Beliefs in Society - Ideology and Science Flashcards
How has science affected us both, overtly and subtely?
Scientific dicoveries like modern medicine and communication technologies have wildly changed the way we live our lives, our contact with other culutures, and the way we think of ourselves (Postmodernism). However, it has also affected how we think about things more generally, now preferring scientific and rational explanations to religious ones (Weber (1905)).
Why has faith in science wained?
Science has also increased ‘manuactured risk’ (Beck (1992)), creating a more unsafe and uncertain global society.
What is an ‘open belief system’?
A worldview that is open to criticism and scrutiny.
Popper (1959) and science as an open belief system:
Science is an open belief system as every scientist’s theories are open to scrutiny, critcism and further testing - it is governed by ‘falsification’, where other scientists will set out to try and deliberately disprove theories. ‘Knowledge-claims’ live or die by evidence.
Popper (1959) and ‘cumulative’ knowledge:
The discarding of falsified knowledge-claims allows science to be ‘cumulative’, where the work ov every scientists builds upon the pre-existing proven knowledge-claims o other scientists. However, even then, all claims (no matter how excepted) are still up for falsification, such as Copernicus proving the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth
Merton (2007) and the growth of science:
Science grew so rapidly due to the support of other institutions - it began due to the this-worldly calling and industriousness of Puritans, combined with their belief that studying nature allowed us to appreciate God’s work and their belief in social welfare (with science able to provide necessary technologies); however, it also received support from economic and military institutions due to its practical application.
Merton (2007) and CUDOS:
Science has a set of values that ensure scientists work in the benefit of the sum total knowledge:
- Communism: knowledge is shared with the scientific community
- Universalism: claims are judged on a universal, objective criteria, regardless of the scientist
- Disinterestedness: Commitment to discovering knowledge for its own sake
- Organised scepticism: no knowledge-claims are ‘sacred’ and all are open to scrutiny
How, according to some, does science differ from religion?
All scientific knowledge is open to disproof, with no theory too ‘sacred’ to be scrutinised; on the other had, religion’s ‘truths’ are literally sacred and claim to hold God’s omniscience and authority, with any challenge as heresey and therefore an inability for it to grow.
Horton (1973) and the difference between religion and science:
Science is an open belief system because it is entirely open to criticism and can be disproven by test, whereas religion is closed as their knowledge claims cannot be overturned - closed belief systems have a number of ‘get-out clauses’ to prevent them from being disproven (at least for followers).
Evans-Pritchard (1936) and the beliefs of the Azande:
The Azande of Sudan believe that most misfortune that befalls them is the product of witchcraft; a harmed party will make an accusation against another through with the Prince’s oracle, the latter will feed benge (a poison) to a chicken whilst asking the benge to kill the chicken if the accusation is correct - the problem is largely resolved here as they believe witchcraft can be subconscious so the ‘witch’ simply has to apologise and promise to stop.
Evans-Pritchard (1936) and the social functions of the Azande:
Witchcraft provides multiple important social functions:
- Encourages neigbours to be friendly to minimise chance of an acusation
- Prevents grudges from festering
- Family police one another; as they believe it is hereditary, an accusation against any member is damaging for the reputation of all
Evans-Pritchard (1936) and the Azande’s closed belief system:
The believers are trapped within their own ‘idiom of belief’, they cannot challenge it as they accept the system’s basic assumptions. Some would argue that if the chicken died without the oracle asking the question, it would prove the oracle did not work; however, the Azande would simply argue that it is bad benge, ‘The very fact of the fowl dying proves to them its badness’.
Polanyi (1958) and self-sustaining beliefs:
All belief systems, including science, reject fundamental challenge and have 3 mechanisms to defeat apparently contradictory evidence:
- Circularity: each idea in the system is explained in terms of a different idea, infinitely forever
- Subsidiary explanations: every contradiction has a specific explanation
- Denial of legitimacy to rivals: the basic assumptions of all worldviews are incorrect, such as not believing in witchcraft
Outline the case of Dr Velikovsky.
Velikovsy’s 1950 book ‘Worlds in Collision’ challenged fundamental asumptions about how the world began, like evolutionary biology and geology.
The scientific community was not so ‘open’ to scrutiny of their fundamental ideas (which apparently actually were too sacred to be questioned), not putting the theory to test (many who argued they should were fired) and boycotting the book entirely despite most not having read it.
Kuhn (1970) and paradigms:
Kuhn argues that mature sciences are based on a set of shared assumptions known as ‘paradigms’; scientists are socialised into trusting these assumptions about what they should do and even what they should find - this means any scientist that challenges the paradigm will not be seen as a scientist at all.
The only exception is during ‘scientific revolutions’ where the paradigm has already been undermined by a series of anomalies.
Kuhn (1970) and puzzle-solving:
Scientists are engaged in ‘puzzle solving’, the paradigms lay down the broader ideas and their job is to fill in the details - being rewarded with funding and awards for doing so successfully.
What do interpretivists argue about knowledge?
Interpretivists argue scientific knowledge is socially constructed - it is not an objective reality, rather it is the product of shared theories by those in the ‘scientist’ social group.
Knorr-Cetina (1999) and instruments:
New instruments allow scientists to construct or ‘fabricate’ new facts, with their experiments often taking place far removed from the reality of what they are investigating (such as water being purified).
Woolgar (1992) and ‘making sense’:
In line with ethnomethodology, scientists are engaged in the same process of ‘making sense’ of everything as everyone else; when confronted with new ‘evidence’ from their investigation, they have to conclude what it means based on their paradigms and the need to convince other people.
How do the ‘little green men’ demonstrate the construction of scientific knowledge?
When pulsars were first discovered by researchers in the Cambridge Astronomy Laboratory, they initially annotated them ‘LGM’ for ‘Little Green Men’ (referencing aliens) but changed their theory as they knew it would not be accepted by the scientific community and would likely lose them their jobs.
What is the Marxist persepctive on science?
Science is part of the superstructure controlled by the ruling class, it exists purely to serve them and their domination - any advances in ‘pure’ sciences has been driven by capitalism, such as the need for a long living, healthy workforce.
Give a counterargument to the Marxist view of science.
Science regularly opposes the domination of the ruling class, phrenology was useful as a tool of dividing the w/c along racial lines and giving the white w/c a target for their frustrations, but advances in biology and neuroscience by Flourens would lead to its abandonment.
Lyotard (1984) and science:
Science is just another ‘meta-narrative’ that falsely claims to have the sole truth about how the world works, being just another ‘discourse’ used to dominate others. Some Marxist postmodernists argue that it has become ‘technoscience’ serving purely the interests of capitalists’ profits.
What are the basic and contemporary definitions of ideology?
Ideology definitionally means a set of ideas and values, or a worldview; but often when people use it they are referring more to a dogma, an ideology that factually/morally incorrect and that is nelieved nonetheless.
