ideology and science Flashcards
what has the impact of science been?
science and technology have had enormous impact, undermining religion and leading to a widespread ‘faith in science’, achievements in medicine eradicated once fatal diseases, advances in transport, communication
key feature of science is its cognitive power, it enables us to explain, predict and control the world
also causes problems through ‘manufactured risks’ e.g. pollution, weapons of mass destruction
science as an open belief system
popper claims science is an open belief system, open to criticism and testing
science is based on the principle of falsification, scientists try to falsify existing theories by seeking evidence to disprove them, if evidence contradicts a theory, it is discarded and a better one sought out, scientific knowledge is cumulative
scientific knowledge not absolute truth, can always be tested and potentially falsified
what are CUDOS norms?
Merton says science as an organised social activity has a set of norms that promote the growth of knowledge by encouraging openness
Communism: knowledge must be shared with scientific community (publishing findings)
Universalism: knowledge judged by universal, objective criteria, not by race, sex etc
Disinterestedness: seeking knowledge for its own sake
Organised Scepticism: every theory is open to criticism and testing, nothing ‘sacred’
closed belief systems
Horton says religion is a closed belief system, it makes knowledge-claims that cannot be overturned
a closed belief system has ‘get-out clauses’ that prevent it from being disproved in the eyes of its believers e.g. witchcraft among the Azande
witchcraft among the Azande
when misfortune occurs, explain it in terms of witchcraft
injured party makes an accusation against suspected witch
a potion, benge, is given to chicken whilst asking if the accused is the source of witchcraft, if ‘yes’ the chicken dies, the sufferer can go and publicly demand the witchcraft to stop
usually enough to end the problem
significance of witchcraft among the Azande
evans-pritchard, says this belief system performs useful functions, clears the air preventing grudges forming, and encourages neighbours to behave considerately to one another to reduce risk of accusation
closed belief system, highly resistant to challenges ‘not good benge’
self-sustaining beliefs
(Polanyi) belief systems have three devices to sustain themselves in the face of contradictory evidence:
circularity: each idea in system explained in terms of another idea and so on
subsidiary explanations: if oracle fails, explained as due to incorrect us of benge
denying legitimacy to rival beliefs: reject alternative worldviews
science as a closed belief system
Kuhn argues that a science is based on a scientific paradigm (set of shared assumptions)
this tells scientists what society is really like, defining problems, methods, equipment
most of the time, scientists are engaged in normal science within the paradigm
scientists who challenge the paradigm are likely to be ridiculed, except during periods of scientific revolution, when accumulated evidence undermines it
what do interpretivists say about science?
scientific knowledge is socially constructed, rather than being objective truth, it is created by social groups
Knorr-cetina argues that what scientists study in the laboratory is highly ‘constructed’ and far removed from the ‘natural’ world they are supposedly studying
study of little green men
in the discovery of ‘pulsars’ scientists initially noted as LGM1, recognising that was an unacceptable interpretation from viewpoint of scientific community, they settle patterns represented signals from a type of unknown star
Woolgar argues scientists have to persuade the scientific community to accept their interpretations of the world, a scientific fact is simply a shared, socially constructed belief
what do marxists and feminists say about science?
see science as serving the interests of dominant groups (ruling class or men), many scientific developments are driven by capitalism’s need for knowledge to make profit. e.g. theoretical work on ballistics was driven by the need to develop new weaponry
what do postmodernists say about science?
reject science’s claims to have ‘the truth’, science is one of a number of meta-narratives that falsely claim to possess the truth
some argue that science has become technoscience, serving capitalist interests by producing commodities for profits
what is an ideology?
refers to a belief system, worldview or set of ideas
the term often includes negative aspects e.g beliefs that are false or offer a one-sided view of reality and prevent change by misleading people about the situation
Marxism and ideology
the capitalist class exploit workers’ labour to produce profit
it is in the workers’ interests to overthrow capitalism by revolution and create a classless communist society
however revolution cannot occur until the working class become aware of their position as exploited ‘wage slaves’, class consciousness
ruling-class control means of production of ideas through institutions (education, mass media, religion), produce ruling class ideology that legitimate and justify capitalism
what does Gramsci say about marxist ideology?
gramsci calls ruling class ideology hegemony, working class can develop ideas that challenge ruling-class hegemony
in capitalist society workers have dual consciousness (mixture of ruling-class ideas that develop from experience of exploitation)
ultimately the working class will overthrow capitalism, led by a political part of ‘organic intellectuals’ who have developed class consciousness
