Albert and Gabrielle Howard began their career as
conventional scientists: doing controlled experiments and submitting their
quantitative results to peer reviewed journals in soil science. However,
after Gabrielle died and Albert returned from India
to England,
the epistemic posture of his work changed dramatically. In order to
"save" his organic and holistic theories of the relationships between
soil and health (against sizable professional opposition), Albert turned away
from narrowly-conceived scientific evidence, and began to rely on personal
testimony as an empirical means to buttress his arguments about the
desirability of "whole foods."