Zoals de katholieke Kerk de eenzijdige nadruk op het geloof afwijst, zo wijst ze eveneens de eenzijdige nadruk op de rede af:
Aan de VU is men onlangs gestart met het project 'Science beyond scientism'. Een van de deelprojecten onderzoekt de bezwaren van scientisme, in twee deelcategorieen:“Het sciëntisme is een ander gevaar dat onder ogen moet genomen worden. Deze filosofische opvatting weigert vormen van kennis die verschillen van wat de positieve wetenschappen eigen is, als geldig te erkennen zodat religieuze en theologische kennis evenals het ethische en esthetische kennen doorverwezen worden naar het domein van de pure verbeelding.”
(encycliek Fides et ratio, al. 88)
Scientisme is onjuist omdat: (en ik citeer)
First, there is the problem of self-referential inconsistency. Scientism is not and cannot be itself a product of science.
Second, scientism undercuts the requirements for science, such as free inquiry (humans with free will) and rational inquiry (rational deliberation and belief formation on the basis of reasons).
Third, science relies on common sense and it has to do so. It relies on the reliability of sense perception, memory, and logical reasoning.
Fourth, there are certain key-principles in science (and even in scientism) that science, by its very nature, cannot defend or even scrutinize, such as the principle of the strong supervenience of the mental on the physical.
Fifth, scientism is oblivious to the limits of science. Science cannot tell us anything about morality, for instance.
En scientisme is gevaarlijk omdat:
Nu, die onderzoeksstellingen lijken me ook mooie discussiestellingen, dus bij dezeFirst, it is harmful for our self-understanding and flourishing. Claiming that morality is an illusion, for instance, can seriously decrease the value of one’s life.
Second, it is harmful for various important social and professional practices, such as religion, the legal system, psychiatry, and education. For instance, if there is no free will, it seems that the whole system of law is merely manipulative and utterly unjust.
Third, scientism is harmful to science itself. If scientism is true, then certain things seem highly improbable or even impossible, such as that we reliably form true beliefs about reality and that we have the ability to reason validly.