[lit-ideas] The Devil of Scientism

From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:33:43 -0400 (EDT)
In a message dated 3/27/2014 8:47:01 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Despite what Chris writes, I think it may  be doubted that many of the 
philosophers who oppose "scientism" see that they  are merely opposing a 
fictional view of "science" itself.
 
It may do to refresh this quote by Grice below.
 
The Devil of Scientism implicates that Scientism is a Devil.
 
"She is a devil".
 
Or
 
"It is a devil"
 
usually implicates that something other is NOT -- e.g. "Her sister is an  
angel". On the other hand, the devil himself is said to have been a 'fallen  
angel', which incidentally, in the plural, is the title of a play by Noel  
Coward. So I never know.

Or not.
 
Cheers,
 
Speranza
 
Grandy, Richard E. and Warner, Richard, "Paul Grice", The Stanford  
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),  
forthcoming URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/grice/>.
 
quoting Grice, "Method in Philosophical Psychology: from the banal to the  
bizarre" (Address as President to the American Philosophical Association,  
Pacific Branch -- repr. in Conception of Value):
 
"We must be ever watchful against the Devil of scientism, who would lead us 
 into myopic overconcentration on the nature and importance of knowledge, 
and of  scientific knowledge in particular; the Devil who is even so 
audacious as to  tempt us to call in question the very system of ideas require 
to 
make  intelligible the idea of calling in question anything at all; and who 
would even  prompt us, in effect, to suggest that since we do not really think 
but only  think that we think, we had better change our minds without undue 
delay."
(1975b, 53).
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[lit-ideas] The Devil of Scientism

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