Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Conversation …


GAINES: Well, the - one of the - I mean, there are specific scientific facts, you know, pollution, the idea of bacteria, which is, you know, coming to the forefront with Lister and Pasteur and even Jennings at the beginning of the 19th century, it's a new idea, and people are loathe to change their views on science.
THOMAS: It's just the kind of thing that one could conveniently call a theory.
GAINES: Yeah, no, exactly, a theory. And it is incredibly inconvenient financially, and basically everyone starts covering their own butts.

Well, actually, no. It is not theory when you have samples of bacteria-laden water. Stockman wasn't defending a theory. But Stockman is also rather full of  himself, as Ibsen also makes plain. His play is no simplistic sermon, and Stockman's line that majority is always wrong is certainly debatable.

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