Scientism: Prospects and Problems

by René van Woudenberg (Editor), Jeroen de Ridder (Editor), Rik Peels (Editor)

Brings together card-carrying proponents of scientism with their critics for the first time. One of the first collections devoted entirely to the prospects and problems scientism. Not only scrutinizes scientism as such, but also looks at what it means for human morality, religion, and philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy, Science

320 pages, Hardcover

Published October 25, 2018

Reviews

[Jan vanTilburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scientism is the view that only science can provide us with knowledge or rational belief, that only science can tell us what exist, and that only science can effectively address our moral and existential questions.

This book makes clear that this is not the case.
Even science itself is in constant flux and new insights give new impulses to philosophy.

I wanted to find out how science affects my worldview. Well, it does mine and I hoped this book would sort out how science is responsible for my epistemic beliefs and if I needed to reevaluate my stance.
Well it did sort of. Science is not the only source of knowledge and we all have to realize that we all exhibit a suite of cognitive biases affecting our judgements.

Upon finishing the book I realized that, really this problem with scientism is only something for the insiders. Because science is here to help humanity regardless of ones view of science itself.

Very theoretical book. I like it where the authors take a stance in practical questions, like Plantinga, regardless if I agree or not.

I noted a tendency in each writer to acknowledge that too rigorous a stance will not work. Almost all are in favor of softening the bounderies of science to encompass all there is.

For sure this is not a book for everyone.
It’s not written in easy language. It could have been made more accessable for the average lay person, but clearly this book is intended only for the professionals.

[Peter A. van Tilburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The volume gives an overview of scientism definitions and pros and cons of the most commonly used definitions. For me it proves to be important to be critical on science claims. In these days some scientists like Stephen Hawking claim that physics has taken the place of philisophy and points out that physics unravels the reality fully. No doubt science has done humanity much good. But as this volume makes clear there is more knowledge that just the scientific knowledge. Moreover there are certain fields were science cannot offer insight. And the issue even is that our logic in itself has flaws so we have to be humble to what extent we cam understand. The book takes a while to work through but it cetrainly is worthwhile.

[Mohammad Rahmany · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب خوبی هست و موضوع علم گرایی را از منظرهای مختلف بررسی میکند. شاید بشود گفت از دو منظر وجودشناسی (انتولوژیک(و معرفت شناسی (اپیستمیک) این باور وجود دارد که حق با علم است. دقت کنید که هر دوی این باورها در ایران هم مقبول کثیری از افراد هستند.
در این کتاب ابتدا تحلیل خوبی از علم گرایی و جنبه های مختلف آن میشود (بیش از دو مورد فوق هست) و سپس موافقین این ایده در دو بخش به دفاع و توضیح علم گرایی می پردازند. فصل های آتی به نقد علم گرایی به صورت موضوعی اختصاص یافته.
هر چه کتاب جلوتر میروفت دچار "حس" میشدم که کتاب جانبدارانه علیه علم گرایی دارد میشود که بررسی یک تحلیل و جدال فلسفی را مخدوش میکند.
در کل اگر طرفدار یا مخالف علم گرایی هستید پیشنهادش میکنم!