text:
User:Nicola.georgiou/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar group 4/History

Early medicine
-	Differed between cultures, development came at different times in different places -	Witchdoctors -	Herbal remedies -	Gods/ religion -	Trial and error -	Alternative medicine -	Serious and disabling diseases treated as having supernatural causes. -	Ayurveda

Modern medicine -	The enlightenment 19th century -	Treating science as reason rather than philosophical -	Factory working due to industrial revolution – spread of infectious disease -	Western medicine. More common in western developed countries.

The emergence of medicine as a specific disciplines came at the time of the enlightenment. The concept of a ‘doctor’ had been around long before, but specific research into medicine, especially in the case of infectious diseases in the development of ‘germ theory’. Louis Pasteur is accredited with groundbreaking research into microbiology. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the discipline of medicine was created. Physicians in the UK in the 18th century were reported to have created their own ‘medical schools’ training students and employing apprentices, beginning the creation of established medical schools in Europe where students could obtain essential practical experience. Following this, a Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Medicine degrees were offered at the College of Philadelphia in the late 17th century.

Clearly the focus here is of the development of the Western medical discipline, thus the history of medicine differs both culturally and geographically. Colonial ties between the UK and US allowed the discipline to form similarly in both countries. However, the development of disciplines such as psychology alongside medicine meant that research into mental and physical health has historically been undertaken separately. Whereas pre-19th century, health was looked at more holistically, albeit not scientifically as we know it today, nowadays the various aspects of mental and physical health tend to be treated as distinct. A criticism of this approach is that often mental and physical health can have a direct impact on each other. Thus an interdisciplinary approach into research for both could yield innovative development into improvement of overall health, and furthermore question the way in which the UK’s NHS carries out treatment.

What is truth in medicine?
•In medicine, the decision on whether or not to treat someone or relieve them of moral responsibility relies on if that person has a disease.

•	Health vs disease – sometimes give a more holistic approach especially in modern medicine.

•	Basic concepts in Medicine/ words used – diagnosis, prognosis, disease, treatment, drugs.

Scientific Objectivity in Medicine:

Truth is rooted in culture - medicine is a scientific ‘subculture’ Can it obtain objective truth? (Assuming this exists)

Aims for scientific objectivity

Observations —> theories (based on clinical and scientific evidence)

Paradigm: Evidence = truth Theory = inference

• theories and hypotheses guide research and experimentation - do they take away from objectivity?

• Empirical research - positivist approach

• Medicine also considers patient experience - interpretive approach

Mix of positivist and pluralist

• ‘truths’ of basic medical knowledge e.g. systems in the body and how they work

• An incomplete science - doctors look at the best evidence to make a recommendation

Science should explain the world that we experience through our senses ... however “The history of science is a tale of multifarious shiftings of allegiance from theory to theory”

• so does medicine even concern itself with truth?

• Looking for objective truth can limit a holistic approach to health and wellbeing

Sources for History and Truth in Medicine

Fee E. The first American medical school: the formative years. The Lancet [Internet]. 2015;385(9981):1940-1941. Available from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60950-3/fulltext#articleInformation

Grant Gillett, 2006 ‘Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine’, BioMed Central volume 1, Article 13 (15th October core lecture on Truth

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323538.php#medical-milestones-20th-century

(Joint research by Anna Pysander and Charlotte Oglesby)

History in Mental Health
Mental health is a branch of medicine which rightfully belongs in other disciplines too, notably psychology. The term 'mental health' was coined in the early 1900s when practitioners were engaging with asylum patients in efforts to reduce stigma surrounding the condition. The term 'mental health' replaced the widely contested terms 'madness', 'lunacy' and 'insanity', but in fact it was Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights which served as catalyst for the new terminology.

It was only after the Second World War where mental illness was considered seriously, as charities seemed to gain funding for research. Initial funds into the topic gravitated around treating shell shock of war veterans because in the 1940s, this was the only facet that was free of stigma. Prejudice inducing a ceiling on the research methods for a long time, before a multi-disciplinary psychiatric conference took place in 1950s which spearheaded the movement onwards.

Over the past decades, mental health has grown in public awareness with approximately 1 in 4 people suffering in the UK alone. It would seem that there is an ongoing issue to address the mental well-being of people today.

History in Neuroscience (Written by Maria Blackburn, Manca Rakun and Iris Perigaud-Grünfeld)
Neuroscience came from various disciplines such as neurology, biology, physiology, psychology and philosophy. It focuses on understanding the brain and its evolution. It studies different parts of the brain and their structure and function, in order to, for example, understand how memory works and cure diseases.

The study of the brain began in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians had a custom of embalming their deads and in the process, they removed most of internal organs, including brain,which helped them to gain knowledge about human anatomy and its function.

In 1664, T. Willis, in his book Anatomy of the Brain, used the term "neuroscience" for the first time.

In the second part of the 19th century and in the beginning of 20th century, scientists made a lot of improvement in the understanding of the nervous system - these discoveries consequently led to the development of neuroscience.

In 1837, J.E. Purkinje is the first man to describe a neurone. S. Ramon y Cajal wrote History of the Nervous System which is still a reference to explain the nervous system and understand the structure of the brain.

Neuroscience was recognised as a distinct discipline in the 1960s. New technologies like MRI (Magnetic Reasonance Imaging) had a real impact on the development of discipline. For example, in 1992, with an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), the activities of the brain were mapped for the first time. Neuroscience underwent a paradigm shift in the discovery of the link between the gut microbiome and the brain. Previously, gut microbes have been studied extensively in relation to digestion and immune systems but had not linked to psychiatry or neurological research. The shift came after the old 'normal' paradigm could no longer account for anomalies such as Toxoplasmosis gondii optimising reproduction by attacking a host's defensive and sexual brain function, and suspected altered gut microbiota being related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The paradigm shift/scientific revolution of the characterisation of the gut macrobiotic and the many new possibilities of research between neuroscience and gut bacteria will make clinical neuroscience more holistic, using a complex systems thinking approach as previously separate systems are now shown to be interlinked.

Sources

Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience, Steven Rose

https://brainworldmagazine.com/a-very-brief-history-of-neuroscience/

https://www.bna.org.uk/about/our-history/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661309002848

https://www.dana.org/article/truth-lies-and-false-memories-neuroscience-in-the-courtroom/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0952-3383.2004.00352.x

https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=_GMeW9E1IB4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR17&dq=neuroscience+history&ots=koT2DUBYe_&sig=0bH3Y-bcHrMVJCd6VQN089nW6Mk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=neuroscience%20history&f=false

House PK, Vyas A, Sapolsky R. Predator cat odors activate sexual arousal pathways in brains of Toxoplasma gondii infected rats. PLoS One. 2011;6:e23277. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023277.

