2.1.7 Beliefs in Society: Ideology and Science Flashcards
Science as a belief system
Who claims science is an open belief system?
Popper
Science as a belief system
What is ____ theory of falsification?
- Popper
- scientists try to falsify existing theories by seeking evidence to disprove it.
- If evidence contradicts a theory, the theory is discarded and a better one sought.
Science as a belief system
What are ____’s CUDOS norms?
- Merton
- Communism - knowledge must be shared
- Universalism - judged by universalistic criteria
- Disinterestedness - seeking knowledge for its own sake
- Organised Scepticism - every theory is open to criticism and testing.
Science as a belief system
How does ____ argue that science is a closed belief system? (criticising Merton’s CUDOS norms)
- Polanyi argues that all belief systems reject fundamental challenges to their knowledge-claims.
- Science is no different.
Science as a belief system
What does Horton argue is a feature of closed belief systems (such as religion)
- A series of ‘get out clauses’ that prevent it from being disproved in the eyes of the believers.
- E.g the benge being bad benge if it killed the chicked without being asked the question in the Azande tribe
Science as a belief system
How does Evans-Pritchard’s study of the Azande people illustrate Horton’s ideas of self-reinforcing, closed belief systems?
- They believed misfortune was the result of subconscious witchcraft performed by neighbours which they tested by giving a chicked a ‘benge’ potion.
- If they don’t ask the benge and it kills the chicken, they don’t alter their beliefs, but blame bad ‘Benge’, reinforcing their beliefs.
Science as a belief system
What are ____’s three devices to sustain belief systems in the face of contradictory evidence?
Polanyi
1. Circularity - each idea is explained by another idea within the system
2. Subsidiary explanations - if something fails, it is explained away by being done wrong.
3. Denying legitimacy to rival beliefs - reject alternate world views.
Science as a belief system
Who believes that science is a closed belief system based on scientific paradigms, and explain?
- Kuhn
- Science is based within set paradigms and shared assumptions.
- Scientists who attempt to challenge the Paradigm are ridiculed. e.g Dr Velikovsky attempted to challenge the origins of the Earth and was excluded by the scientific world.
Science as a belief system
How to interpretivists see science?
- As socially constructed
Science as a belief system
What does K-C argue about scientists studying in laboratories?
- Knorr-Cetina
- Argues that what scientists study in the laboratory is highly ‘constructed’ and far removed from the ‘natural’ world they are supposedly studying.
Science as a belief system
What does ? argue about science, shown by the little green men?
- Woolgar
- Argues that scientists have to pursuade the scientific community to accept their theory.
- Scientific facts are just shared, socially constructed beliefs.
- Researchers annotated their discovery of pulsating stars as ‘little green men’ but knew this wouldn’t be socially acceptable so adapted it to be called ‘pulsars’.
Science as a belief system
How does Postmodernist L view science?
- Lyotard
- Science is just another ‘meta-narrative’ that falsely claims to posses the truth in order to dominate people.
Ideology
What does G argue about ideological domination of the working class?
- Gramsci
- ‘hegemony’ - the ruling class’ ideological domination.
- The working class can challenge ruling class hegemony by developing dual consciousness.
- Dual consciousness - a mixture of ruling class ideology and their own ideas developed from experiences of being exploited.
- Therefore, it is possible for the working class to overthrow capitalism, if they have ‘organic intellectuals’.
- Organic intellectuals - workers who have developed class consciousness through anti-capitalist struggles.
Ideology
How does A challenge the view that ideology prevents revolution?
- Abercrombie et al argues that it is economic factors and fear of unemployment that prevents a working class revolution.
Ideology
What is Nationalism?
A political ideology that claims Nations are real communities with shared history that should be self-governing, and binds people together.
National identity should come before all other loyalty (ethnicity, religion, class)
