Scientism

Scientism is a relatively newly coined word that refers to certain epistemologies based on science. The word has several different meanings:

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• Scientism is a belief that scientific knowledge is the foundation of all wisdom and that, consequently, scientific argument should always be weighted more heavily than other forms of wisdom, particularly those which are not yet well described or justified from within the rational framework, or whose description fails to present itself in the course of a debate against a scientific argument. When used in a critique of science, it is dismissed by some scientists who maintain that all fields of inquiry should be subject to (and can ultimately be understood by) standard scientific methods of investigation.http://www.bartleby.com/61/75/S0147500.html

:It can be contrasted by doctrines like historicism which hold that there are certain "unknowable" truths. (Source for definition: The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.)

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:This viewpoint is typified by comments such as "Scientific research has demonstrated that substance x causes cancer in humans."

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• As a form of dogma: "In essence, scientism sees science as the absolute and only justifiable access to the truth." http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/sciism-body.html
• Scientism can mean the values of humanism and Enlightenment informed by science. In this context, scientism is "a scientific worldview that encompasses natural explanations for all phenomena, eschews supernatural and paranormal speculations, and embraces empiricism and reason as the twin pillars of a philosophy of life appropriate for an Age of Science". (Source: Michael Shermer, The Shamans of Scientism, Scientific American, 2002)
• Scientism may also refer to the way in which Marxists appropriated science (especially Darwin) as a justification for Karl Marx's theories, and how science replaced religion in Marxist communism.
• Scientism can be used as a pejorative term, typically to reject the assertion that the application of scientific understanding to all phenomena produces the predicted results and is, therefore, a reliable guide to policy. It implies a reliance on science unbalanced by, and therefore susceptible to, unconscious influence by other life factors such as experiences, emotions, values, dogmas, beliefs, and motive. These influences, and, necessarily, the resulting science, are unscientific to the extent that they are unexamined in connection with the development of the science. In particular, in any area where secrets are known to be held, trust in science breaks down because influential facts are not being revealed, so no rational judgment can be fully trusted.

Scientism is sometimes seen, when used in its pejorative sense, as being a term deployed from an anti-science standpoint, despite the fact that some of those who have used it in this way claim to be supporters of science who are merely proposing a less reductionist view of science. "Reductionism" is intended by such as a critique of that scientific categorization which reduces individual variation into categories without regard for the consequences of such categorization, in particular upon those at the margins of such classification. In other words, scientism would be scientific analysis of populations which honors only prevalence and ignores outlyers, tending to create undesirable norms.

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'Scientism' may be used to imply an ignorance (or denial) of a relationship/disjunction between metaphysical and natural phenomena. This sense of the term comes close to Hannah Arendt's use of it in The Origins of Totalitarianism; in her view, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had made the human condition a matter of scientific exactitude, and thus otherwise impossible moral or ethical questions (such as, "Can a man be worthless? And if so, can we euthanize him?") are easily resolved within the internally-consistent "scientific" methods of the state. In other words, the inhuman aspects of such totalitarian states cannot be said to be entirely unrelated to their adherence to pseudo-science as the ultimate arbiter of value.

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Scientism: See also ►



 

Anti-science: Anti-science is a term applied to individuals who are claimed to oppose science or the scientific method. It is also a term applied to ideas or beliefs which are claimed to conflict with scientific orthodoxy....

Reductionist: REDIRECT reductionism...

Hannah Arendt: Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 ? December 4, 1975) was a German political theorist. She had often been described as a philosopher, although she always refused that label....