Yes, There Can Be Science Without Scientism, and Without Relativism
Sarah Chaffee
In an article at Slate referring to Neil deGrasse Tyson's now famous #Rationalia tweet, sociologist Jeffery Guhin argues that "A rational nation ruled by science would be a terrible idea."
What? This, from popular media? Guhin makes his case against scientism, noting:
First, experts usually don't know nearly as much as they think they do....[T]he real problem is when we forget that scientists and experts are human too, and approach evidence and reasoned deliberation with the same prior commitments and unspoken assumptions as anyone else. Scientists: they're just like us.
Yes -- science, like any other human enterprise, is flawed.
"And second, science has no business telling people how to live," Guhin continues. Decrying scientific racism, he recalls that "Eugenics was science, as was social Darwinism and the worst justifications of the Soviet and Nazi regimes." Kudos to Guhin for recognizing that -- a point that many other commentators avoid facing squarely.
In fact, that sounds remarkably like what Discovery Institute's John G. West says in Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science. As Dr. West summarizes in the Preface:
At the dawn of the last century, leading scientists and politicians giddily predicted that modern science -- especially Darwinian biology -- would supply solutions to all the intractable problems of American society, from crime to poverty to sexual maladjustment.
Instead, politics and culture were dehumanized as a new generation of "scientific" experts began treating human beings as little more than animals or machines:
In criminal justice, these experts denied the existence of free will and proposed replacing punishment with invasive "cures" such as the lobotomy.
In welfare, they proposed eliminating the poor by sterilizing those deemed biologically unfit.
In business, they urged the selection of workers based on racist theories of human evolution and the development of advertising methods to more effectively manipulate consumer behavior.
In sex education, they advocated creating a new sexual morality based on "normal mammalian behavior," without regard to longstanding ethical or religious imperatives.
But here Guhin abruptly changes direction with a weird foray into bashing creationism. He says that "creationism has a lot more in common with scientism than people such as Tyson or Richard Dawkins would ever admit." Where did that come from? My guess is it's tactical. At Slate, to get away with saying anything that could be seen as critical of materialism, you need to demonstrate your credibility by attacking the creationists.
He has no strong conclusion to his article; rather Guhin's last section is entitled "The elusive truth." Once creationism and scientism are gone, it turns out, what's left is relativism. He says, "Science may give us data, but it doesn't mean that data points to truth -- it's just what we currently understand as truth."
True, there's no science without faith, as Douglas Axe notes in Undeniable:
Science can't even conceivably give us anything more certain than the faith we place in the essential propositions undergirding science, which means science will never be the primary path to knowing, much less the only path to knowing.
But is there a third way? Can we reject the confines of pure materialism without rejecting the information-value of data? Can there be science without scientism?
Historically, science existed in a non-materialist framework. Intelligent design, unlike Darwinian evolution, provides a basis for believing that we are able to ascertain truth about the world while recognizing that some things may be beyond science's reach. ID aligns wells with a view affirming that humans are unique and it is consonant with the existence of ultimate meaning. At the same time, it affirms the importance of rationality and science -- which can help us to improve our quality of life through healthcare, technology, and more.
Accepting reality does not mean throwing away rationality -- just #Rationalia.
Sarah Chaffee
In an article at Slate referring to Neil deGrasse Tyson's now famous #Rationalia tweet, sociologist Jeffery Guhin argues that "A rational nation ruled by science would be a terrible idea."
What? This, from popular media? Guhin makes his case against scientism, noting:
First, experts usually don't know nearly as much as they think they do....[T]he real problem is when we forget that scientists and experts are human too, and approach evidence and reasoned deliberation with the same prior commitments and unspoken assumptions as anyone else. Scientists: they're just like us.
Yes -- science, like any other human enterprise, is flawed.
"And second, science has no business telling people how to live," Guhin continues. Decrying scientific racism, he recalls that "Eugenics was science, as was social Darwinism and the worst justifications of the Soviet and Nazi regimes." Kudos to Guhin for recognizing that -- a point that many other commentators avoid facing squarely.
In fact, that sounds remarkably like what Discovery Institute's John G. West says in Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science. As Dr. West summarizes in the Preface:
At the dawn of the last century, leading scientists and politicians giddily predicted that modern science -- especially Darwinian biology -- would supply solutions to all the intractable problems of American society, from crime to poverty to sexual maladjustment.
Instead, politics and culture were dehumanized as a new generation of "scientific" experts began treating human beings as little more than animals or machines:
In criminal justice, these experts denied the existence of free will and proposed replacing punishment with invasive "cures" such as the lobotomy.
In welfare, they proposed eliminating the poor by sterilizing those deemed biologically unfit.
In business, they urged the selection of workers based on racist theories of human evolution and the development of advertising methods to more effectively manipulate consumer behavior.
In sex education, they advocated creating a new sexual morality based on "normal mammalian behavior," without regard to longstanding ethical or religious imperatives.
But here Guhin abruptly changes direction with a weird foray into bashing creationism. He says that "creationism has a lot more in common with scientism than people such as Tyson or Richard Dawkins would ever admit." Where did that come from? My guess is it's tactical. At Slate, to get away with saying anything that could be seen as critical of materialism, you need to demonstrate your credibility by attacking the creationists.
He has no strong conclusion to his article; rather Guhin's last section is entitled "The elusive truth." Once creationism and scientism are gone, it turns out, what's left is relativism. He says, "Science may give us data, but it doesn't mean that data points to truth -- it's just what we currently understand as truth."
True, there's no science without faith, as Douglas Axe notes in Undeniable:
Science can't even conceivably give us anything more certain than the faith we place in the essential propositions undergirding science, which means science will never be the primary path to knowing, much less the only path to knowing.
But is there a third way? Can we reject the confines of pure materialism without rejecting the information-value of data? Can there be science without scientism?
Historically, science existed in a non-materialist framework. Intelligent design, unlike Darwinian evolution, provides a basis for believing that we are able to ascertain truth about the world while recognizing that some things may be beyond science's reach. ID aligns wells with a view affirming that humans are unique and it is consonant with the existence of ultimate meaning. At the same time, it affirms the importance of rationality and science -- which can help us to improve our quality of life through healthcare, technology, and more.
Accepting reality does not mean throwing away rationality -- just #Rationalia.
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