Mayer EA, Knight R, Mazmanian SK, Cryan JF, Tillisch K. Gut microbes and the brain: paradigm shift in neuroscience. J Neurosci. 2014;34(46):15490–15496. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3299-14.2014

Mayer EA, Padua D, Tillisch K. Altered brain-gut axis in autism: comorbidity or causative mechanisms? Bioessays. 2014a;36:933–939. doi: 10.1002/bies.201400075.

Shakespeare: using relative and absolute historical truth
There has been a paradigm shift in how Shakespeare’s works are experienced over time. Instead of being enjoyed, as it was historically both for the lewd jokes by the uneducated and for the grandeur by the monarchy as they were at the time of writing, Shakespeare’s works now command reverence and respect which holds many people back from interaction and enjoyment with Shakespeare.

In modern interpretations of Shakespeare, theatre companies employ a range of techniques to nod to the historical context. One is adding modern references and technology to his plays to give the audience the same relative experience of inclusivity and modernity that the original audience enjoyed. For example, witchcraft was King James I’s biggest fear, so the opening of the Macbeth involving three witches would have terrified the original audiences. Nowadays, fears often centre around Artificial Intelligence, so some theatre companies decide to keep the historical feeling of fear rather than the literal historical witches in their modern adaptations. There are also modern moves towards going back to the literal original performances by using original pronunciation, an accent combining many regional accents thought to be the accent used by Shakespearian actors and audiences, rather than received pronunciation. Original pronunciation speeds the speech up and gives a clearer overall understanding of the works, increasing the understanding and accessibility to all audiences.

Modern Shakespeare adaptations use history in different ways: relative continuity and absolute historical truth in the original performance style.

Crystal, B. Shakespeare on Toast

The British Library. (2019). Character analysis: The Witches in Macbeth. [online] Available at: https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/character-analysis-the-witches-in-macbeth [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

Torch.ox.ac.uk. (2019). What happens when AI meets Shakespeare? | TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities. [online] Available at: https://www.torch.ox.ac.uk/article/what-happens-when-ai-meets-shakespeare [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

History of Physics
The origin of Physics: We think that the laws of physics first appeared after the big bang event which occured around 13.8 billion years ago. Physics of particles first appeared when the first protons, electrons and neutrons were formed and started to create atomic nucleus and atoms. Then, physical matter expanded with the formation of the first stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters.

The origin of Physics as a discipline: One of the earliest forms of Physics/Natural Sciences as a field of study was Astronomy, which was explored even before 3000BC by early civilizations for example in Mesopotamia. The planets were seen as representatives of gods by some early civilizations and therefore particularly interesting to study. A very basic and predictive knowledge of position and motion of stars was developed. Lack evidence but lay foundation for later study.

History of Chemistry
The discipline of Chemistry can be defined as the scientific study of matter an of its interactions. The roots of chemistry can be traced back at a very early age, as far as the prehistoric times. From the prehistoric times to the beginning of the Christian era, Natural philosophers like Democritus and Aristotle, tried to explain natural laws of the environment by using deductive reasoning. Democritus claimed that atoms were the smallest and simplest unit of matter. According to Democritus, atoms could differ in shape and sizes, were indestructible and always in motion. In addition, he claimed that atoms existed in an infinite number and that empty space lied between them. On the other hand, Aristotle elaborated the for elements theory which stated that all matter is composed of fire, air water and earth. Aristotle also proclaimed that matter has for properties; it can be either hot, cold, dry or wet. From the beginning of the Christian era, around 300 BC, to the 17th century, alchemists that were deeply influenced by Aristotle’s ideas, used experimental methods to attempt to convert matter. For example, alchemists tried to convert metals into gold. One could claim that modern chemistry emerged from both of these early disciplines, natural philosophy and Alchemy.

The discipline of modern chemistry, as we know it today, developed in the 17th century with the beginning of the scientific method. The scientific method emerged from the combination of experimental and deductive reasoning. In 1605, Francis Bacon published The Providence and Advancement of Learning with provides a description of this new reasoning method. The scientific method involves an initial observation, an hypothesis based on the observation and an experiment. Based on the results of the experiment, the hypothesis can be accepted, refined or eliminated.

Since the 17th century many scientific discoveries were made using the scientific method. In 1778, Antoine Lavoisier, known as “the father of modern chemistry” discovered that combustion involved the combination of dioxygen with another substance. Lavoisier also published the Traité Elemetaire de la Chime, the first modern chemistry text book, in which he defined the law of conservation of mass. In 1808, John Dalton published the New System of Chemical Philosophy which provides the first modern scientific description of the atomic theory, which states that matter is composed by atoms. This text also provides a description of the law of multiple proportions, which state that elements combine in the ration of small whole numbers. In 1869, Mendeleev established its periodic table which contains 63 out of the 118 elements known today. Mendeleev arranged the elements on the basis of their atomic mass.

The discoveries of electron, nucleus, proton and neutron where made between 1897 and 1932. In 1897, the electron was discovered by J. J. Thomson. Thomson made the discovery of the negatively charged particles with the Cathode Ray Tube experiment. He measured the value of the charge by mass ratio (e/m= 1.76×108 ). In 1909, Robert Millikan determined the charge of an electron (-1.60×10^-19−Coulombs), with the oil drop experiment. He was then able to calculate the mass of an electron (9.1×10^-28 g) with Thomson’s e/m ratio. In 1909, Rutherford discovers the nucleus and the proton with the Gold Foil Experiment. Based on his observations, Rutherford concluded that most of the volume of an atom was empty space and that the number of electrons of an atom was the same as its number of protons in order to have an overall electoral neutrality. In 1913, Niels Bohr introduced the Bohr model of the atom where electrons move around the nucleus in strictly defined orbits. 1932 Chadwick discovers the neutron, a particle in the nucleus with no charge and the same mass as protons.

In 1934, Irene Curie and Frederic Curie discovered that radioactive elements could be artificially created with the bombardment of alpha particles on certain elements.

Sources: Columbia.edu. (2019). Chemistry History. [online] Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/chemistry/chem-c2507/navbar/chemhist.html [Accessed 8 Dec. 2019].

Padakshep.org. (2019). Structure of atom: Discovery of electrons, protons and neutrons – Open Teaching Project. [online] Available at: http://padakshep.org/otp/subjects/chemistry/physical-chemistry/discovery-of-electrons-protons-and-neutrons/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2019].

