Jason Dollar . Net

What is scientism?

 It is the dogmatic philosophical position that true knowledge only comes through the scientific process. Scientific knowledge is considered to be superior to philosophical or religious knowledge. This view provides the authoritarian basis for the naturalistic view of reality, which asserts that the universe is comprised of nothing but matter / energy.

Who are some well known people who hold to scientism?

Carl Sagan, now deceased, was one of the most vocal defenders of scientism. Recent prophets of this dogmatism include Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens.

How many people hold to scientism overall?

It is really hard to say since scientism comes in varying degrees of strength, and since adherents rarely advertise it. But, especially in the university setting, scientism seems to be an underlying accepted belief system among large numbers of people.

Why should scientism be rejected?

1. Scientism does not meet its own criteria. It cannot be shown through scientific evidence that scientism is true since it is a philosophical assumption.
2. Science itself depends on many non-scientific assumptions in order to work: like the assumption that the universe is orderly and is the type thing that can be studied, or that scientists should be honest in reporting their findings (honesty is a type of ethical knowledge, not scientific knowledge).

Further reading:

Here is a brief introduction to some of the problems with Scientism from Martin Ryder, University of Colorado at Denver.

Why do many people continue to hold to some form of scientism?

Perhaps to use it as an explanation of reality that seems to work. To their minds, it seems to answer more questions in better ways than other alternatives. However, it is blatantly self-defeating and closed-minded, ignoring many lines of evidence that lead to the existence of God. God is simply excluded since he cannot be studied scientifically. This is unfortunate considering that God’s existence answers many, many more questions in infinitely superior ways than scientism ever can.

Are there different types of scientism?

Yes, there is a distinction between strong scientism which says that a proposition is only true, if and only if it is a scientific proposition or theory. Weak scientism is bit less dogmatic, allowing for other forms of knowledge, but continuing to assert that scientific knowledge is the best knowledge available.