The Hubris of Science

The word "science" stems from the Latin scientia, meaning knowledge. But, there is obviously some difficulty in coordinating the efforts of scientists, who believe in facts only, and in the philosophers of epistemology who deal with human knowledge, which may be instinctual not just factual. It may be simplistic to say that Death is a scientific fact, but fear of Death is human knowledge and something beyond mere fact.

What may very well be disturbing about science and scientists is their belief that facts are facts and are never truly wrong, but only subject to a broadening of initial discoveries, or a tweaking of early proofs. We can readily admit that science is mot science without factual evidence, and that such evidence comes only through experimentation where proof is required every step of the way. A valid example is the "science" of cloning. Facts show that cloning is possible by various means. Facts show us Dolly, a cloned sheep. But, the scientific experiments that resulted in Dolly failed some 98 times prior to this one solid, scientific proof. Epistemology is the study of human knowledge, and thus is differentiated from science, which (so scientists continue to tell us) goes well beyond human knowledge. Science sees itself and its coterie of adherents, as a vanguard of the rest of Humanity, like Captain Kirk and the Starship "Enterprise" going where no man has gone before. It may be simplistic, but the reality of science is to expand Human Knowledge. To do that, the scientist must separate himself from ordinary Man. Thus, the question really becomes: "How much science does Mankind need?" The answer, in part, is there is really no way of quantifying Human curiosity and the need to make each generation somehow better, safer, healthier, more knowledgeable, longer living, genetically improved, and even more content with their lives than the generations preceding.

There is a certain hubris to science and scientists. And this is deservedly so. Philosophy has given us religion and what is now called Determinism; science has given us Evolution and Man's ascent from other life-forms. Epistemology has provided us with thinkers- whether religious like St. Augustine or Descartes or Hume; or social revolutionaries like Marx, Engels, Lenin and, unfortunately, Hitler. Science has provided Copernicus, Galileo, the Curies, Pasteur, Jonas Salk, and, unfortunately Robert Oppenheimer and Wernher von Braun. If Descartes maintained that he exists because he is capable of thinking, the scientist will counter with "I exist to create, improve, innovate in real time not in thought waves." Is there a connection between these two areas of knowledge? There is ".the subject of tacit knowledge, a concept that involves recognizing and making a commitment to ideas or hypotheses that may result from a rich understanding and knowledge but that cannot be explained by explicit reasoning" (Rust 76). What is changing both human knowledge as well as science is our ever-expanding world of the computer. Man's knowledge has moved from a lecture hall and seminar and heated discussion to a simple keyboard and screen. %Test tubes are now flanked with megabyte content. Even school libraries have reduced their stacks and added desk top computers, and outlets for students' laptops. And how does science "crow" about these changes? "(T)he combination of advances in computer science and the push to comprehend complex, critical systems will promote a move away from reductionism toward a new, semi-empiricism that is more akin to artificial intelligence than to the semi-empiricism of the past" (Yaron 232).

Therefore, man's knowledge is now hemmed in by AI- Artificial Intelligence. If Descartes were alive today, his famous quote might be: "I log on, therefore I think". Man's scientific thoughts now exist on CD-ROMs, even the Sermon on the Mount can be found on a microchip. Today's scientists do not need to reason about the potential of their research in terms of "pure" science but rather in possible grants, even prizes available for their experimentation.

REFERENCES:

Rust, Chris(2004): "Design Enquiry: Tacit Knowledge and Invention in Science" Design Issues v. 20 no. 4 (Autumn 2004) p. 76-85

Yaron, David: "Toward a new semi-empiricism" Chemical & Engineering News v. 79 no. 13 (March 26 2001) p. 232