Stop Saying that You Believe in Science

"I Believe in Science!"

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The statement I believe in science is not a scientific statement. When a person says that they believe in science what they really mean is that they believe in philosophical materialism. Philosophical materialism is the belief that matter is all that exists. This is not scientific but speculative. Since the dogma of philosophical materialism is equated to science it often goes unquestioned and unexamined. Philosophical materialism reduces everything to matter rendering things like thought, memory, values, free-will, freedom, equality, good, evil, morality, meaning, and love as illusionary possessions of a bunch of duped robots. Philosophical materialism is existentially bankrupt, narrow-minded and woefully inadequate in its ability to explain the human experience.

The statement I believe in science is used as a personal attack to cut off debate or to silence critics. The statement is often employed as an ad hominem that paints the other person as ignorant and uneducated. If I watched a video of Bill Nye rambling about abortion and I said that he was wrong because he's a clown, I would be committing an ad hominem logical fallacy. Bill Nye being a clown has nothing to do with the truthfulness of his statements on abortion.

The statement I believe in science is committing a categorical error. When we look at the context of how this phrase is used, belief in science is often juxtaposed to belief in God. Science and God are in two completely different categories. The former describes nature and the latter explains why nature is there or why we are even able to describe nature (science!). Responding to belief in God with the statement I believe in science is like saying I don't believe in Picasso, I believe in art!

The statement I believe in science is self-refuting when used in an epistemological sense. Scientism is a relatively new term which refers to the belief that science is the only source of knowledge. While philosophical materialism limits the state of being (ontology) scientism places limits on knowing (epistemology). Scientism is self-refuting because scientism cannot be verified scientifically! Scientism can also be turned against science since many of the assumptions behind science cannot be proven scientifically.

The statement I believe in science is really a belief in the infallibility of  the scientific establishment. This is ironic since much of history's scientific heroes were people who went against the scientific establishment by questioning their assumptions. Today's science has become dogmatic and authoritative. I guess when you ignore the history of science you are doomed to repeat it.