Pre-modern cultures were knowledgeable of plants and animals; those that were not did not survive. The closest their cultures came to being scientific was tasting and cooking plants and animals to see if they were not poisonous.
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A letter in defence of science, published in The Listener last month, was signed by seven professors from the University of Auckland – Kendall Clements, Garth Cooper, Emeritus Professor Michael Corballis, Douglas Elliffe, Elizabeth Rata, Emeritus Professor Robert Nola, and Emeritus Professor John Werry.
Prominent scientists were among the critics of the letter-writers. But despite their disquiet, dismay or outrage, the critics have avoided stating that mātauranga Māori is scientific.
GRAHAM ADAMS asks why they are skirting the main issue.
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A distinctly curious feature of the backlash against the seven professors’ letter published in The Listener titled “In Defence of Science” is that none of its most prominent critics have actually defended mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) as being scientific.
Yet the main point of the letter by the seven Auckland University professors — and the main point of contention for its critics — was summed up in…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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