Scientism is a theory that holds that knowledge is only valid when it is obtained through scientific practice . Also referred to as scientism , it is a position that promotes the application of the scientific method and the development of empirical sciences.
For scientism, the inductive method that characterizes the natural sciences is the right path for generating knowledge. In fact, scientism maintains that only science can offer an accurate description of reality beyond any perspective.
It is common to associate scientism with positivism . This school of thought only recognises scientific knowledge as valid, which arises exclusively from the scientific method.
The origin of scientism is linked to the Enlightenment and its confrontation with its opponents. The enlightened were convinced of the preponderant role that science had to occupy in society, which is why the position of scientism was indispensable to promote the construction of valid knowledge and, by extension, to promote progress.
Traditionally, society instills in us that scientific knowledge is the most reliable, thus discrediting any other source of knowledge , especially in the field of humanities: religious, philosophical, etc. This leads us to grow up in a world where only the bravest dare to question science with postulates from the latter group, since most people will laugh at them mercilessly.
However, not everything is black and white. There are scientists who oppose this rigidity, and in particular scientism. Such is the case of Paul Feyerabend , a philosopher of science born in 1924 in Vienna and died in 1994 in Zurich. For him, there are no methodological rules that are exempt from exceptions or that serve to govern the progress of science, since he maintains that science cannot be tied to universal or fixed norms.
This is in the context of epistemological anarchism , a theory developed by Feyerabend to support his ideas regarding the vision we should have of science. In fact, he points out that scientism is harmful to science, because it does not allow it to adapt to the context, locking it into a series of laws that are impossible to change. If a single, immutable methodology is established, science cannot develop.
Feyerabend also said that science is anarchic in its essence, so that in order to evolve it cannot be tied to a set of fixed rules or to the thinking of a closed group of people. He accused the scientific community of presenting its knowledge in a simple and boring way, always tinged with an inflexibility that should not be associated with it.
It is important to note that the notion of scientism is also used in a derogatory manner. In this case, the term refers to the tendency to give exaggerated value to scientific knowledge or to knowledge presented as such.
Scientism, in this context, is associated with an alleged inappropriate use of scientific postulates or with the application of science in a field where, in reality, it cannot be applied. Often the accusation of scientism comes from religious groups or from those who defend pseudoscience .
We understand the concept of pseudoscience (which can also be written pseudoscience ) as the practice, belief or statement that is presented as part of science, that is, as one or more facts that can be proven through practice, although in reality this is not the case. In general, any statement that is imprecise, exaggerated (that is, bordering on the mystical or magical) or that contains points that contradict each other is accused of being pseudoscience.