Science as a belief system

Question 1

Definition of Ideology

Answer 1

A set of shared views or principles that help people make sense of the world: A belief system

Question 2

Examples of Ideologies

Answer 2

Religion (Islam/Christianity)
Politics (Nazi Party, Conservative)
Science (evolution and the big bang)

Question 3

Introduction

Answer 3

There are different ideologies that exist which help individuals make sense of the world, such as religion, politics and science. Church attendance statistics suggest a decline in the religious belief which raises the question- has science replaced religion as the main ideological influence in society?

Question 4

The Impact of Science

ACHIEVEMENTS

Answer 4

Science has had an enormous impact on society over the last few centuries. It’s achievements in medicine have eradicated many once fatal diseases. Many basic features of daily life today (transport, communications and leisure) would be unrecognisable to our recent ancestors due to scientific and technological development, which has raised our standard of living- led to a widespread faith in science

Question 5

MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS

Answer 5

This faith has been somewhat dimmed more recently by a recognition that science may cause problems as well as solve them. (pollutions, global warming, weapons of mass destruction). While science may have helped to protect us against natural dangers, it has created its own manufactured risks

Question 6

COGNITIVE POWER

Answer 6

The ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ effects of science demonstrate the feature that distinguishes it from other belief systems- its cognitive power. It enables us to explain, predict and control the world in a way non scientific belief systems do not.

Question 7

Science as an open belief system

KARL POPPER

Answer 7

According to Popper, science is an open belief system where every scientists’ theories are open to criticism and testing by others. Science is governed by the principle of ‘falsification’. That is, science sets out to try and falsify existing theories, deliberately seeking evidence that would disprove them in order to discard theories.

Question 8

CUMULATIVE KNOWLEDGE

Answer 8

Discarding falsified knowledge claims Is what enables scientific understanding of the world to grow. Scientific knowledge is cumulative- it builds on the achievements of previous scientists to develop a greater and greater understanding of the world.

Question 9

Newton’s law of Gravity

Answer 9

As the discoverer of the law of gravity, Isaac Newton put it ‘If I have been able to see so far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants’ (on the discoveries of his predecessors) However, despite the achievements of great scientists such as Newton, no theory is to be taken as definitely true- always possible that someone will provide evidence to disprove it

Question 10

Norms of Science

Merton

Answer 10

argues that science thrives as a major social institution, which works in harmony with others. Science is also supported by other institutions, including religion.

Question 11

As a major social institution, science develops its own norms to guide the conduct of scientists (CUDOS)

Answer 11

COMMUNISM: scientific knowledge is not private property. Scientists must share it with the scientific community otherwise knowledge cannot grow
UNIVERSALISM: the truth or falsity of scientific knowledge is judged by universal, objective criteria, and not by the particular race, sex of scientist
DISINTERESTEDNESS: being committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake. Having to publish findings makes it harder for scientists to practice fraud
ORGANISED SCEPTCISM: no knowledge claim is regarded as sacred, every idea is open to questioning, criticism and objective investigation

Question 12

Religion as a closed system of beliefs

Science differs from traditional religious belief systems

Answer 12

While scientific knowledge is provisional, open to challenge, religion claims to have special, perfect knowledge of the absolute truth. Its knowledge is literally sacred and religious organisations claim to hold it on God’s divine authority. So it cannot be challenged, and those who do so may be punished for their heresy

Question 13

Religious knowledge does not change

Answer 13

since it already claims to have the absolute truth- therefore it is fixed and does not grow

Question 14

Horton

Answer 14

Like Popper, he sees science as an open belief system-one where knowledge claims are open to scrutiny and can be disproved. By contrast, religion is a closed system as they make knowledge claims that cannot be successfully overturned. Whenever its belief system is threatened, there are a number of ‘get out clauses’ that reinforce the system

