Scientism is the belief that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality.
While the term was defined originally to mean “methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientists”, some scholars, as well as political and religious leaders, have also adopted it as a pejorative term with the meaning “an exaggerated trust in the efficacy of the methods of natural science applied to all areas of investigation (as in philosophy, the social sciences, and the humanities)”.
I have the suspicion, once you’re far enough in any field, you’ll view as a process what colloquially is considered a binary state. You’ll continue talking like it isn’t a process, because you don’t have the time to explain it all the time.
Believing that science yields universally true results or is the only method of finding truths, however, is an ontology and something you have to believe.
Edit: I’m not anti-science or anything, just a pedant.
Believing that science yields universally true results or is the only method of finding truths
You just described science asthough it were a belief system. In reality, science has a presumption that your ideals are false, not true. And a person who could only discover truth through science wouldn’t be able to dress or feed themselves.
I agree with the second part of that sentence, but who would think that they discover universal truths or any truths at all? The whole premise of science is that we cannot verify anything or find any real truth. We can just show that anything else is much more unlikely to be true.
Here is a video by the channel Dr. Fatima (former astrophysicist) which I think has some intersection with this topic. I may have picked the wrong video though because I haven’t watched it in months.
Science isn’t an ontology, it’s a method.
God, what no humanities does to a mf
Reminded me of this.
Exactly. I keep trying to get people to understand that it’s a process, just like running is a process.
I have the suspicion, once you’re far enough in any field, you’ll view as a process what colloquially is considered a binary state. You’ll continue talking like it isn’t a process, because you don’t have the time to explain it all the time.
And a method in which beliefs are important. Not the religious ones, of course, but there are other kinds of beliefs.
Believing that science yields universally true results or is the only method of finding truths, however, is an ontology and something you have to believe.
Edit: I’m not anti-science or anything, just a pedant.
You just described science as though it were a belief system. In reality, science has a presumption that your ideals are false, not true. And a person who could only discover truth through science wouldn’t be able to dress or feed themselves.
I agree with the second part of that sentence, but who would think that they discover universal truths or any truths at all? The whole premise of science is that we cannot verify anything or find any real truth. We can just show that anything else is much more unlikely to be true.
Here is a video by the channel Dr. Fatima (former astrophysicist) which I think has some intersection with this topic. I may have picked the wrong video though because I haven’t watched it in months.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQdTmvqCgxI
I saw this earlier and really wanted to pipe up, but I just couldn’t bear it.