Thoughts on science

[moneysucks]

Thoughts stemming from today's Humbio lecture, on the argument over scientific reductionism (E.O. Wilson vs. Stephen Jay Gould, to anyone like Noah who might actually know who those people are and what they say

Comments

Re: Philosophy

[moneysucks]

It's a problem with the ideology behind science, though. You can't just blame the public, because the public perception of science is very much influenced by how scientists see themselves and talk about their own work.

If you read my original post, I'm definitely not trying to criticize the scientific method itself. I'm criticizing the notion that that's the only way to valid knowledge. I'm also criticizing the notion that the most valid kind of knowledge is that which breaks a system down to its component parts - that's what reductionism basically says.

To be more concrete about what I mean, I don't think neurobiologists know more in a meaningful sense about the human mind than anybody else. I don't think economists know any more about economics than the average person who works for a living. They have a very different type of knowledge. But I'm not convinced it's more valuable.

Basically, I think that a view of science which prioritizes so-called "objective" knowledge arrived at through a strict scientific method, or even worse, eliminates all other types of knowledge from the realm of science, serves to promote elitism and authoritarianism, disempower the vast majority of society and make them feel they don't contribute meaningfully to human progress. I blame the scientific establishment in part for this, because they promote this view.