I'm an English professor at UW-Madison and consider myself a scientist. I don't mind other labels, such as "scholar," but "scientist" is the one that captures the methods of inquiry that are appl...
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3706
German, of course, has a word for it: Wissenschaftler (singular or plural) is the catch-all word used to describe those who work in the natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften), the social sciences...
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3705
It is the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research, not of Science so, let's use the term "Researcher".
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3704
A scientist follows the scientific method and develops hypotheses and designs experiments to test hypotheses. Those experiments can be theoretical. A professor in the humanities, though clearly a...
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3703
Interesting take on the topic! Being a chemist I have never given the definition any thought, but I can certainly agree that to interpret data or take a look at and interpret historical events do...
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3702
The problem, I think, is that many equate "science" with the deductive approach to discovering knowledge. The "scientific method" taught in high school and introductory college courses ephasizes ...
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3701
Yes! I'm a grad student in the Dept of German, working on my doctoral research, and I would call myself and those I work around "scientists".
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3664
"Scholar" is a fine and historic term which embraces serious practicioners of all disciplines.
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3662
Anyone who is not trying to bring anything new to his field is not a scientist. Similarly, you can also teach math, physics or chemistry in a top school. As long as you don't have your own resear...
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3661
I am a sociologist and identify as a scientist. But there are many more humanistic sociologists who object to the "science" label, and I'm sure few who do literary criticism would identify as sci...
https://chancellor.wisc.edu/blog/is-an-english-professor-a-scientist/#comment-3660