1.07 Umbrellaology Graded Assignment

1.
07 Umbrellaology (Extra Credit - 25 points)

Instructions: Read the below letter that describes detailed data collected on
umbrellas.
Task: your task is to determine whether or not Umbrellaology represents science.
Be sure to use complete sentences in your answer and use supporting data from
the letter to help as evidence of your decision. Be sure to submit using your
lastname_firstinitial_1.07 umbrellaology Ex: Peterson_M_1.07 umbrellaology
The question of Umbrellaology@

Imagine that you receive the following letter.[1] Do you agree with its author? Is
umbrellaology a science? If so, why? If not, how does it fall short of being a
science?
Dear Sir:
I am taking the liberty of calling upon you to be the judge in a dispute

between me and an acquaintance who is no longer a friend. The question at issue
is this: Is my creation, umbrellaology, a science? Allow me to explain this
situation. For the past eighteen years, assisted by a few faithful disciples, I have
been collecting materials on a subject hitherto almost wholly neglected by
scientists, the umbrella. The results of my investigations to date are embodied in
the nine volumes which I am sending to you under separate cover. Pending their
receipt, let me describe to you briefly the nature of their contents and the
method I pursued in compiling them. I began on the Island of Manhattan.
Proceeding block by block, house by house, family by family and individual by
individual I ascertained 1) the number of umbrellas possessed, 2) their size, 3)
their weight, 4) their color. Having covered Manhattan after many years, I
eventually extended the survey to the other boroughs of the City of New York,
and at length completed the entire city. Thus I was ready to carry forward the
work to the rest of the state and indeed the rest of the United States and the
whole know world.
It was at this point that I approached my erstwhile friend. I am a modest

man, but I felt I had the right to be recognized as the creator of a new science.
He, on the other hand, claimed that umbrellaology was not a science at all. First,
he said, it was silly to investigate umbrellas. Now this argument is false because
science scorns not to deal with any object, however humble and lowly, even to
the hind leg of a flea. Then why not umbrellas? Next, he said that umbrellaology
could not be recognized as a science because it was of no use or benefit to
mankind. But is not the truth the most precious thing in life? And are not my
nine volumes filled with the truth about my subject? Every word is true. Every
sentence contains a hard, cold fact. When he asked me what was the object of
umbrellaology I was proud to say, >To seek and discover the truth is object
enough for me=. I am a pure scientist; I have no ulterior motives. Hence it
follows that I am satisfied with truth alone. Next, he said my truths were dated
and that any one of my findings might cease to be true to-morrow. But this I
pointed out, is not an argument against umbrellaology, but rather an argument
for keeping it up to date, which is exactly what I propose. Let us have surveys
monthly, weekly or even daily to keep our knowledge abreast of the changing
facts. His next contention was that umbrellaology had entertained no hypotheses
and had developed no theories or laws. This is a great error. In the course of my
investigations, I employed innumerable hypotheses. Before entering each new
block and each new section of the city, I entertained a hypothesis as regards the
number and characteristics of the umbrellas that would be found there, which
hypotheses were either verified or nullified by my subsequent observations, in
accordance with proper scientific procedure, as explained in authoritative texts.
(In fact, it is interesting to note that I can substantiate and document every one of
my replies to these objections by numerous quotations from standard works,
leading journals, public speeches of eminent scientists and the like.) As for
theories and laws, my work presents an abundance of them. I will here mention
only a few, by way of illustration. There is the Law of Color Variation Relative to
Ownership by Sex. (Umbrellas owned by women tend to great variety of color,
whereas those owned by men are almost all black.) To this law I have given exact
statistical formulation. (See vol. 6, Appendix I, Table 3, p. 582.) There are the
curiously interrelated Laws of Individual Ownership of Plurality of Umbrellas, and
Plurality of Owners of Individual Umbrellas. The interrelationship assumes the
form, in the first law, of almost direct ratio to annual income, and in the end, of
almost inverse ratio to annual income. (For an exact statement of the modifying
circumstances, see vol. 8, p. 350.) There is also the Law of the Tendency towards
Acquisition of Umbrellas in Rainy Weather. To this law I have given experimental
verification in chapter 3 of volume 3. In the same way I have performed
numerous other experiments in connection with my generalizations.
Thus I feel that my creation is in all respects a genuine science, and I appeal
to you for substantiation of my opinion.
[1]
Excerpted from: Sommerville, J. (1941). Umbrellaology, or, Methodology
in Social Science. Philosophy of Science, 8, 557-566.
Write your decision as to whether this represents science or not below and be
sure to support it!
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1.

07 Umbrellaology (Extra Credit - 25 points)

The question of Umbrellaology@

I am taking the liberty of calling upon you to be the judge in a dispute

It was at this point that I approached my erstwhile friend. I am a modest

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