scientism n.
"
Particularly is the present age of science characterized by a predominance of observation over reflection. One would think from the general tendency in this direction that science was little else than gathering of facts. So it has come to pass that a fresh discovery gives warrant for any inference,—for any theory. ... That facts should be valued mainly for the principles they reveal, modern scientism could hardly understand, much less believe. [Henry N. Day, "President McCosh's Logic," The New Englander, July, 1870]
Entries linking to scientism
mid-14c., "
The original notion in the Latin verb probably is "
OED writes that the oldest English sense of the word now is restricted to theology and philosophy. From late 14c. in English as "
From late 14c. in the more specific sense of "
The sense of "
The predominant modern use, "
The men who founded modern science had two merits which are not necessarily found together: Immense patience in observation, and great boldness in framing hypotheses. The second of these merits had belonged to the earliest Greek philosophers; the first existed, to a considerable degree, in the later astronomers of antiquity. But no one among the ancients, except perhaps Aristarchus, possessed both merits, and no one in the Middle Ages possessed either. [Bertrand Russell, "A History of Western Philosophy," 1945]
Science, since people must do it, is a socially embedded activity. It progresses by hunch, vision, and intuition. Much of its change through time does not record a closer approach to absolute truth, but the alteration of cultural contexts that influence it so strongly. Facts are not pure and unsullied bits of information; culture also influences what we see and how we see it. Theories, moreover, are not inexorable inductions from facts. The most creative theories are often imaginative visions imposed upon facts; the source of imagination is also strongly cultural. [Stephen Jay Gould, introduction to "The Mismeasure of Man," 1981]
updated on February 12, 2022