Scientism is the view that the scientific method is the only reliable source of knowledge about the world. It denies the validity of other ways of acquiring knowledge, such as through philosophy, religion, or personal experience. Scientism has become increasingly influential in modern culture, particularly among those with a naturalistic worldview that rejects the supernatural. However, scientism has also been heavily criticized by philosophers, theologians, and others for its dogmatic and self-refuting claims.
Definition and Key Principles of Scientism
Scientism can be defined as the belief that science, and only science, describes reality as it truly is. Key principles underlying scientism include:
- Empiricism – knowledge comes from evidence gathered through observation and experimentation.
- Logical positivism – statements are meaningful only if they can be verified or falsified through scientific procedures.
- Reductionism – complex phenomena can be explained through more fundamental scientific laws.
- Determinism – all events have a cause that is empirically testable and predictable.
In summary, scientism asserts that factual knowledge that can be tested and measured is the superior, or only valid, kind of knowledge. It rejects abstract philosophizing, spiritual revelations, emotions, and other subjective ways of viewing the world that cannot be experimentally verified. Truth is only that which can be proven scientifically.
Origins of Scientism
Scientism has its roots in the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, when pioneers like Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton developed mathematical models and empirical methods for investigating the natural world. This led to a growing belief that the universe operated like a machine that could be rationally understood through science alone.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Enlightenment further promoted science and reason as the supreme authorities on knowledge, rather than traditional sources like the church and the Bible. Thinkers like Auguste Comte advocated positive philosophy – deriving knowledge from observable facts rather than metaphysical speculation. Logical positivism then formalized this empirical basis for truth claims in the early 20th century.
The incredible progress of science and technology in the modern era further cemented scientism’s view that scientific knowledge was the pinnacle of human achievement. All fields from psychology to economics aimed to model themselves on the methods of the hard sciences.
Key Arguments Made by Proponents of Scientism
Advocates of scientism employ both positive and negative arguments to promote their view. Key arguments include:
- The consistent success and progress of science constitutes strong inductive evidence for its exclusive grasp on truth.
- No other method has demonstrated the same success as science in expanding knowledge and making accurate predictions.
- Alternative knowledge claims in religion and philosophy cannot be substantiated or empirically verified.
- Science delivers objective facts, while other fields rely on subjective intuition and traditions.
- Accepting non-scientific ways of knowing opens the door to superstition, pseudoscience, and quackery.
- Questions unanswered by science simply mean we need to do more science, not resort to other sources of knowledge.
In short, proponents argue that science alone developed the modern world through technology and evidence-based thinking. Therefore, we should infer that science alone provides true explanatory power and real-world usefulness.
Criticisms Made Against Scientism
However, scientism has been widely criticized on a number of grounds by philosophers, theologians, and thinkers from various fields. Major criticisms include:
- It is self-refuting and logically inconsistent. The statement “only scientific claims are meaningful” itself is not scientifically verifiable.
- Science itself does not make the claim to have exclusive access to truth and reality. Scientism is a philosophical stance layered on top of science.
- There are other valid forms of knowledge outside science, such as logic, mathematics, ethics, metaphysics, and aesthetics.
- There are domains of human experience that science has not explained and cannot explain, including consciousness, beauty, emotion, and religious encounters.
- Scientism’s reductionism tries to explain thoughts, feelings, choices, and other facets of humanity solely in biological or mechanical terms.
- Scientism’s empiricism cannot verify moral truths, historical events, theoretical explanations, or other meaningful propositions that are not empirically testable.
- Scientism rejects ethics, meaning, and purpose if these cannot be scientifically proven, promoting a cold, clinical worldview.
In summary, critics argue that scientism promotes an inadequate, truncated vision of knowledge that excludes many rich domains of human life and meaning. Science cannot replace philosophy, religion, literature, and the humanities, which serve different ends.
