essay in Nature<\/a> this week on how science has shaped human identity, part of their 8-part anniversary series on the history of science over the last 150 years. The response has been overwhelmingly positive \u2014 thank you!<\/p>\nThere’s always a few cranks, though. What has stuck in some people’s craw is my distinction between science and scientism. Science is a set of practices to investigate nature. Scientism is an ideology that says science is the ONLY way to investigate nature, and the only way to address social problems.<\/p>\n
I’m now used to the ritual of Jerry Coyne (@whyevolutionistrue) attempting a takedown of my stuff. To my perverse delight, though, the Harvard psychologist and hair model Steven Pinker took a poke at me. Couldn’t resist that. What follows is the tweet stream I sent out in response, clarifying some points in the article and differentiating further between science and scientism.<\/p>\n
So @sapinker is talking trash about me, re: my piece in #Nature150 (https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-03014-4). <cracks knuckles>
\nThe delicious comic beauty is how well Pinker\u2019s tweet makes the central argument in my @Nature article. Here\u2019s the tweet in question.<\/p>\n
I write satire from time to time, and I\u2019d be hard-put to parody Pinker\u2019s language. So let\u2019s break down his own words:
\n\u201cUnlike past anti-scientism rants in lit\/cult\/pol mags, this [my piece] is in Nature.\u201d
\nhttps:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-03014-4<\/p>\n
My piece is not a rant, @sapinker, either in tone or in argument. It\u2019s an analysis and a plea for more good science and less bad science. (You do believe there\u2019s bad science?)
\nTHIS, now, is a rant.<\/p>\n
The key term in @sapinker\u2019s 1st sent. is \u201canti-scientism.\u201d He *thinks* he\u2019s saying I\u2019m anti-science (on which, see below). But in calling my so-called rant \u201canti-scientism\u201d he shows he can\u2019t distinguish between the two.
\nhttps:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-03014-4<\/p>\n
It is literally the MAIN POINT of my article to distinguish science from scientism.
\nViz.: \u201c[Enlightenment values have] been a guiding theme of modern times. Which in many ways is a splendid thing (lately I\u2019ve seen enough governance without facts for one lifetime)\u201d;<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to suggest that many of the worst chapters of this history result from scientism: the ideology that science is the only valid way to understand the world and solve social problems\u201d;<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere science has often expanded and liberated our sense of self, scientism has constrained it\u201d;
\n\u201cThe problem is not science, but scientism.\u201d
\nhttps:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-03014-4
\nCould I be clearer?<\/p>\n
Yes, I am anti-scientism.
\nScientism = science + hubris.
\nScientism = science + arrogance.
\nScientism = science + vanity.
\nScientism = science + cruelty.
\nScientism = science + ignorance.
\nScientism, in other words, is science plus something shitty.<\/p>\n
Pinker writes, \u201cSci eds often outsource commentary on sci & soc to the clique of historians of sci\u201d. Science editors don\u2019t \u201coutsource\u201d commentary, on science & society or anything else. I think you know that. They *commission* articles on various topics from experts in a given field.<\/p>\n
.@Nature commissioning me to write this article is exactly like asking a psychologist to comment on psychology, a protein chemist on protein chemistry, a sociologist on sociology. Does @sapinker believe in expertise? Or could a particle physicist do his job better than he?<\/p>\n
Begrudging @nature commissioning an article on #histsci from a historian of science can only mean one thing: Pinker thinks that only scientists should write the history of science, because only they have privileged access to the Truth.
\nThat\u2019s scientism, not science.<\/p>\n
Then, @sapinker goes on to deride \u201c…historians of sci who historicize everything…\u201d
\nSeriously?
\nDamn historians, historicizing stuff! Lock \u2018em up! Build the wall! Make Science Great Again!
\nhttps:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-03014-4<\/p>\n
Also, Pinker writes, we historians \u201chate sci\u2019s claim to objectivity and realism.\u201d Yeah, and we hate America too, right? Jesus, you do sound like Trump.
