RI Science Lecture 4 (Instrumentalism vs Realism, Scienticism, Science and other disciplines) 2023

SCIENCEInstrumentalism vs Realism, Scienticism, Science and other disciplines

Problem of Demarcation revisited –why bother?◦Why do we bother?◦The privileging of Science over any and every other body of knowledge◦When there are rival candidates for a knowledge claim, which do we believe?◦Simple! Just ask which is the scientific theory and which isn’t.◦But is this necessarily the right move?◦Consider how we have many different theories today that claim to be scientific when they are not.◦E.g.: healthcare claims like eating kale, drinking coconut oil, the whole ‘eating clean’ movement (read the Guardian’s piece https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/why-we-fell-for-clean-eating)◦Also, is the assumption that that which is scientific is always epistemically superior to that which is not scientificcorrect?◦Is science over-reaching in some areas such as ethics because it cannot provide us with such knowledge?

Scientism◦Essentially, the worshippingof science, an over-reverential attitude towards science, thinking that science is the best or even the only valid form of intellectual endeavour◦To say that one is being unscientific is not merely an observation but to pass judgment, specifically a negative one –irrational, unjustified, foolish, perhaps even worthy of contempt◦The opposite holds for being scientific –rigorous, precise, justified, to be believed◦But should we hold such an attitude?◦Is Science really to be privileged over other disciplines? Think Math, Social Sciences, Humanities, Ethics, Aesthetics◦Can Science even inform us on such matters?

Science & other disciplines◦How applicable is the Scientific Method to other areas of exploration like Ethics, Aesthetics and the Humanities?◦Science: an empirical method of study into the workings of the (natural) world via the scientific method◦Insofar as a discipline is quantifiable and/or allows for experimentation, it seems possible to apply the SM to it◦E.g. Economics –quantifiable variables like price, years, GDP/capita, import levels etc◦E.g. Psychology –experiments are possible (e.g. Milgram experiment)◦E.g. Aesthetics –that which is beautiful is that which the majority of people like or perhaps that which conforms to the Golden Ratio◦But not everything that is of the social and/or mental world is quantifiable and/or allows for experimentation◦E.g. How to quantify thoughts? How to separate one from another?◦Human beings have free will and are not inanimate/non-sentient variables who have no choice but to obey laws of nature like carbon atoms –so psych experiments might reveal to us how the majorityof people might act in a given situation but not for any particular individual; no uniform behaviour

Science & Ethics ◦Science: the study of what is as opposed to what should be◦The former –positive statements like ‘there is a law of gravity’ ◦The latter –normative statements like ‘thou shalt not kill’◦Hence, no matter how sophisticated the experiment or the measuring device, the SM woul