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

Hi Gregory:
I suspect that you are looking for more precision than I would like to
employ here. For me, the definitions in the dictionary on my shelves
(Collins Concsise English Dictionary, 1992) are adequate.The entry reads:
scientism 1. the application of the scientific method. 2. the
uncritical application of scientific methods to inappropriate fields of
study.
I take it that those defintions apply to popular usage rather than
technical definitions used by philosophers. It is the second of the two
defintions above I have in mind when I use the term.
The way I use the term scientism, the scientific method is essentially
identical with methodological naturalism. For me, the epitome of
scientism is Richard Dawkins when he moves from a discussion of
evolution to a discussion of religion, with the implication that
Darwin's work on evolution enables Dawkins to be an intellectually
fulfilled atheist.
I have in mind Keith Ward's critique of Dawkins in Chapter 5 of his 1996
book God, Chance and Necessity . Ward does not use the term scientism,
as far as I recall, but I think that he could well have done so in this
context.
I use the term science in an inclusive sense, including applied as well
as pure science, social as well as physical science.
For me dogmatism has little to do with scientism. Dogmatism is the
making of statements that are forcibly asserted as if authoritative, or
statements based on assumption rather than observation
Don

Gregory Arago wrote:

> Thanks for sharing that, Dave. I tried the on-line OED, but don't have
> access to the database. Could you go a bit further with /how /it
> emerged - 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?
> Don, what more can you say about the misapplication of science? Is
> this an ideological dimension or some kind of over-reaching
> of science's domain? Perhaps 'applied science' is rather different
> from 'natural science' in a similar way to how 'social science'
> differs from a 'pure' study of nature. Probably we would agree that
> 'scientism' is more than simply applied scientific methodology?
>
> Curious also to hear how scientism and dogmatism are contrasted.
>
> Gregory
>
>
> p.s. as for "Ideas of the Great Philosophers" and Bertrand Russell
> (1872-1970), perhaps he identified or supported 'scientism' using a
> philosophy of science approach?
>
>
> */"D. F. Siemens, Jr." <dfsiemensjr@juno.com>/* wrote:
>
> OED takes the term back to 1877, with a contrast between dogmatism
> and scientism.
> Dave
>
>
> */Don Nield <d.nield@auckland.ac.nz>/* wrote:
>
> A google search with "scientism dictionary" produces quite a bit of
> information.
> It appears that the word has been in use since the 19th century. It
> started out as simply referring to scientific methodology. At some
> stage it acquired the secondary meaning of misapplication ot the
> scientific method to fields outside science.
> Don
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Share your photos with the people who matter at *Yahoo! Canada Photos*
> <http://photos.yahoo.ca>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Sun Aug 6 20:12:17 2006