A few months ago while browsing a creationist website I read that some scientists had their PhD's removed for supporting Creationism (good reason to do so). Is it possible to have a doctorate removed? On a tangent, would you support having degrees taken away as punishment for certain crimes? Doctors and lawyers have their licences taken away if they fail to perform their jobs properly, but I've never heard of anyone's degree being taken away except at that site.
there's a diff between having your liscense taken away and your degree. they don't take your medical degree away, just your liscene to practice medicine. same with lawyers, you get disbarred. in that case you are in a proffesion with specific rules and ethics. science isn't exactly like that, we don't have a governing board or anything like that. as for taking away PhDs, i know that universities do have some leway in taking away some degrees. I've heard of a BS taken away from a guy because of some cheating scandal or something, but that had to do with the school. I don't know if the school would do such a thing if you did something that had nothing to do with the school. i don't think taking away a PhD for supporting creationism is a good idea. what's the phD in anyway? evolutionary biology?
Here is where I heard about doctorates being removed (middle of the page under "USA")-they did not provide specifics.
Should the link fail to work: 1) Go here: http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Cu.../Science_and_Religion/Creation_vs__Evolution/ 2) Scroll down to "Was Darwin Right" (near the bottom) 3) Click on it 4) When it loads find "Anit Creation"
Quote"Is it possible to have a doctorate removed? A few months ago while browsing a creationist website I read that some scientists had their PhD's removed for supporting Creationism (good reason to do so). Is it possible to have a doctorate removed? Do you know how hard it is to get a doctorate? It is both illegal and ignoble to remove someones doctorate.The work that we had to submit was to cover new ground, being archetypal, and original in thought. Therefore it is illegal to take a persons PhD. away, as they are the authority in their field and no-one is their superior. It appears to me that what a university who revoked diplomas under these circumstances is attempting to do damage to the status quoi in certain important ways, universities do have authority in taking away some degrees but only if it is warranted.. The old argument about Evolution and Creationism is rife. On one hand you have under a deadly sun,,an ammoniated ocean topped by poisonous atmophere in the midst of a soup of molecules -a nucleic acid molecule came accidentally into being that could somehow bring about the existence of onother like itsef.......on the other a creator Accident or Design...you cannot start something without intelligence to create something with intelligence..therefore the people who removed the PhD. FROM THAT PERSON ARE IN DARKNESS IGNORANCE...ACCIDENT OR DESIGN Dr.Dominic
Has anyone the insight to the above problem...its like taking away your driving licence when you have just past......Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It doesn't really make any sense to take away a PhD because a scientist was a proponent of a theory which is not scientific. A scientific theory should survive on its own merits and taking PhDs away won't change anything about that. I remember that there were these 2 french brothers doing their PhD in physics. Most of the community did not understand their work and some said it was bogus. Their supervisor claimed it was on such a level that probably only the brothers understood it. Was it unscientific? Should they not get their PhD because it seems unscientific to many? It was clear that their work was original and as IXL777 has already mentioned this is an important part of the PhD. Personally I think that we shouldn't worry too much about what people with PhDs say. It might be unscientific to the scientific community, but didn't they earn the right to voice their opinion by obtaining their PhD? If they wanted to publish a creationist paper than the community can always deal with it by subjecting it to peer review. What's the purpose of taking away a PhD?
