The relativity of scientism

Symbol for an atom

Philosopher Jonny Thompson has an article up on RealClearScience profiling the views of Mary Midgley: The Three Myths of Scientism. (Warning: the RealClearScience site is pretty ad intensive.) Midgley was a famous critic of views she regarded as scientism, and often sparred with atheist and antitheist Richard Dawkins. As someone who usually takes the scientific … Continue reading The relativity of scientism

Is logic and mathematics part of science?

Last week was scientism week at Scientia Salon, and I reblogged a post by Coel Hellier on a defense of scientism, mostly by arguing that mathematics was actually part of science.  As I indicated in my comment on that reblog, while I agree with Coel that both logic and mathematics have foundations that are empirically … Continue reading Is logic and mathematics part of science?

Non-experts challenging the expert consensus is rarely wise, even when scientists do it

Chris Mooney has an article at Mother Jones, explaining why it's not a good idea for non-scientists to challenge the scientific consensus, in the process, reviewing Harry Collins's new book, 'Are we all scientific experts now?'. Read all the online stuff you want, Collins argues—or even read the professional scientific literature from the perspective of … Continue reading Non-experts challenging the expert consensus is rarely wise, even when scientists do it