History of Cinema
Cinema is the art or technique of making motion pictures dedicated to the public. Cinema appeared at the end of the nineteenth century, more precisely in 1891, date at which the first camera was fabricated. The Edison Company in the United States successfully demonstrated a prototype of the kinetoscope, which is a great invention, allowing one person at a time to watch moving pictures. However, cinema is most of the time related to the Lumiere brothers'. Indeed, they inaugurated the cinematograph in 1897, which is both a camera and a spotlight. It is an important improvement of the kinetoscope of Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. It enabled audiences to watch together a movie projected on a wall.

After that, seeing a movie became popular. Until 1914, when the World War I started, film industry rose greatly. American, European, Russian industries etc. were producing and distributing more and more movies for the general public. Going to the movies was a common activity and generated huge revenue. There was a great improvement with longer and narrative movies.

However, during World War I, movies were clearly limited in Europe, which allowed the American industry to grow.

Then, sounds were add to movies. At first, they used phonographic cylinders or discs to add sounds to the motion pictures. However, it was then replaced by an optical density soundtrack to have synchronized sound. This was one of the biggest change that cinema knew and it completely revolutionized this field. The other improvement of movies was the appearance of colors. Indeed, the first cartoon in colors was in 1932 for the Silly Symphony, Flowers and Trees of Walt Disney. After that, Becky Sharp was the first full-length feature in 1935.

At that time (from 1930's to the 1940's), and due to this revolutions, the people occupied their spare time by going to the cinema, with family or friends. The popularity of this activity is shown by the fact that more than 31 million people went to watch a movie every week in 1946 in Great Britain. It was the cinema's 'Golden Age'.

But, when the television set has massively entered the homes, the cinema believed to be able to keep its specificity of collective show, which he did not. Indeed, television was more watched as people did not have to move from home and could have many programs at the same time. In the 1950's, cinema was clearly declining because of the popularity of television.

Nowadays, internet displace both the cinema and the television. However, when talking about cinema, it is related to movies, which still have the same success in any platforms.

History in German Childrens' Books
Childrens' books involve several disciplines, as they use language and literature (and often illustrations) in order to educate children. Because they are often considered educational for children, they are also of interest to disciplines like psychology. Looking back in history, the approach on how to do this has changed greatly, one famous example being German children's books.

One of the most famous German children's books is Heinrich Hoffmann's "Der Struwwelpeter" ("Shaggy Peter") written in 1845. The book consists of ten stories, each with their own moral. The ways of conveying these morals, however, are rather violent and brutal: a child who doesn't stop playing with matches after being warned burns to death, and another who doesn't stop sucking his thumb after being warned gets his thumb chopped off. The book became quite famous very quickly, and stayed a classic to be read to children for a long time. The stories shaped the childhoods of many German-speaking children by scaring them away from behaving in certain ways.

With time, views on parenting have greatly changed within the culture of German-speaking countries. The book that was written for 3 to 6 year olds is still considered a great part of German culture/literature, but in most cases would no longer be read to children that young for educational reasons. Now, books like Marcus Pfister's "Der Regenbogenfisch" ("The Rainbowfish") from 1992, with more positive approaches on learning, are considered more suitable.

This shows that as ideas of ideal parenting and education change, so does literature and any art involved in conveying this education. However, literature of the past like "Struwwelpeter" is still remembered and treasured culturally, and has great influence on literature and film today all over the world.

Laskow, S. (2017). The 19th-Century Book of Horrors That Scared German Kids Into Behaving. [online] Atlas Obscura. Available at: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/original-struwwelpeter-illustrations-childrens-moral-lesson-book [Accessed 4 Dec. 2019].


text:
User:Nicola.georgiou/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar group 4/Truth

Truth in Physical Education
Truth: a fact or belief that is accepted as true. Disciplinary status gives worth. Disciplines vary in how much value is put on a fact or belief, and how to come to a fact or belief or skill. Truth within a discipline is a time-honoured basis of knowledge, fortified through generations. Historically, Physical Education determined how strong men were. In Ancient Greece, athletes were renowned and sport very popular. Indeed, physical education became a cultural activity (e.g. attending fights and throwing the javelin). However, this discipline was also a kind of punishment. Physical Education is an established subject in the school curriculum since the late 1800s. The importance of exercising at school and in higher education is to show a healthy body and healthy mind. But is it an academic discipline? In the midst of this debate, Physical Education universally exhibits a pluralist truth.

Is Physical Education a discipline?

The academic research methodologies Physical Education calls upon are rooted in other disciplines such as biology, physics, medicine, anatomy. Physical Education itself doesn't have one methodology to find truth. In practical application truth is undefinable as it is based on the progress of individual rather than body of knowledge. The research which can be passed down and built on crosses disciplines. Physical Education is cross-disciplinary. The status of cross-disciplinary loses academic worth and is not valued by society generally as it traverses bodies of knowledge without cultivating its own knowledge. Increased value, leading to societal worth, should come from those in power. UK Independent schools place physical education and sport equally as high as academic rigour, however state schools are being forced to decrease time on physical education due to examination pressures controlled by the government. The UK Education system is cultivating a paradigm where academic success is of paramount importance. In this way, time invested in less valued/academic subjects is being reduced.

Truth within Physical Education
Physical Education exercises various typologies of truth from various academic disciplines. Typically associated with sciences and engineering, positivist methodologies incorporated in this field include personal numerical data, such as tracking personal bests and measuring empirical data within the body, such as drug intake and heart rate. Whereas there is an acute awareness for the individual undertaking the activity through interpretive and constructivist outlooks, traditionally associated with the arts and humanities. Interpretive truth is prevalent in the mind of the individual mindfulness and personal training plans. Constructivist truth is also essential for individual improvement in Physical Education as a holistic attitude is required to improve and maintain and keep health, such as diet and lifestyle, blurring the boundaries between Physical Education and general wellbeing. Where Physical Education does have truth is in direct application to the self and community; learning life skills including confidence, communication, responsibility, respect, culture.

In seeking truth within PE as a discipline, we have revealed two key insights. 1. PE is a cross-discipline. 2. PE has pluralist truth.

This paper was our main source, it explores definitions around disciplines.

