, individuals have their opinions based on various subjects such as culture, history, ethics, morals, religion, and more. This leads the stance on certain scientific topics to be very different across the board as perceptions vary from person to person, this is the ultimate reason why scientific controversy exists, to begin with. Science-related controversies often follow similar characteristics. # Conflict over personal beliefs, values, and interests # Public perception # Voices behind opinions presented to the public

Nature of science-related public controversies

With science being inconclusive in itself, it leads to a disconnect between individuals. Oftentimes, science gets roped into personal morals and social values which leads to contrasting ideas.What Are Personal Morals and Values?, askinglot.com/what-are-personal-morals-and-values.
/ref> This arises the issue of communicating science in an appropriate manner. Listed below, there are some of the various examples of scientific controversies.

References

{{Science and technology studies Philosophy of science

Academic debate

Science-related public debate

Conflict with beliefs

Nature of science-related public controversies

See also

References