\nBut I don\u2019t \u201chate\u201d science\u2019s claim to objectivity; I take issue with it, and boatloads of evidence supports me.<\/p>\n
The fact that science both shapes and is shaped by culture, society, economics, politics has been established and reinforced for nearly a century, from L. Fleck in the \u201830s to Kuhn in the \u201860s…to \u00b1 everything serious historians have written about science since then.<\/p>\n
The social construction of science is as solid as biological evolution. It\u2019s an utter commonplace. Most scientists I know understand this. To be a prof at @Harvard of all places and not know this shows a struthian (Mencken; look it up) ignorance that is, well, embarrassing.<\/p>\n
The question isn\u2019t *whether* science and society interact, it\u2019s *how.* We can have disagreements on the how\u2014I show you my evidence, you show me yours, we hash it out\u2014but not the whether.
\nI\u2019m not arguing with a flat-Earther.<\/p>\n
Historians don\u2019t \u201chate realism,\u201d for chrissakes. We\u2019re more realistic than scientists like Pinker who live in an ideal world of pure reason, failing to acknowledge the messiness of the real world.<\/p>\n
Thinking you have uniquely privileged access to reality is scientism, not science. It is to live in a sterile, blinkered world, populated only by the stately march of the anointed intellects toward the one & only Truth. That\u2019s like the worst kind of superstitious evangelism.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also chauvinistic, narrow, parochial, and bullying. It\u2019s tyrannical, ham-handed, intolerant of dissent. How unscientific! And if Pinker knew his history, he\u2019d know how science can be\u2014has been\u2014marshaled in the name of tyrannies large and small, across continents, down the centuries.<\/p>\n
Science can be great! It makes many, many positive contributions to knowledge & to society. It need not be put in the service of oppression, nor is it always. But it\u2019s indisputable that it has been, many times. You can start with Karl Brandt and work your way down.<\/p>\n
The thesis of my @nature piece, then, once again, is that insidious applications of science are due not to the science itself, but to the ideology that sometimes accompanies it: Scientism. Capeesh?<\/p>\n
One last thing: @sapinker\u2019s arrogant and bullying scientism is both a symptom and a cause of the WEIRD male gaze that\u2019s dominated science for centuries. His tweet is Exhibit A in the case for why we need more diversity in science. Hence the last point in my essay.<\/p>\n
Male scientists who aren\u2019t arrogant, scientistic pricks (and I know many): There\u2019s no need to say, \u201cNot all scientists.\u201d If this doesn\u2019t describe you, it\u2019s not about you, and I doff my hat to you, sir.<\/p>\n
<smoothes dander> Other historian-realists who love science but hate scientism #FF: @elmilam @DorothyERoberts @ayahnerd @STS_News @PublicsHealth @LeapingRobot @thonychristie @wellerstein @samhaselby @monicaMedHist @Darwinsbulldog @erikadyckhist @KlineWkline @LundyBraun @jaivirdi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[correction 10\/12: In the initial version of this article, Pinker’s given name was spelled “Stephen.”\u00a0 He spells his name “Steven.” We regret the error.] I have an essay in Nature this week on how science has shaped human identity, part of their 8-part anniversary series on the history of science over the last 150 years. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[441,315,154,444],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-behavior-genetics","tag-calling-bullshit","tag-evolutionary-psychology","tag-scientism"],"yoast_head":"\nScience, Scientism, and Steven Pinker - Genotopia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/781\/science-scientism-and-stephen-pinker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Science, Scientism, and Steven Pinker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[correction 10\/12: In the initial version of this article, Pinker’s given name was spelled “Stephen.”\u00a0 He spells his name “Steven.” We regret the error.] I have an essay in Nature this week on how science has shaped human identity, part of their 8-part anniversary series on the history of science over the last 150 years. ... 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From 1997 to 2002, he was on the history faculty at The George Washington University, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Center for History of Recent Science. The Center\u2019s director and founder was Horace Freeland Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation), who, along with John McPhee and Monty Python, Comfort considers among his biggest writing influences. Comfort\u2019s books include The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine (Yale, 2012), The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock\u2019s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control (Harvard, 2001), and the edited volume, The Panda\u2019s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Debate (Johns Hopkins, 2007). In addition to scholarly articles, he has written for Natural History, the New York Times Book Review, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, New Scientist, The Believer, and other publications. 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