Franklin M. Henry (1978) The Academic Discipline of Physical Education, Quest, 29:1, 13-29

Truth in Avocado Farming
Truth presents itself as an interdisciplinary  issue in revealing the infrastructure enabling the creamy green 'superfood' - the avocado, to be put on supermarket shelves around the world at all times of the year. The phenomena arose in the late 90s in America as the nation saw a landslide turn towards improving their health and diet. Dubbed the 'ultimate superfood' from the epicentre of this movement, the Haps Avocado Board (HAB) in California, avocado sales took a meteoric rise over the next decade. Between 2000 to 2015, avocado sales rocketed by 300% worldwide to have a net turn over of £1.9bn per annum. In truth, this was only made possible as trade restrictions were lifted from Mexico enabling free trade in the 1990s. Consequently, meeting the ever-increasing demand for avocados was only made possible between cultivating the fruit in US and Mexico.

HAB's mission statement is to "help make avocados America' most popular fruit", yet despite their marketing efforts they could have never foreseen the technological boom and rise of social media, notably Instagram. Every day, 3 millions pictures new pictures of halved, sliced and cut avocado sweep the digital platform. The avocado had been greeted UK shelves back in 1960s, but it was the age of Instagram that propelled the movement forward. In the UK, supermarkets such as Waitrose reported a 30% sales increase after Nigella Lawson was broadcasted making "avocado on toast". Attracting social status fans such as Gwyneth Paltow, Kim Kardascien and Miley Cyrus- it is understandable why the nation and world alike has  become so obsessed. Additionally, avocados are nutritionally is very healthy. The composition of monounsaturated fatty acids which can help reduce the risks of heart disease and lower levels of cholesterol, it is high in fibre and is a rich source of protein as well as many beneficiary vitamins. Clearly we can identify the truths as to why the fruit has become so ubiquitous through the explosion of social media, but there is a dark underbelly to avocado production. The reality it that avocado cultivation is indirectly fuelling deforestation, economically charging drug cartels and monopolising water supplies to the point of famine.

Since the US enabled full trading access to the American market with Mexico, the fruit has become very important to the economy of Mexico. Therefore it is no surprise that in  Mexico is the largest producer and exporter of the goods dominating 33.9% of the international market in 2016, and the United States is their biggest importer .These figures are expected to rise as the product's market is now extending out to Asian countries such as China in 2017 as well as maintaining consistently increasing demands from the American market. For these reasons, what is the impact on Mexico? In the Mexican journal El Pais, the article The Curse of the Mexican avocado explores the violence, deforestation and threat to producer in the state of Michoacan - the capital of avocado farming in the world. The fruits are native to the region, but as local grower Jose Luis Mata details: "They grow by themselves around here. But a lot more have been planted in recent years, and it's changed everyone's lives". The state has been butchered by avocados: what before was called "green gold" is rapidly referred to as "blood guacamole". Due to its economic value, Michoacan has experience a rise in organise crime including robbery, abduction and extortion as cartels seek to partake in this booming industry. Whereas before growers would work directly with distributors under contracts that included health insurance and benefits, they are now subcontracted at hourly rates in laborious and exhausting working conditions. But as local farmer Francisco Hinojosa, 50, states - "If we don't cut, we don't eat".

Alongside Mexico, other major producers of the fruit are Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia and Indonesia. In reality, it is a a rescue to the industry that upcoming nations are joining the global market due to the difficult realities in producing avocados due to their sensitivity to climate and water demands. Even still, the fact is that avocados are a "water-guzzling crop". In order to produce roughly 3 avocados, 1000 litres of water is necessary. By contrast, the likes of producing an equivalent volume of broccoli takes around 45 litres. Environmentally this means that producers not only are having to create more space viable to grow the crop, they are having to seek greater quantities of water. For some farmers in Mexico, this involves interrupting natural streams to access water and cutting down trees to grow and transport the goods which is bastardising the environment. On  perhaps a more harrowing note, in Petorca, Chile, water has become privatised. Even before the boom of the avocado, there has been a devastating water crisis in the region were riverbeds have dried up with rising temperatures. The realities of this mean that only those who can pay can gain access to water in purchasing a 'water license'. While international businesses are yielding thriving crops in these regions, the local farmers are forced to retire as they cannot afford the license agree. For the locals of Petorca, they are dying of thirst. The only water they have access to is transported in via trucks on a weekly basis despite being surround by thousands of litres of waters in the region that are exclusively available to commercial avocado farmers. Human rights activists have seemed to raise attention about these issues, and in doing so have received death threats in continuing their efforts.

How is truth an issue in avocado farming? There are uncomfortable truths in the realities of the avocation production and distribution which are being blinded by entities within these network of relations. For the consumer, it may seem easy to abstain from purchasing the fruit - but this would in fact worsen the situation whereby production is greater than demand. Truth arises again as an issue in the emerging discoveries that there is in fact no such thing as a superfood, a marketing strategy that spearheaded the markets boom and again could worsen the situation if sales were to rapidly fall. Truth presents itself as an issue for the producers and growers, for they are experiencing violations of their basic human rights in the cultivation of the crop and these realities are not being voiced to the global community. Therefore, truth is an issue in avocado farming because impacts on the environment and workforce are dangerously overlooked in exponentially growing industries.

Truth in Neuroscience (Written by Maria Blackburn, Manca Rakun and Iris Perigaud-Grünfeld)
The scientific research "desire[s] to acquire knowledge whose veracity is universally recognised". Thus, science aims for the objective truth and neuroscience has the very same goal.

First, it uses definitional truth - neuroscience is based on definitions : what is the brain, what are the different parts of the brain, what is a neuron,etc.

Second, it also uses empirical approaches or objective truth to build its researches. One evidence is the use of MRI. By using MRI, researchers look at scans in order to explain diseases and the functioning of the nervous system. Another example is the use of lie-detectors. The research is still in progress, but its development could have an impact in fields such as law (using it as an evidence of the witness' credibility). However, there are many issues with the technology, from ethical questions to the accuracy of the detector. What is more is that an individual's perception of truth is in contrast to scientific truth, subjective (truth present in humanities) - meaning that even if we had, hypothetically, a 100% accurate lie detector, we would not be able to acquire the so called objective truth. to illustrate this claim, let's say that there is a colour-blind person as a subject to our lie detector test. If you ask him what colour are tomatos, he will probably not say red (our objective truth, based on scientific findings), but let's say orange (his subejctive truth) - but does that make him a liar? Hardly so, and while our lie detector might detect whether someone is lying, this in fact means only that it will detect whether someone is laying on the basis of their subjective truth, while objective truth is beyond its reach (with the exception when, hypothetically, the individual's subjective truth would be the same as objective truth)

In conclusion, we can find both truths : objective (scientific) and subjective (humanitarian) truths in neuroscience. What this means is that despite its scientific nature, neuroscience has to be concerned also with some non-scientific aspects, making it necessary to conduct its reasearch in interdisciplinary way in order to gain greater understanding of the process being researched.

