united-kingdom
Can the law be used to falsify science?
<p>This may seem very off topic, but sadly it isn't.</p>

<p>There is currently a prominent flat earther in the UK who has decided to write a paper to be peer reviewed, which would turn science on its head in the education system.</p>

<p>He even crowd funded over £2000 to pay for his course to do this:</p>

<p><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/fe-in-the-education-system" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.gofundme.com/fe-in-the-education-system</a></p>

<p>Given that knowledge gained through the scientific method by definition must be falsifiable, what can this man possibly gain from doing this? Would any law review group take this even remotely seriously?</p>

<p>A legal paper published in a peer reviewed journal is not science. Universities have faculties of Law <strong>and</strong> Science because they are not the same thing. while both disciplines use the terms ‘evidence’, ‘fact’ and ‘proof’ they do not mean the same thing.</p>

<p>Notwithstanding, the law has already disproved science - see the Catholic Church v Galileo and the Heliocentric model of the Solar System. Yet NASA still uses it to send spacecraft to Pluto - possibly because engineering is neither science nor law.</p>

<p>It sounds like the gofundme application is to cover a dissertation about the legal process of questioning the National Curriculum. If it follows legal process, it could be entirely successful as an academic paper about the process of Law without anyone outside the peer review group having read it.</p>

<p>The application is not about actually questioning the National Curriculum.</p>

<p>What the applicant gains is funding towards a dissertation which, if successful, could be used as part of a Masters Degree in Law. He's looking for someone to pay [at least part of] his university fees.</p>

<p>The application appears to be an entirely academic exercise - in all senses of the phrase. It doesn't have any significant implications in the field of law, and certainly none relating to teaching or science.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This was a much better effort</a> by a sitting legislature rather than by an impoverished student, but even that didn't get anywhere except frequent incorrect citations in the press.</p>
