Science is supposed to be a method of inquiry reflecting our best knowledge to date. It should not be viewed as an indisputable, unquestionable fact. True science allows for questioning, replication, testing & data transparency. It is open to scrutiny & being proven wrong.
Has science lost its integrity?
When you lose the essence of science through scientism, prevent discussion of opposing viewpoints & present data out of context, it shouldn’t be surprising to see growing mistrust in the institutions using scientism.
In this fascinating interview, philosopher Matthew B. Crawford claims that science has become corrupted. ‘It is the pride of science to be falsifiable. There is an openness & humility to it’. The advancement of truth, the willingness to be wrong, the welcoming of scrutiny in the advancement of truth.
Crawford states ‘Science has to be transformed in to something more like religion if it is to serve the function that we have assigned it: as authority. Scientism or science as ideology, a quasi-religious form of authority. Science shorn of its natural humility or openness to being questioned. Scientism is the opportunity to invoke science as a cover for decisions that may not be scientific in their motivations’.
What is the effect of a loss in trust in science due to its politicisation & industrialisation? Freddie argues that there still needs to be some level of authority around established scientific principles for reasons of efficiency, while remaining open.
‘If you want to preserve the integrity of science, you have to limit this reflex of invoking it in a demagogic way as a way to manipulate the population. I think politicians have to lay out the logic of different courses of action’.
Sometimes systems need to reach breaking point in order to restructure. Maybe we will see an acceleration of critical thinking & eventually foster in a new age of science.
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Matthew B Crawford has degrees in Physics & Political Philosophy. He’s a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.