Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

9
Growth, in Biology and
in Education
RALPH W. LEWIS
The purpose of this paper is to examine briefly the bodies
of knowledge in biology and in education which are concerned
with the phenomena generally known as "growth." The kinds of
facts and the few laws and theories present in these segments of
biology and education will be discussed. Attention will be given
to the internal structure of the laws and theories that give organization
within these bodies of knowledge and to some of the
limitations of these laws and theories. Predictions made from the
laws and theories will be scrutinized as a means of determining
the worth of the concepts. >II: With the discussion on growth as a
background, plus a few statements about other concepts that have
been applied to the detriment of education, a set of criteria will
be presented by which one can decide if concepts are worthy of
being used as a basis for making decisions about human affairs.
1. Biological Growth
Biological growth consists basically of increase in the amount
of protoplasm usually accompanied by differentiation of the
protoplasm. Because of the great complexity of the problem, biol-
• I use the word "concept" loosely in this paper to mean idea, law, or theory.
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