“The truth is like a lion. You don’t need to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.” St Augustine.
A quick diversion from empathy to talk more about scientism, but pertinent to it as I will show in the next post. I have talked about scientism a bit in my blog (see earlier posts, e.g. Beliefs, Knowledge, Definitions and Skepticism). If you have read my early posts in this blog you will know that I have a science and engineering background and a skeptical mind. Being a skeptic means I am willing to look at all data before I make my mind up as to whether it is valid or to be unacceptable to me. It is rare that I categorically dismiss anything before I have given it consideration, and believe me I have enough people tell me some pretty wild stuff. I think the word ‘discernment’ is one that drives my thinking (see my rationale in two previous posts about Pyrrho of Elis, Skepticism, and Cultivating a Flourishing Future 1 – the Educational Challenge). After the polarizing chaos of the past few months that continues to dominate our lives, I observe scientism and censorship raising to new heights of absurdity. What I see is an almost religious fervor from the high priests of science and their followers driven by irrational fear. Sadly, I have to include many of my own family, several friends, and many colleagues in that category. What I find most disturbing is that any logic and what I consider valid data that I use falls on deaf ears – they are literally unwilling to even talk rationally or even look at alternate perspectives. They are fixated that their views are right and everyone not agreeing with them is an idiot. This seems to be a classic case of scientism gone rabid.
Remember, scientism is ‘an excessive deference to claims made by scientists, or an uncritical eagerness to accept any results described as ‘scientific.’ A refusal to view any claims that confront the current scientific dogma (usually connected to corporate systems) as determined by the high priests of science and their corporate masters. The concept of a scientific ego that determines only science has the right to describe the world around us. The fanatical ego-centricity of scientism takes on many aspects similar to religious fundamentalism.’
I will tell you that just because you might disagree or question mainstream science dogma’s does not mean you are an anti-science or ‘flat-earther,’ and certainly not just because you question a dogma masquerading as a scientific claim. That’s ridiculous – labeling people as such is a trait of scientism. Labelling is a tactic used to diminish a person or their credibility. Science by its very nature needs to keep an open mind approach, while scientism uses a closed minded and dogmatic approach as dictated by a perceived authority that is hard to challenge. Science does not equate to absolute truth but only gives us the truth as we currently conceive it based on the limits of theories and hypotheses that are always changing – until they aren’t, which leads to scientism. It is amazing how scientific dogmas are usually shored up by corporate money and/or scientists who are unwilling to admit their ideas may be flawed. I observe that we are all being pushed to accept all technology as safe simply because some scientists say it is safe, yet do not actually show us any valid data to confirm their claims.
“I am critical of modernity giving science and technology a blank check as if it were the fountain of all truth. That is not true. And I may think I have introduced a word which has now caught on quite a bit – scientism. Science is good. It simply reports a discovery.” Huston Smith
What this has created is a public willing to accept a biased version of truth where any other perspectives or data are ridiculed into being ignored and disregarded. Essential this is ‘Science by Public Proclamation,’ which is what the controlling Cabal want. It used to be the media that helped us through this morass of information, but mass media has been taken over to the point that truth is what the media moguls say it is. When it comes to science, the politicians pick their righteous followers who then call for extreme censorship – akin to the book burning of totalitarian regimes needing to protect their control. The ‘true believers’ then defend their views with ignoble passion. “You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you” Eric Hoffer. The first victim of this misguided passion is truth. Inevitably truth rises for all to see, but for a while it may be pushed underground. Arthur Schopenhauer says of truth: “All truth passes through three stages; 1) First, it is ridiculed, 2) Second, it is violently opposed, and 3) Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
From a scene in Cloud Atlas (I seem to like that film because it has all manner of great commentary), “Truth is singular… If I were to remain invisible, the truth would remain hidden, I couldn’t allow that.” “But what is no one believes this truth?” “Someone already does.” I understand that to mean that no matter how much something is censored or suppressed, the truth will eventually surface and be recognized as valid, while untruths will also be revealed as such – see my opening quote!
I’ll end this post with a telling piece by Austin L Hughes: “Of all the fads and foibles in the long history of human credulity, scientism in all its varied guises — from fanciful cosmology to evolutionary epistemology and ethics — seems among the more dangerous, both because it pretends to be something very different from what it really is and because it has been accorded widespread and uncritical adherence. Continued insistence on the universal competence of science will serve only to undermine the credibility of science as a whole. The ultimate outcome will be an increase of radical skepticism that questions the ability of science to address even the questions legitimately within its sphere of competence. One longs for a new Enlightenment to puncture the pretensions of this latest superstition.” ‘The Folly of Scientism,’ The New Atlantis, #37.
I know many rational and reasonable people who have bought into the mythology that scientism is trying to impose upon us and use to control us. There is a lot of wonderful science out there, but alas, there is also some outdated and bad science that some experts will not let release because their reputations, power, and finances are connected to it being accepted without question. Somedays I feel like I somehow slipped into a neo-inquisition period of history. We don’t use the rack anymore to get blasphemers to confess their ‘sins’ but we do have many scientism true-believers using social shaming as a tool to silence dissenters to mainstream narratives. Only open dialogue can create a society where all views can be seen and judged by their merits. If a claim to truth is made simply by stating “because I am an expert and I say so” and then proceed to threaten all dissenting voices with loss of livelihood or social standing, etc., we enter a period of technocracy where we should be concerned about endless loss of our personal and social liberties. Sadly, that is already happening, spurred on as it was by the ecological crises such as coronavirus, GMO’s or pesticides. But it is a phenomenon that has been occurring for many decades. Being open-minded and a critical thinker should be attributes we all desire, not traits in which we should suffer being despised by those who should know better.
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