Sources

Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience, Steven Rose

https://brainworldmagazine.com/a-very-brief-history-of-neuroscience/

https://www.bna.org.uk/about/our-history/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661309002848

https://www.dana.org/article/truth-lies-and-false-memories-neuroscience-in-the-courtroom/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0952-3383.2004.00352.x

https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=_GMeW9E1IB4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR17&dq=neuroscience+history&ots=koT2DUBYe_&sig=0bH3Y-bcHrMVJCd6VQN089nW6Mk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=neuroscience%20history&f=false

Physics theories and Truth:
Physical theories try to describe as truthfully as possible the laws of nature. However these theories do not always describe reality. In fact, these theories evolve over time. Some of them get altered, others that don’t align with new theories are abandoned. For example, in classical physics, Newton and Galilee both affirmed that the speed of light could change, depending on the frame of reference of the observer. They also stated that time is absolute; it flows the same way in different external conditions, in every frame of reference. Both of these theories were considered true at the time. Physicians believed that they accurately described the physical laws of nature. However, these classical physics theories got questioned at the beginning of the 20th century, when the concept of relativity first emerged. Indeed, in 1905, Einstein determined the theory of special relativity which states that the speed of light is always the same and that flow of time can actually vary. Einstein affirmed that the time separating two events depends on the frame of reference of the observer. Two clocks in relative motion will not measure the same time. The Einstein theories are now considered to be true and have replaced the classical physics theories.

Another example can be seen in the way the view of the universe and the way planets orbit changed over time:

Plato 427-348 BC: Stars and planets move in perfect circular motion, because of the idea of heavens being perfect and circle being simplest and best form. Earth at center = Geocentrism Copernicus 1473-1543: Sun rather than Earth at center > Copernican revolution > Heliocentrism Johannes Kepler 1571-1630: Elliptical instead of circular orbits. Published in 1609.

But rather than completely replacing the old theories, these Physicists made improvements/ alterations to the theories that already existed. Additionally, it often took years for these theories to actually be proved and accepted. Before Copernicus the geocentric model was accepted as the “truth”, and before Kepler it was accepted as the “truth” that the Earth is at the center of the universe and the sun and planets orbit around it. The actual truth didn’t change, but our knowledge of it altered and improved as more scientific studies were made and more evidence was found.

Sources: Gregory, Andrew. Eureka! : the Birth of Science / Andrew Gregory. Cambridge : Icon, 2001.

History
Early medicine -	Differed between cultures, development came at different times in different places -	Witchdoctors -	Herbal remedies -	Gods/ religion -	Trial and error -	Alternative medicine -	Serious and disabling diseases treated as having supernatural causes. -	Ayurveda

Modern medicine -	The enlightenment 19th century -	Treating science as reason rather than philosophical -	Factory working due to industrial revolution – spread of infectious disease -	Western medicine. More common in western developed countries.

What is truth in medicine?
•	In medicine, the decision on whether or not to treat someone or relieve them of moral responsibility relies on if that person has a disease. •	Health vs disease – sometimes give a more holistic approach especially in modern medicine. •	Basic concepts in Medicine/ words used – diagnosis, prognosis, disease, treatment, drugs.

Scientific Objectivity in Medicine:

Truth is rooted in culture - medicine is a scientific ‘subculture’ Can it obtain objective truth? (Assuming this exists)

Aims for scientific objectivity Observations —> theories (based on clinical and scientific evidence) Paradigm: Evidence = truth Theory = inference • theories and hypotheses guide research and experimentation - do they take away from objectivity? • Empirical research - positivist approach • Medicine also considers patient experience - interpretive approach

Mix of positivist and pluralist • ‘truths’ of basic medical knowledge e.g. systems in the body and how they work • An incomplete science - doctors look at the best evidence to make a recommendation

Science should explain the world that we experience through our senses ... however “The history of science is a tale of multifarious shiftings of allegiance from theory to theory” • so does medicine even concern itself with truth? • Looking for objective truth can limit a holistic approach to health and wellbeing

Sources: Grant Gillett, 2006 ‘Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine’, BioMed Central volume 1, Article 13 (15th October core lecture on Truth

Presentations
Physics - brilliant examples given. Particularly the evolution of what is held to be truth within astronomy. Both draws attention to what is held to be fact, and how over time new theories come about that contest it. “Truth in physics never changed, but our knowledge did.” Fascinating insight into our role as the experimenter and the limitations of our tools and known knowledge. Neuroscience - So exciting to trace history of the discipline back to Ancient Egypt, who them like ourselves in the modern days are seeking objective truth to understand the anatomy of the brain. Advances in this field now working intricately with psychology to better understand the composition of the brain and how it can influence behaviour etc. Medicine- “Medicine Isn’t looking for truth, rather improving our approaches to health”. The group touched upon a powerful insight as Medicine as a meta-discipline, and the necessity of its incomplete science status to urge the field to keep researching, to keep looking.

There are uniting features of truth in all these disciplines; the inevitable subjectivity intertwined with the nature of the experiment/experimenter and an innate curiosity, almost a gravity, within their fields to continue to enrich their bodies of knowledge.

Discussing Nietzche’s quote on universal truth, idea of knowledge as a fusion of different experiences on the same events. The purpose of interdisciplinary in its search for truth was an exciting conversation. Above all, it illustrated the danger of isolated pools of knowledge whereby people can forget to question and evaluate time honoured truths.

Finding truth
After the seminar, I remembered the comparison made by Einstein and Infield in The Evolution of Physics between the scientist who tries to understand the world and a man who tries to understand the mechanism of a closed watch. They both guess, create theories and improve them. However, when do they know that they have reached the truth?

In response to the above, this reminded me of a saxophone practise exercise in 'Top Tones for the Saxophone' by Sigurd M. Rascher, in which Rascher writes explains 'Tone Imagination' as hearing a specified note an interval above or below the pitch you are currently playing. In his description of the exercise, Rascher writes 'Because only I know what I think, only I can know whether I succeeded'. If you have no way of knowing or measuring outside of your own body of knowledge, how do you know when you have succeeded? This highlights the necessity of team work and interdisciplinarity, as many different perspectives of the goal line of truth, will enhance everyone's perspectives of that goal.

Chapter 7: Scientific Research and the Search for Truth
In Ancient Greece, different truths coexisted. For example, in medicine, the Hippocratic school -based on scientific observation and on the separation with religious belief- worked simultaneously with the traditional school which understood disease as a divine punishment and cured it with rituals.

