Unit FiveAngels on a Pin
Unit Five Angels on a Pin
Background InformationThis article was writtenat a time whenthe wholeof the United States wasthrown into a panic over the launching ofthe first satellite (Sputnik) by theRussians, because this seemed to provethat the formerSovietUnionhad left USfar behind in science and technology
Background Information This article was written at a time when the whole of the United States was thrown into a panic over the launching of the first satellite (Sputnik) by the Russians, because this seemed to prove that the former Soviet Union had left US far behind in science and technology
Many Americans believed that there mustbe something seriously wrong with theireducationalsystem
Many Americans believed that there must be something seriously wrong with their educational system
Background InformationAngels on a Pin: Medieval scholastics were fondof debating such meaningless questions as "Howmany angels can dance on the point of a pin,""Did Adam have a navel ." The emergingsciences replaced such 'scholarly'debates withexperimentation and appeals to observable fact
Background Information Angels on a Pin: Medieval scholastics were fond of debating such meaningless questions as "How many angels can dance on the point of a pin," "Did Adam have a navel ." The emerging sciences replaced such `scholarly' debates with experimentation and appeals to observable fact
Angels on a pin is used to ridicule those people who askedmeaningless questions about the Bible in the Middle Age.It is also used ironically to describe the kind ofquestionsthatphilosophersponderInmodernusage,this questionserves as ametaphor for wasting time debating topics ofnopracticalvalue
Angels on a pin is used to ridicule those people who asked meaningless questions about the Bible in the Middle Age. It is also used ironically to describe the kind of questions that philosophers ponder. In modern usage, this question serves as a metaphor for wasting time debating topics of no practical value