Which would you be most likely to believe:

[rudeguy]

You would also have had a good chance of dying of typhoid. Neither that or the textbook of the day have any real bearing in todays world.

I dunno...schools still teach Darwinism and that is basically the same conclusion he came to.

 

[videogames101]

Can I say, evaluate each and find which presents the best evidence?

 

[rudeguy]

I can buy that... Say we take out the non starter. Which is more reliable; the book, or the professor?

I'm assuming the book was published by a recognized publishing house, not some ID front. Assuming that, I'll take the book. If the book is from a no name publisher, I'll take the professor.

The same professor that said a baby's life is of less value than a pig, dog or chimp?

 

[lxskllr]

The same professor that said a baby's life is of less value than a pig, dog or chimp?

Context?

He very well may have been right. Context makes the difference.

 

[JohnCU]

this thread is stupid

 

[rudeguy]

Context?

He very well may have been right. Context makes the difference.

He was arguing that it should be legal to kill a baby until it is 28 days old.

 

[lxskllr]

He was arguing that it should be legal to kill a baby until it is 28 days old.

That's a little extreme. I'd be curious to read is reasoning on that.

 

[techs]

Apparently the biology textbooks in the 20's taught that there were 5 major races and that the white race was "the highest of them all".

Nice one. Very nice.

 

[Gibsons]

He was arguing that it should be legal to kill a baby until it is 28 days old.

That's a legal/moral/ethical question, not a biology question... isn't it?

I haven't seen a biology textbook even address this question, and can't think of why it would. Maybe a "bioethics" text, but still.

 

[Malak]

There are no good answers here. A textbook can be wrong. A professor can lie. The bible can be innaccurate.

 

[yhelothar]

believe in what capacity?

only the most fundamentalist of christians would claim that the bible is a 100% historical document, but that doesn't necessarily make it "false"

almost all christians believe the bible is 100% the word of God, and that makes it no less than absolute truth.

 

[yhelothar]

I'd choose the text book. It's been peer reviewed by hundreds of professors, which > 1 prof.

 

[Malak]

I'd choose the text book. It's been peer reviewed by hundreds of professors, which > 1 prof.

Ahh, but more people have probably studied the bible than any one textbook. And I've read incorrect textbooks.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Text Book, but I'd consider the professor to be a valid second opinion. The bible mixes historical fact with fanciful nonsense in such a haphazard fashion that one cannot choose it over two other sources that can at least be easily checked for accuracy.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I'd choose the text book. It's been peer reviewed by hundreds of professors, which > 1 prof.

Most text books aren't peer reviewed.

 

[Ruptga]

On what? Details of DNA or the meaning of life? Poll question is a little vague.

this

 

[eits]

professor ftw

textbooks are written by professors and facts change all the time. typically, the professor is on the pulse of the newest facts in his field and is enthusiastic about it... that's how he got the damn job in the first place.

 

[TallBill]

Regarding what exactly? It makes a difference.

 

[JujuFish]

The professor might be some kind of dipshit. Even at that level, idiots get through.

I've never met an idiotic Princeton professor. Controversial, sure, but never stupid.