Uncle Eric goes all anti-scientistic, argues for “ways of knowing” other than science

I am a big fan of the avuncular Eric MacDonald, our Official Website Uncle™, not only because he abandoned a position as an Anglican priest to become a “strident” atheist, but also because he fights for the right to commit assisted suicide, argues forcefully against the stupidities of theology, and, not the least, has been […]

Uncle Eric on scientism

Karl Giberson’s affectionate sobriquet has been permanently retired on the grounds of intransigent and senseless accommodationism, and has been transferred permanently to the estimable and avuncular Eric MacDonald, who will henceforth be known as “Uncle Eric.” I am quite fond of Eric because he is smart, because he knows a lot about theology, because he […]

The folly of “The folly of scientism”

It’s open season on scientism again! The New Atlantis is an online journal of science and technology (I haven’t heard of it, but I don’t get out much), and this month features an article on scientism by Austin L. Hughes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of South Carolina (where I’ll be speaking in early […]

A priest goes after scientism (again)

The physicist Sean Carroll is a really nice guy—not strident at all, but uncompromising in his godlessness.  But Sean’s affability doesn’t immunize him against attack, for he’s recently published an essay in The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity (see my take on this execrable volume of apologetics here,  here and here) that is one […]

Christian physicist Ian Hutchinson criticizes scientism

A while back reader Sigmund wrote a guest post about a BioLogos series by MIT physicist Ian Hutchinson, who was going on about the dangers of “scientism.” Hutchinson is of course a Christian: you won’t find many atheist physicists getting their knickers in a twist about scientism. According to alert reader Michael, Hutchinson delivered a […]

Uncle Eric on scientism and ways of knowing

UPDATE:  Eric has begun to respond to my comments in a preliminary post at Choice in Dying, and promises to provide a more thorough analysis later. He also called me “nephew”! I’m honored. But the example he uses is not a “fact” (the notion that WWII would have ended by Christmas of 1944 had Montgomery […]

Baggini vs. Krauss on science, philosophy, and morality

Several readers sent me a link to yesterday’s Guardian dialogue between philosopher Julian Baggini and physicist Lawrence Krauss, “Philosophy v. science: Which can answer the big questions of life?” You should read it. Baggini has previously taken strong stands against “scientism” (which he defines in this piece as the insistence “that, if a question isn’t […]

A Sci Am essay: Are humanities scientific?

I’ve found a very strange article on the Scientific American blog Literally Psyched. Maria Konnikova, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Columbia University, claims that “Humanities aren’t a science. Stop treating them like one.“ Her point appears to be that humanities and social sciences (“social sciences” aren’t mentioned in the title)—including history, literature, psychology, political science, […]

A physicist emphasizes the limits of science, calls for humility

UPDATE:  Eric MacDonald has posted a longer piece on Stannard’s column at his own site, Choice in Dying. ______________ It always sickens me to hear theologians, or other religious folk, say that we scientists need more humility.  As if we aren’t already humble—at least compared to the faithful! While scientists worry about problems in the […]

Andrew Sullivan bashes scientism

In yesterday’s Daily Beast column, “A life observed”, Andrew Sullivan takes out after “scientism,” defending “ways of knowing” other than science. He first shows a one-minute video of Richard Feyman explaining the methods of science, then quotes Philip Kitcher’s critique of scientism from The New Republic (see my take here), and then gives NPR correspondent […]