Ancient Greece has seen the development of two philosophical schools in philosophy: the first one was based on the collection of data and the second one was based on rules and theory. From the 15th century, these two trends opposed each other. On one hand, empiricism, supported by Bacon for example, is based on observation and claims that data produce theory. On the other hand, rationalism supports that theory structures the data. Descartes is a rationalist.

F. Jacob explains that the difference between science and myths is that myths do not change over time whereas science is in constant movement (critical skepticism) to improve its theories and findings in order to find the truth. What is the goal of religion? According to Durkheim, religion does not look for truth but for cooperation and solidarity in the society. It helps to tighten the social links. Thus, science and religion have different goals.

However, religion does have many aspects related to truth. A study by Ardelt hypothesises different effects of intrinsic and extrinsic parts of religion. The extrinsic, attending group meetings, finds truth in community and a purpose of helping others as stated above. However, the intrinsic beliefs within various religions do search for a personal meaning of life, even if not supported by repeatable, positivist truths. Throughout time, humans have attributed phenomena beyond current positivist understanding to supernatural forces, notably seen in the myths referred to above, in order to find truth in the unknown. Could one argue that all beliefs come from either empiricism or rationalism, so with the knowledge held at the time of the formation of religions, they were to some degree scientific in their creation? This religious search for the 'truth' was popularly satirised by The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a science fiction novel and film, where the 'answer to life, the universe and everything' is calculated to be '42'. Religion is looked down on by scientific disciplines due to its lack of positivist truth, hence the satirical attempt to blend interpretivism and positivist truths. However, it has been shown that 'intrinsic religious orientation was positively related to approach acceptance of death '. A lack of positivist truth does not correlate to a a lack of interpretivist truth, and more specifically, comfort in belief of that truth. However, with the decrease in religion, several groups have been set up to have the same extrinsic effects as religion without the belief in supernatural, such as finding the true meaning and purpose of life. The Sunday Assembly, is one example of a modern take on the traditions of community within religion blended with secular scientific positivism, bringing the goal of positivist understanding of the world, science, together the goal of a unified community, religion.

Cartography
"As powerful tools of persuasion [...], maps have had a remarkable effect on our view of the world [...]. At the root of their power is our frequently unquestioning acceptance of cartographic messages."

Mark Monmonier, Drawing the Line: Tales of Maps and Cartocontroversy (1995, 1)

Every map is incorrect and there are two reasons for this. The first one is physical. The Earth is round and it is impossible to reproduce, from a sphere, a plan in two dimensions. Cartographers have developed different methods –cylindrical, conical... – but each of these methods produce compressions or extensions of some parts of the globe.

The second reason is that a map does not aim to be completely accurate (cf. Suárez Miranda, Travels of Prudent Men, Book Four, Ch. XLV, Lérida, 1658). Creating a map implies to select features, to focus on an element and thus to forget about another one. A map delivers a message through how it is oriented, what it emphasizes on and what it marginalizes. For example, Guelke created a map on which Toronto is the center. Thus, the shape and size of the continents are misrepresented but it is not a problem because the only goal of the map is to know the distant between Toronto and other places in the world. The cartographer’s focus may be led by one’s culture by emphasizing on a country or a continent. For example, we usually take for granted that the North is at the top of the map and that Europe is (nearly) in the center of the map and I think it shows an Eurocentric vision of the world. Some models were created in reaction to this norm: in the McArthur’s model, Australia is at the top.

In conclusion, by working on cartography, the issues of truth, evidence and power are central. First, maps are a way to represent the globe. They do not deliver the reality but nonetheless give different perceptions of the globe, different truths. Then, maps should not be considered as neutral because they are influenced by the choices and the social and cultural background of the cartographer: they are subjective even though it is a science with tries to calculate objectively distances. Finally, maps may reveal a struggle for power: cartographers may have an egocentric mapping of the world or showcase one world view.

Sources:

Many Ways to See the World (2005) Filmmakers: Bob Abramms, Ruth Abrams

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p011qhpc

https://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/yl/1601/160121.pdf

 * References

 * Notes

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
User:Nicola.georgiou/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar group 4/Evidence

Evidence
 Definition of evidence:

"1)Evidence is anything that you see, experience, read, or are told that causes you to believe that something is true or has really happened.

2)Evidence is the information which is used in a court of law to try to prove something. Evidence is obtained from documents, objects, or witnesses."

Evidence, Bell, Swensen-Wright and Tybjerg
There are several forms of evidence and each disciplines uses different kinds of evidence -it could be a document, statistics, a way of reasoning... The book is divided in eight chapters. Each of them talks about the relation between evidence in a specific discipline. For example, in chapter two, C. Ginzburg presents evidence in history and how it could be ambiguous and need to be contextualised. Another chapter focuses on the relationship between statistics and law and how these two disciplines deal with incomplete evidence. I decided to read in more detail "Evidence for life beyond Earth" and "Evidence for religious faith : a red herring".

"Evidence for Life Beyond Earth"
Extraterrestrial life used to be a matter of science fiction, however, by recent discoveries, it is also a greater focus of science. There are two reasons for that: the development of scientific instruments (better telescopes) which provide more detailed and accurate research and the discovery of micro-organisms which are able to live in environments, previously thought as completely inhospitable. For now, scientists have not found "extant life beyond Earth" but the research continues. The first step is to define what is life. There are different definitions ; M. M. Grady has defined life "as an information system capable of inheritance, adaptation and evolution". Then, scientists need to determine what kind of evidence they should look at. After understanding the conditions necessary for the development of life (carbon-based and water environment) and the evolution of life on Earth, they try to predict where life might have appeared.

"Evidence for Religious Faith : a Red Herring"
Until now, there is no rational evidence of the existence of God. In pre-modern society, it was acknowledged that there were two ways to reach the truth : mythos and logos. They were considered as incomplete and complementary. Sometimes, there was a confusion between the two. In fact, all religions tried to justify their beliefs with logos. One example is the Islamic Empire, during the 8th and 9th centuries, where a movement called Falsafah "tried to make the religion of the Koran a rational faith". K. Armstrong illustrates this wish with eating soup with a fork : despite the fact that forks are useful, it is not the right utensil for eating the soup. The author asks herself: does religion need to prove the existence of God? According to her, faith's aim is to raise questions and to take actions (whether ritual or ethical actions).