The Incompatibility of Scientism with Christianity
Scientism clearly conflicts with a Christian worldview in a number of ways. Christianity makes truth claims based on divine revelation and biblical authority, including doctrines such as:
- God’s existence and activity in history
- Christ’s incarnation, miracles, resurrection
- The doctrines of sin, salvation, heaven, and hell
- The existence of spiritual forces like angels and demons
None of these core Christian beliefs is open to empirical scientific verification. As a result, scientism rejects religious faith as inferior, imaginary, and meaningless. Moreover, Christianity asserts that spiritual transformation, prayer, morality, and human dignity all have eternal significance. Scientism reduces these to material neurological processes without higher purpose.
Scientism upholds science as the guide to all of life’s questions and decisions. But Christianity maintains that the Bible is the ultimate authority for questions of meaning, morality, and our relation to God. Scripture and the Christian tradition provide unique wisdom and truth about the spiritual dimension of human existence.
Appropriate Perspectives for Christians on Science
At the same time, Christians need not reject science itself. Science can inform and enrich our understanding of the natural world when practiced properly. Christians throughout history have been pioneers in science while upholding biblical authority.
Here are some helpful perspectives for Christians to take towards science while avoiding the pitfalls of scientism:
- Affirm that scientific investigation reveals glimpses of God’s wisdom, power, and care in creation.
- Recognize that science has limits and cannot address ultimate questions of purpose, meaning, ethics, aesthetics, and existence.
- Maintain that some biblical events like miracles and the resurrection are rightly understood through faith rather than empirical verification.
- Point out that science itself relies on philosophical assumptions that cannot be scientifically proven, such as the uniformity of natural laws, the existence of truth, and the value of reason.
- Argue that Christian faith complements and completes partial scientific knowledge with a fuller understanding of human nature, dignity, and flourishing.
Christians have nothing to fear from science itself. In fact, science provides glimpses of God’s glory and creativity. However, scientism oversteps science’s bounds and makes dogmatic claims about all of reality that must be resisted.
How the Practice of Scientism Can Distort Scientific Endeavors
Ironically, embracing scientism can negatively impact the actual practice of science in several ways:
- Assuming that only empirical facts matter can obscure important philosophical issues, ethics dilemmas, and theoretical complexities that responsibly guide scientific research.
- Taking a strictly deterministic materialist view of humanity can reduce people to objects and undermine moral accountability for experiments and applications.
- Dismissing profound questions of meaning and purpose as irrelevant demotivates excellent scientists who are driven by higher ideals.
- Ignoring personal experience, intuition, and other subjective factors can result in shallow models and explanations of complex human psychology.
- Claiming science disproves faith and ethics alienates religious believers, limiting collaboration, funding sources, and shared understanding.
- Fostering a dogmatic adherence to empiricism and reductionism stifles scientific creativity, imagination, and innovation.
Scientism’s constricted understanding of truth paradoxically hampers science by isolating it from the humanizing influences of philosophy, spiritual tradition, and the humanities. Seeking dialogue across these domains of knowledge in humility enables science to flourish.
Key Takeaways
In summary, here are some key points for Christians to remember about scientism:
- Scientism asserts that empirical science alone produces factual knowledge about reality.
- It excludes spiritual revelations, subjective experience, rational intuition, and other non-scientific ways of knowing.
- Scientism conflicts with core Christian beliefs that are not empirically falsifiable.
- However, Christians need not fear science itself, which reveals God’s handiwork in creation.
- Christians should avoid adopting scientism, which truncates knowledge and human significance.
- They should develop a nuanced, philosophically robust understanding of science’s powers and limits.
- Scientism can damage science by dismissing profound human questions that give moral meaning to research.
In an age dominated by science and technology, Christians must resist scientism without rejecting science itself. The keys are cultivating epistemic humility and recognizing scientism’s self-defeating internal contradictions. A thoughtful Christian engagement with science offers enriching insights into both God’s world and God’s Word.