Richard Lewontin on Methodological Naturalism & Scientism
Richard Lewontin is an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and social commentator.
Lewontin on methodological naturalism:
We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.
It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”
Billions and Billions of Demons
RICHARD LEWONTIN
Lewontin on scientism:
The primary problem is not to provide the public with the knowledge of how far it is to the nearest star and what genes are made of. . . . Rather, the problem is to get them to reject irrational and supernatural explanations of the world, the demons that exist only in their imaginations, and to accept a social and intellectual apparatus, Science, as the only begetter of truth.”
Lewontin quoted in The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism
(by Phillip E. Johnson)
Peter Grice
on January 6th, 2010
“Western society has become more secular and more rationalist, and the chief sources for social theory have become the professional intellectuals, the scientists, economists, political theorists, and philosophers who work largely in universities. These intellectuals are aware of the power they have to mold public consciousness, and they constantly seek ways in which they can publicize their ideas. The common pathway is to become a minor celebrity, known for some all-encompassing and usually rather simplistic “discovery” about the secret of human social and psychic existence. It’s all sex or money or genes. A simple and dramatic theory that explains everything makes good press, good radio, good TV, and best-selling books. Anyone with academic authority, a halfway decent writing style, and a simple and powerful idea has easy entry to the public consciousness. …Fortunately, there is a tradition … of a more complex and less showy world view… to struggle against the view that science consists of simple objective truths that if only we will listen to biologists we will know everything worth knowing about human existence.”
R. C. Lewontin, The Doctrine of DNA
rogermorris
on January 6th, 2010
I am concerned for the future generations - indoctrination with scientism and methodological naturalism will be all-powerful and all-consuming. They will be told they are being shown the way to be a rational “free thinker”, but instead they will be indoctrinated with a restricted wordview that actually closes off free thought.