In addition, religion is according to author simply a different kind of reality that we cannot "prove" by looking for evidences in our own reality. Religion through history has been changing constantly as a respond to a changing society - but its main purpose was always in a way trying to explain the unexplained phenomena from our real world - weather being one example among many. However, with scientific research, providing evidence for such phenomena, religion was forced to retreat from such matters to a certain degree. However, as for the matter of god, or the life after death, science might never be able to provide sufficient evidence, so the religion will keep filling this void of ultimate truth that we cannot reach by looking for rational evidence. What is more, evidences, as objective as they seem, are always a subject of subjective interpretation. One example is how religious people interpret differently Darwin's evolution theory, or are able to provide relgious justification for it. As well as evidences so is religion subject to wide interpretation - not only we have different religion and different branches within one religion, we have also very different practcies of religion, interpretation of it, etc. As author pointed out - evidences for religion simply cannot be found in our reality, and as her analogy with fork and soup illustrate - they do not need to be found. Religion cannot be and does not need to be proven, since its purpose, its function remains nevertheless - filling the void of our understanding, filling the gap of the absolute truth that arguably will remain unreachable.

Sources:

Armstrong K, et al. Evidence for Religious Faith: a Red Herring." Evidence. 2008; 19: p174.

Lecture Summary
The issue lecture today was very insightful into two different approaches to evidence. From the social sciences standpoint, contextless data is meaningless. Moreover, data is not merely a synonym for evidence. Evidence only exists when there is an argument, example or opinion. A true merit of interdisciplinary is its breadth to integrate and accumulate different types of research within a research project. In this way, qualitative and quantitive research philosophies work best in tandem: the examples raised were Positivism and Interpretivism and used to evaluate Durkheim’s On Sucide theory.

By vast contrast, the two dominate schools of statistical evidence in the face of uncertain logic present a radical logical bind. Frequentist make their predictions on patterns in given evidence, which puts them at risk of consistency bias in their inability to modify their theory in light of the emerging knowledge. Alternatively, Bayesian thinking celebrates bringing prior knowledge to a situation and using the evidence in this way to add to the existing pool of knowledge - again a risk of this approach is that biases may be riddles within the experiment conducted.

Definitions from the lecture
Evidence depends on data, it only exists when there is a hypothesis, an opinion or an example. It comes from the Latin word “evidentia” which means proof. Evidence is used to back up knowledge, to give context to a situation. However, data cannot be used by itself, it always requires context, as for the accurate interpretation of it. There are many sources of evidence, such as social sciences, the analysis of people, theories… Evidence can come from texts, images, artefacts, songs…

Evidence in medical research and medical policy
Most medical research is peer assessed before being published as research in academic journals. This is to make sure that the data was collected in a controlled manner, and that the inherent bias in its manipulation to be used as evidence is reduced. Despite having some drawbacks, peer assessment is largely accepted as a positive way of making research evidence-based, rather than bias-based.

There are dangers in manipulating data to use as evidence to support a prior idea or bias, especially when there is a power imbalance between ‘academia’ and the general public. An infamous example of using false evidence is a study by Dr Andrew Wakefield, where he claimed that MMR vaccination caused Autism. It has been continuously found to be a false claim, as a result of several paths of misconduct, including alteration of evidence. Despite the paper being withdrawn and labeled as inaccurate, fraudulent, the consequences were wide ranging - for example, many children were not vaccinated due to fear of autism, which lead to unnecessary and fatal outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella. After being proven as false, Andrew Wakefield's work has since been completely discredited and he has been struck off as a doctor in the UK.

This brings the question of how false evidence is treated in different disciplines. Jeremy Hunt, UK Public Health Secretary, did not consult medical staff when he proposed cuts to the NHS system. When it was clear that privatising the NHS was an unsafe option for many people with lower income in Britain, he did not look at the evidence in favour of keeping a nation healthy, but instead at the evidence that privatisation would grant the government more money. An interview of a junior doctor who stated: "As doctors, we practice evidence based medicine and politics should be evidence based too; and yet the health outcomes from his policy changes show that [cuts and policy changes] don't work, and [Boris Johnson] is too scared to talk to medical staff... about the reality of those cuts.’

Jeremy Hunt still has the power and the authority as an MP, despite being found to deliberately misuse evidence. Why are there different standards of use of evidence in different parts of public health?

Godlee, F., Smith, J. and Marcovitch, H. (2011). Wakefield's article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent. BMJ, 342 (jan05 1), pp.c7452-c7452.

Horbach, S.P.J.M.(.S., Halffman, W.(.W. The changing forms and expectations of peer review. Res Integr Peer Rev 3, 8 (2018)

Oliver, D. (2016). David Oliver: Lies, damned lies, and the NHS. BMJ, p.i4093.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/mmr-vaccine/

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/22/hospitals-struggling-to-afford-new-equipment-after-nhs-budget-cuts

https://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i1133

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/22/hospitals-struggling-to-afford-new-equipment-after-nhs-budget-cuts

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/01/nhs-jeremy-hunt-junior-doctors-strike

Evidence in History
Evidence only exists with a hypotheses/opinion/argument : (using example of photographs)

- shift from a photograph being simply an artefact to becoming evidence of a significant and disputed event

- used to re-evaluate research claims

- the theory chosen will influence direction of research, thus the photograph will be interpreted based on the historian’s own intention - used to support a theory rather than create one

- hierarchy of sources of evidence? Are historical photos valued more for their lack of bias? Unbiased in their pure form but arguably more biased in their use by historians than a written source for example.

A real-life example that was mentioned in the lecture was how the nature of Evidence is disputed and its use in the discipline History - specifically in the case of Holocaust denial.

‘Holocaust denial is an attempt to negate the established facts of the Nazi genocide of European Jewry.’ - quote from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Website.

The use of the phrase ‘established facts’ suggests that the existence of this historical event is generally recognised and accepted, based on assessment of available evidence, including written sources, photographs and personal anecdotes. Therefore it is generally recognised that there is substantial, if not compelling, evidence to support its existence.

American Historical Association in 1991 stated that there are “No serious historian questions that the Holocaust took place.” This infers that to practice the discipline of History, evidence must be used and assessed in a specific way, using established methods of the discipline.

Case study of trial in London in 2000 - British Historian David Irving found guilty, in the judge’s words, as “his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence”, “treating the historical evidence in a manner which fell far short of the standard to be expected of a conscientious historian… . [He] misrepresented and distorted the evidence which was available to him.”

This illustrates how there must be a widely-held standard for how evidence is interpreted and used to support a theory.

Sources:

Bazyler, Michael. 2017. "Holocaust Denial And The Law". Holocaust, Genocide, And The Law, 183-210. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395693.003.0007.

