pn828. Is Nothing in Māori Knowledge Scientific?

 

The argument that a Māori view can legitimately be included in the teaching of the sciences continues to be denied by writers in the Listener "Letters" pages. In this week's bumper holiday issue, three writers applaud the views of Oxford don Richard Dawkins. DSc, FRS,  in the previous issue. 

One wrote of "the vacuous claims of Māori 'knowledge' bearing some nebulous kinship with science"; another denied "traditional (Māori) knowledge equivalen(ce)" with science, and all three supported Dawkins in condemning the NZ Royal Society for supporting the inclusion of Māoritanga or a Māori view in our schools' science curricula.