SCIENTISM, INTERPRETATION, AND CRITICISM

Philip S. Gorski; Philip S. Gorski

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.1990.tb00793.x

Abstract

Abstract. What is the relationship between natural science, social science, and religion? The dominant paradigm in contemporary social science is scientism, the attempt to apply the methods of natural science to the study of society. However, scientism is problematic: it rests on a conception of natural science that cannot be sustained. Natural scientific understanding emerges from an instrumental and objectifying relation to the world; it is oriented toward control and manipulation of the physical world. Social‐scientific understanding, by contrast, must begin with a practical and meaningful relation to the world: it is oriented toward the mediation of values and objective possibilities in the social world. Social science is therefore a form of practical reason based on objective claims. But while social‐scientific understanding starts with interpretation, its possibilities by no means end there. In particular, by developing abstract and objectified models of society as a system, social science opens existing social organization to critical reflection. Religion, by contrast, is a form of speculative reason about ultimate values, based on subjective claims of religious experience. Social science nevertheless shares with religion an orientation toward values and concern with the “good life.”

Keywords

meaning, praxis, instrumental reason, scientism, hermeneutics, critical reason, practical reason, model, pragmatic criterion

How to Cite

Gorski, P., (1990) “SCIENTISM, INTERPRETATION, AND CRITICISM”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 25(3), 279–307. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.1990.tb00793.x

Rights

Downloads

References

Bellah, Robert N., et al.1985. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. New York : Harper and Row.

Dilthey, Wilhelm. 1974. Rev. 1988. “Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften .” In Gesammelte Schriften, vol. 1. Stuttgart : B. G. Teubner. Eng. : Introduction to the Human Sciences. Detroit , MI : Wayne State Univ. Press.

Eyerabend, Paul. 1975. Against Method. London : Verso.

Gadamer, Hans‐Georg. 1976. Philosophical Hermeneuticsa ed. and trans. David, E. Linge. Berkeley : Univ. of California Press.

Gadamer, Hans‐Georg. 1976. philosophical Hermeneutics, ed. And trans. David E.Linge. Berkeley : Univ. of California Press.

Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York : Basic Books.

Habermas, Jürgen. 1979. Communication and the Evolution of Society, trans. Thomas, McCarthy. Boston : Beacon Press.

Hesse, Mary. 1980. Revolutions and Reconstructions in the Philosophy of Science. Bloomington : Indiana Univ. Press.

Kirk, Jerome, and Mark, C. Miller. 1986. Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research. Beverly Hills , CA : Sage.

Kuhn, Thomas S.1957. The Copernican Revolution. Cambridge , MA : Harvard Univ. Press.

Kirk, Jerome, and Mark C.Miller. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago Press.

Kirk, Jerome, and Mark C.Miller. 1977. The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago Press.

Levi, Primo. 1958. Se Queste e un nomo. Rome : Einaudi.

Popper, Karl. 1968. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York : Harper.

Putnam, Hilary. 1978. Meaning and Moral Sciences. London : Routledge & Kegan paul.

Skocpol, Theda. 1987. Vision and Method in Historical Sociology. Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press.

Stinchcombe, Arthur. 1968. Constructing Social Theories. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago Press.

Weber, Max. 1946. From Max Weber, trans. and eds. H. H.Gerth and C.Wright Mills. Oxford : Oxford Univ. Press.

Weber, Max. [1904‐5 1958]. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott, Parsons. New York : Scribner.

Weber, Max. 1964. The Sociology of Religion, trans. Ephraim, Eischoff. Boston : Beacon Press.

Winch, Peter. 1958. The Idea of a Social Science and Its Relationship to Philosophy. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 1953. Philosophical Investigations, trans. G. E. M.Anscombe. New York : Macmillan.

Pages

279–307

Published on

1990-09-02

Abstract

Keywords

How to Cite

Rights

Downloads

45

104

6

References

Share

Authors

Downloads

Issue

Publication details

Licence

Identifiers

File Checksums (MD5)

Table of Contents

Abstract

Keywords

How to Cite

Rights

Downloads

45

104

6

References

Share

Authors

Downloads

Issue

Publication details

Licence

Identifiers

File Checksums (MD5)

Table of Contents

Non Specialist Summary