Scientism
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The word scientism may be used in various contexts:
- Scientism is the use of the style, assumptions, techniques and other attributes typically displayed by scientists. <ref> Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Second Edition, 1987.</ref>
- "Scientism is the use of scientific or pseudoscientific language." <ref> Ibid. Definition #3 for Scientism. </ref>
- Scientism is the contention that the social sciences should be held to the somewhat stricter interpretation of scientific method used by the natural sciences. <ref> Ibid. Definition #2 for Scientism. </ref>
- Scientism is the belief that the social sciences are not science because they commonly do not hold to the somewhat stricter interpretation of scientific method used by the natural sciences. <ref> Ibid. Definition #2 for Scientism. </ref> [1]
- Scientism was a common ideology in the 19th and 20th century which places its trust only in scientific progress. Template:Fact
- Scientism is a belief that scientific knowledge is the foundation of all knowledge and that, consequently, scientific argument should always be weighted more heavily than other forms of knowledge, 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.
- It can be contrasted by doctrines like historicism, which hold that there are certain "unknowable" truths. <ref> The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.) </ref> This viewpoint is typified by comments such as "Scientific research has demonstrated that substance x causes cancer in humans."
- As a form of dogma: "In essence, scientism sees science as the absolute and only justifiable access to the truth." [2]
- Scientism can also be used 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. Template:Fact
Techno-utopianism has been accused of constituting a form of scientism,Template:Fact as well as the 20th-century eugenics movement or the Raelian movement which advocates physical immortality through cloning.Template:Fact
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See also
- Panglossianism
- Pathological skepticism
- Philosophy of science
- Positivism
- Scientific method
- Scientistic materialism
- Technologism
- Techno-utopianism
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References
- Susan Haack, "Science, Scientism, and Anti-Science in the Age of Preposterism", Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, 1997.
- Sandra Harding, "Who Knows? Identities and Feminist Epistemology", in Joan E. Hartman and Ellen Messer-Davidow, eds., (En)gendering Knowledge, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1991, p. 109.
- F.A. Hayek, The Counter-Revolution of Science: Studies on the Abuse of Reason, Glencoe: The Free Press, 1952.
- Helmut Schoeck and James W. Wiggins, eds., Scientism and Values, D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, NJ, 1960.
- Tom Sorell Scientism: Philosophy and the Infatuation With Science, Routledge, London, 1994.
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External links
- "Is Science Killing the soul?" Time Out New York (Edge Foundation, Inc.). 1999.
- A discussion between Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins
- Dawkins, Richard, "Is Science a Religion?" The Humanist. January/February 1997.
- Newman, Nathan, "Big Pharma, Bad Science". The Nation. July 25, 2002.
- "The Shamans of Scientism" by Michael Shermer, Scientific American, June, 2002
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