Re: [asa] The Origin(s) of 'Scientism'

At 10:53 AM 8/5/2006, Gregory Arago wrote:
>.... does OED cite a first usage or early usages of the term
>'scientism'? Does it acknowledge a scientist, philosopher or other
>thinker who identified/defined it?
>...Curious also to hear how scientism and dogmatism are contrasted. ~ Gregory
>

@ You may find this info useful:

"..Hayek introduced the notion of 'scientism' into the English
vocabulary in 1942 in a sense almost identical to what Kuhn calls
'the philosophers picture of science' -- but Hayek declined to debate
the applicability of this picture to the natural sciences (although
in the strongest terms he all but says that this philosopher's
picture of science does not apply to either the natural or social sciences).

Popper in his 1957 book mischaracterizes Hayek's account of scientism
-- and then presents Hayek's original sense of the word as Popper's own.

Now Popper's mischaracterization of Hayek's definition is the
misleading and incomplete snippet of Hayek on 'scientism' that is now
found in the OED. ...

More: http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pkt/1995m05/msg00701.htm

~ Janice

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Received on Sat Aug 5 16:26:04 2006