Realism and the Received View

Many writers describing traditional Western academic culture use the term received view to denote an objectivist, scientific view of the social world. Often the term positivism is used instead. More accurately, the term received view refers to a point of view that is never questioned, or a belief that is foundational to a theory or culture. It is common for writers to use the term received view to describe contemporary beliefs that need correcting.

[Page 825]There are many instances of a received view in the sciences. One excellent example can be found in biology, where Darwin's formulation of evolution is seldom questioned. There are many recent modifications of evolutionary theory, but they have found little acceptance because of the embedded nature of Darwin's formulation. For example, most biology texts cite the color adaptation of the spotted moth in Great Britain as an example of evolutionary change-as the air around cities grew more polluted and the surfaces of trees became darker with soot, the moths seemingly changed their wing colors, which would help them avoid predators. Many biology texts use pictures of the moths in the polluted areas, which have darker wings. Moths in less polluted areas did not show this adaptation. Almost everyone considers the moths to be compelling evidence of Darwin's evolutionary hypothesis. Actually, the studies purporting to demonstrate the evolution of the moths were poorly done and should not be considered compelling evidence. It appears that the scientists gathering the data were influenced by their wish to find the darker wings. Recently, however, when other scientists pointed out the flaws in the studies, they incurred a good deal of institutional and personal criticism. The researchers that questioned the data about the moths did not question evolution, but only one piece of evidence that is used in its support.

Close examination of the history of science shows that questioning a received view is the way to real discovery. Albert Einstein is universally considered to be the most important physicist of the 20th century. He made his greatest contributions by questioning typical beliefs in physics. Quantum mechanics could well be described as the received view of particle physics, and Einstein questioned the system till the day he died. Richard Feynman, a prominent Nobel Laureate in physics, repeatedly has pointed out that the task of the scientist is to question traditional knowledge and to look for better ways of organizing knowledge.