Indonesia, palm oil and transnational companies
Indonesia is one of the largest producers of palm oil and suffers from social and environmental issues such as deforestation, over-exploitation of the lands and conflicts over land properties. In order to resolve these issues, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has been created in 2004 in which the different stakeholders are represented -palm oil producers, NGOs, food industries... They have implemented a certification system to regulate the exploitation and it is based on auditors who judge if the criteria is met. However, the auditors are financially dependent on the companies, which could influence their judgement, and accept just one kind of proof –documents. It disadvantages the local population because they have a different kind of evidence called “living proof”. For example, trees are a proof of land property (when has the tree been planted and by whom?). NGOs, like Sawit Watch, work on translating this evidence into more conventional ones, recognized by the auditors and companies as the real proof of land ownership. It could be by taking photographs or using GPS.

The article discusses issues in:

- Evidence. In fact, there is a plurality of evidence which have difficulties to coexist and are not considered as equal.

- Power. Indeed, transnational companies control the economy and no regulation stops them from environmental and social disasters. Even with the RSPO, which should answer these issues in Indonesia, they still have a strong influence. There is a second relation of power in the article which is the hierarchy between the proofs of land ownership.

Sources:

A forest of evidence: third-party certiﬁcation and multiple forms of proof — a case study of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, L. Silva-Castañeda (2011)

Evidence and the Scientific Method
The scientific method uses observation and experiments as Evidence to valid, refine or eliminate a hypothesis.

The scientific method is used to empirically acquire new knowledge theories. The use of the scientific method enabled the rapid development of natural science since the 17th century. The first step in the scientific method is the observation of a phenomenon. Then one elaborates a question based on the observation as well as a hypothesis to respond to that question. The validity of the hypothesis is then tested with an experiment. The results of the experiment can be used to valid the hypothesis, refine it, or eliminate it. In the scientific method, evidence drawn from the experiments tend to be mostly quantitative.

Evidence in Religion and Spiritualism
Evidence – information which is grounds for belief. Data – facts and statistics. This is quantitative evidence and use numbers, characters, symbols. Often seen as objective and therefore valid as a basis of reasoning. Qualitative evidence come from personal experience, environment. Can be very subjective however is less ridged than numbers and facts and can sometimes give more valuable meaning.

Sources of evidence in the arts includes literature, art, film, philosophy, primary sources such as photographs or letters. Sources of evidence in the sciences include original experiments, scholarly writings and models, observation and statistics.

Religion and spiritualism are highly controversial topics yet it arguably has evidence from both art sources and scientific sources. Despite having such variable evidence, there is much speculation on how reliable any of the evidence about it is.

Historically religion and spiritualism has fallen under disciplines such as philosophy and theology. These disciplines traditionally use qualitative and interpretivist evidence such as historical literature and personal accounts. Scientific fields fall short in terms of researching religion and spiritualism due to differing methodologies (more positivist) when conducting research. Concepts which exist in religion such as morality, faith and soul cannot be quantitively measured. They cannot be observed and measured like many other concepts in science and they rely on subjectivity and personal experience. While positivist models are often seen as more legitimate and accurate as evidence, they have their limitations. Equations and statistics cannot accurately measure emotions and perspectives of individuals. This is why the topic of religion and spiritualism creates tensions between disciplines because the evidence used by philosophers or theologists is seldom accepted in the scientific fields.

Reference: Charles J. Fornaciari, Kathy Lund Dean, 1 August 2001, Making the quantum leap: Lessons from physics on studying spirituality and religion in organizations, Journal of Organizational Change Management.

 * Notes

Evidence in Law
Evidence can be experienced by human being which explain how they felt it as a reality by their senses. However, in law evidence is based on a demonstration of facts that are in that case proved.

There are two different modes of evidence or 'proving' in law : perfect and imperfect evidence. Perfect evidence can be used in every proof systems. These perfect methods can be by the writing, the judicial confession and the decisive oath. They are acceptable every time and obliged the judge to draw the consequences of those procedures. First, literal proofs are those drawn in writing. Then is the authentic act, which is a condition of validity of the contract (such as marriage, mortgage etc.) and a means of proving the existence and the content of the latter.

Imperfect evidence can only be used in a free proof system. Indeed, the judge is able not to consider those proofs as actually relevant. Those evidence are multiple, they may be the testimony, the presumptions of the man, the supplementary oath, the unsigned writings, the extrajudicial confession, and the beginning of proof in writing.

Evidence in an anthropological approach to photography
I believe that it is interesting to look at evidence through an anthropological approach to photography. Indeed, photographs are material objects that depict something that happened behind the camera (except for the use of photoshop). They can tell us a lot about identity and social relations. For instance, photographs can be a way of self expression or even a way to show our “desired-self” rather than our “true-self”. With the use of props, performance, angles, filters or even photoshop, anyone can use photography to become somebody else. This is interesting as it can tell us something about the person that words can not express. Moreover, photography is evidence of social relations. Indeed, family portraits can be evidence of strong bonds and loving memories. Photographs are also evidence of the past. For instance, they were used to justify racism. Scientists would compare different portraits in order to create a hierarchy. They now serve as evidence of racism and power in the past. They can also serve as evidence in political contexts such as war and demonstrations. However, photographs can not always be trusted as some are staged or altered. Therefore, we have to be careful when using photography as evidence in anthropology.

Evidence in the Nestle Water Scandal
The Nestle water scandal is just one example of many where evidence is an issue when the disciplines of business, ecology/forestry/other disciplines concerned with nature, and law as enforced by the government come in conflict. Across the USA and Canada, the company has bought rights to local freshwater sources in order to bottle the water and sell it. It seems questionable that locals of the area purchase bottled water they used to consumer for free as tap water, but this isn't the main issue. People involved in forestry in the areas were streams have been used by Nestle observed the stream nearly vanishing after water extractions from Nestle. In Canada this causes great harm to residents of indigenous reserves.

Evidence is an issue in this example as ecologists and those practicing forestry can offer both quantitative and qualitative scientific evidence showing the harmful effects of extracting too much water from the streams. Data on the water levels decreasing and the effects of this on the nature surrounding the water source should make decisions of officials obvious. However, government officials may often center their decisions around economic factors. Evidence brought by the business may portray the impact of the water extractions as positive, as they increase employment. Furthermore, lobbying plays a great role in situations like this, including donations of the firm made to local communities.

The two different disciplines both produce evidence of the impact of the company having access to these freshwater sources, but the difference in their approaches causes completely different results.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/29/the-fight-over-water-how-nestle-dries-up-us-creeks-to-sell-water-in-plastic-bottles https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/oct/04/ontario-six-nations-nestle-running-water