Questioning assumptions….and practices!

Abstract

In a "society of opinion" such as ours, where scientific arguments are discredited in favor of Internet-educated "critical thinkers", the role of postulations and beliefs influencing our worldviews needs some discussion. Perhaps more fundamentall, we researchers and educationalists should be questioning our practices, our ethics, and our way of sharing empirically acquired knowledge.

For why should science and scientific results even be considered beneficial or objective after abuses carried out in studies such as the Tuskegee one? How can we trust the results of researchers and educationalists when they let their own ideologies and desires to do the right thing (and even certain economic interests) influence their recommendations? How can we understand scientific advancement if they are not, are poorly, popularized?

Even if, in this issue of Babylonia, we focus on the presuppositions that shape language teaching, we see our approach as a first step in the direction of reconciling subjective opinions and empirically based arguments. Were we successful or not? We'll leave you to make up your own mind and wish you happy critical reading!