Question 15

Edward Evans Pritchard- Study of the beliefs of Azande

Answer 15

Azande believe that natural events have natural causes
(e.g. snake bit me because I accidently stepped on it)
Azande do not believe in change, they believe it must be witchcraft
This shows how religions are closed systems
The prince of Azande has a magic potion oracle called ‘benge’ and his diviner will administer the benge to a chicken at the same time asking the benge if the accused is a witch. Non believers can challenge the oracle by not asking the question, whereas believers will find an excuse ‘just bad benge’ demonstrating that religion is fixed and a closed system

Question 16

Science as a closed system of beliefs

POLANYI

Answer 16

Despite Popper’s view of science as open and critical, some other writers argue that’s science is itself can be seen as a self sustaining or closed system of belief. For example, he argues that all belief systems reject fundamental challenges to their knowledge claims- science is no different.

Question 17

Velikovsky

Answer 17

Velikovsky published ‘Worlds In Religion’ in 1950. This put forward a new theory on the origins of the Earth, challenging fundamental assumptions of geology, astronomy and biology. The response from the scientific community was far from the open one advocated by Popper. Instead of putting the new theory to test, scientists rushed to reject it out of hand without even having read the book. Scientists who called for a fair hearing and for the theory to be tested were victimised and some lost their jobs

Question 18

Kuhn’s scientific paradigms

Answer 18

A paradigm is shared by members of the scientific community. It provides a basic framework of principles, methods and techniques within which members of the scientific community must work. It is a worldview that tells scientists what nature is like, what aspects of it are worth studying, what methods should be used, what questions should be asked and even what answers they should expect.

Question 19

Scientists who challenge fundamental assumptions of the paradigm

Answer 19

(as Velikovsky did) is likely to be ridiculed and hounded out of profession. Others in the scientific community will no longer regard him or her as a scientist at all. The only exception is what Kuhn describes a scientific revolution, when faith in the truth of a paradigm has already been undermined by an accumulation of anomalies.

Question 20

Science as a social construct

Interpretive sociologists

Answer 20

argue that all knowledge-including scientific knowledge- Is socially constructed. That is, rather than being objective truth, it is created by social groups using the resources available to them. In the case of science, scientific facts are the product of shared theories or paradigms that tell scientists what they should expect to see

Question 21

The invention of new scientific instruments

Answer 21

The invention of new instruments, such as telescopes and microscopes, permits scientists to make new observations and construct new facts. Karin Knorr-Cetina points out that what scientists study in the laboratory is highly ‘constructed’ and far removed from the natural world that they are supposedly studying. (water is purified, animals specially bred)

Question 22

Woolgar

Answer 22

According to Woolgar, scientists engaged in the same process of ‘making sense’ or interpreting the world as everyone else. When confronted by evidence from their organisations and experiments, they have to decide what it means. They do so by devising and applying theories or explanations, but they then have to persuade others to accept their interpretation

Question 23

Berger and Luckman- the social construct of reality and science

Answer 23

Argue that human beings create ‘universes of meanings’ which help to make sense of their lives. Both scientific theories and religion are socially constructed belief systems based on ‘universes of meaning’ and thus there is little difference between them. For instance, religion answers questions of the meaning of life whilst scientific theories are grounded in evidence. Berger and Luckman argue that universes of meaning are as real as people believe they are real. However, what Is true in one society, may be false in another.

Question 24

Science as an Ideology
Critical perspectives such as Marxism and Feminism see scientific knowledge as far from ‘pure truth’. Instead, they regard it as ideologies serving functions for the dominant group.

Answer 24

The ruling class in the case of Marxists and men in the case of feminists. Many advances in supposedly ‘pure’ science have been driven by the need of capitalism for certain types of knowledge. For example, theoretical work on ballistics was driven by the need to develop new weaponry. Similarly, biological ideas have been used to justify both male domination and colloquial expansion. In this respect, science can be seen as a from of ideology.

Question 25

Postmodernists reject the exclusive knowledge claims of science to the truth. Lyotard:

Answer 25

argues that science is one of a number of meta narratives that falsely claim to possess the truth. Science falsely claims to offer the truth about how the world works as a means of progress to a better society, whereas in reality, he argues science is just one more discourse used to dominate people