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I am really pleased to see other scientists having this discussion. It has been lonely at times trying to explain to laypersons that the empiricist and positivist philosophies of science are not the only ones. My philosophy of science has been founded on constructivism - the idea that one cannot separate researcher from research and any claims to objectivity and eliminating researcher bias are flawed from the outset. You just have to look at factor analysis to see that empirically collected data using a positivist analysis can produce outcomes that will have been based on a rotation which most fits the outcome the researcher wants. Here are some paradoxes: - A constructivist's philosophy of science is that each person has their own version of the truth - but that in itself is a version of the truth! - An empiricist believes that that truth comes from objectively observing the materialist elements of the environment. But to do that requires internal thoughts to interpret them. - A positivist believes that objective methods such as verified statistical tests provide the truth in the way that internal thoughts however logical cannot. But the equations they are using came from the logical thinking of the humans that created them. Often laypersons believe that the empiricist approach needed in natural science is "science". They also often think, as has been said, that anything described as science must have been through a positivist approach making it therefore "true." What is worse for me as a constructivist is when someone presents their version of the truth as if it is *the* truth! Of course this post is just my version of the truth - or if Neil's truth is right, my belief! :-) Jonathan Bishop BSc(Hons), MSc, MScEcon Le samedi 12 avril 2014, Neil Stoker <[log in to unmask]> a écrit : > > *"Truth' is too entwined with 'belief'. Beliefs abound, but - from a > scientific standpoint - no belief warrants respect.""I have also thought > (science) could be seen as a belief system in as such that we choose to > believe in the empirical evidence. "* > > No belief warrants respect? I'd be surprised if your world view is not > packed to the brim with beliefs (mine is!). My take on it is that beliefs > are irrelevant ultimately, but they are the way humans function - and it > may be impossible for us to function without them. A bit like the visible > spectrum and 'colour' being an artifact of the way we are made. How we > deal with our own beliefs, and those of others, is a mixture of our nature, > our culture, and our personal experiences/preferences, and science is just > a way of questioning beliefs. > > Whether you respect your own or anyone else's beliefs is a product of your > own belief system. There's quite a strong strand in most cultures that we > can or should change our own beliefs, or those of others, that aren't > 'popular' or 'correct' in some way, which I think is arrogant and > ultimately futile - though again very human. If the scientific approach is > more useful to us, and we live by it, then others might start to find it > attractive (or not), but it doesn't result in people living without beliefs. > ********************************************************************** > > Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with > one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets) > > * set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) * set > psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) * signoff psci-com (to leave the > list) * Subscribe here > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com > > Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and > JISCMail acceptable use policy the small print | pscicomjiscmail<https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print> > > ********************************************************************** > ********************************************************************** Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets) • set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) • set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) • signoff psci-com (to leave the list) • Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print **********************************************************************