TY - JOUR T1 - Commentary 2 JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 404 LP - 405 VL - 54 IS - 502 AU - James Willis Y1 - 2004/05/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/54/502/404.2.abstract N2 - I think Kevork Hopayian, for all his erudition, has got a problem. He is seeing legitimate attempts to improve the scientific understanding of reality as attacks on science itself. Many people, especially people working in general medical practice, find orthodox models inadequate to describe the subtlety, complexity and (in Iona Heath's sense1) the mystery of face-to-face human experience. This is important today because so many official initiatives and media attitudes are founded on a profoundly unscientific illusion that science can provide definitive answers to human problems. So attempts to improve the models are not merely legitimate but essential if science is to make progress. Hopayian provides here an example of the almost paranoid counter-response of those who see themselves as protectors of the sepulchre of science from heretical attack.He talks repeatedly of ‘straw men’, but in truth it is he who is setting up ridiculous caricatures simply to knock … ER -