In Reply to: Re: philosophiae doctor posted by PhD on October 06, 2006 at 15:15:17:
My understanding is that one thing is a PhD in a scientific field, and another in a profession. Medicine is not considered a scientific field and that's why they have such lengthy practical training. It does not mean MDs are not capable scientists and work along side PhDs but a PhD prepares one to do research while an MD does not. MDs have training to read and understand research but that's not the center of their activity. Many MDs proceed to get a PhD, and vice versa.
In general, PhDs are given by many professions, such as engineering. The particular quality of a PhD, aside the content matter, is the gained skill to work as a level of abstraction required by the rigor of research. In addition, there are specific methods for specific problems. While a professional addresses problems to solve them, a PhD addresses problems to understand them.
It is common for a PhD to go out of their domain, as Chancellor does, but you are right in calling him out because obviously he does not approaches it with the scientific rigor he should. He is just another charlatan who cloaks his intentions with clothes of authority, just like many others who fill the radio, the TV, the news, and The Family.
On the other hand, a PhD should be able to move from one domain to another as long as the rigor in thinking is maintained and this is the difficult part on some. They know what they need to do and how they need to do it, but they opt for the easier way of receiving the money, getting glory or any other compensation rather than staying in the narrow path. Mercenaries abound, as do people who don't want to chew their own intellectual food and thus believe the lies of the liars.