PhD defence J.M.M.P.M. (Jacques) van Turnhout

Immanuel Velikovsky, seer or scientist?

The story of the life of the ultra-orthodox Zionistic Russian-Jewish psychiatrist Immanuel Velikovsky (1895-1979_ and especially his public clash with the American scientists led to some conclusions. Scientists are unwise. Often they are sociologically inane too. They certainly not own the truth. Velikovsky deflated their self complacent pomposity and arrogance. He gave us a very instructive insight in the sociology  of science. He placed the concept of "pseudo-science" (=replacing science) and "fringe science"(= protocol-science, but as yet unproved) clearly on the map. With excellent demarcations. He was a brilliant rhetorician, showing that being right does not mean that you will be believed. Truth can be shaped and is malleable, even in classical Athens. Did the Sophists win after all, and not Plato? He was a good man, but a too zealous Zionist. He was not a good scientist. He was a great seer, but a knight errant.

The PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall at campus Woudestein or in the Professor Andries Querido Room at the Erasmus MC. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online