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Publication Date: 2010-01-01
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Haack, S. (2010). Six signs of scientism. Discusiones Filosóficas, 11(16), 13–40. Retrieved from https://revistasojs.ucaldas.edu.co/index.php/discusionesfilosoficas/article/view/544
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Abstract
As the English word "scientism" is currently used, it is a trivial verbal truth that scientism-an inappropriately deferential attitude to science-should be avoided. But it is a substantial question when, and why, deference to the sciences is inappropriate or exaggerated. This paper tries to answer that question by articulating "six signs of scientism": the honorific use of "science," etc.; using scientific trappings purely decoratively; preoccupation with demarcation; preoccupation with "scientific method"; looking to the sciences for answers beyond their scope; denying the legitimacy or worth of non-scientific (e.g., legal or literary) inquiry, or of writing poetry or making art.
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References
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POLANYI, Michael. (1946). Science, Faith and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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RAVETZ, Jerome. (1971). Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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SCHILPP, Paul A. (Ed). (1974). The Philosophy of Karl Popper. La Salle, IL: Open Court. p. 3-181.
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Von HAYEK, F. A. (Agosto de 1942). “Scientism and the Study of Society”. En: Económica. p. 267-91.
________. (1952). The Counter-Revolution of Science. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
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BRIDGMAN, Percy. (1955). “The Prospect for Intelligence” (1945). En: Reflections of a Physicist. New York: Philosophical Library. p. 526-552.
________. (1955). “On Scientific Method” (1949). En: Reflections of a Physicist. New York: Philosophical Library. p. 81-82.
BUDERI, Robert. “Science: Beaming in on the Past”. En: Time. 10, Marzo, 1986. [citado 1 octubre 2009] Disponible en internet:
De WAAL, Frans. (2009). The Age of Empathy. New York: Harmony.
DEWEY, John. (1960). The Quest for Certainty (1929). New York: Capricorn Books.
DO CHARTERS ‘CREAM’ THE BEST? En: Wall Street Journal. Septiembre 24 de 2009. p. A20.
FENSTAD, E.-J. et al. (2003). “Preámbulo”. En: Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge. UNESCO World Conference on Science 2003. p. 4. [citado 15 septiembre 2009]. Disponible en internet:
FEYERABEND, Paul K. (1970). Against Method. London: New Left Books.
FØLLESDAL, Dagfinn. (2002). “Science, Pseudo-Science and Traditional Knowledge”. En: ALLEA (All European Academies). Biennial Handbook. p. 27-37.
GROOM, Dale. (Septiembre de 1956). “Drugs for Cardiac Patients”. En: American Journal of Nursing. 56.9, p. 1125-1127.
GROSS, Paul R.; LEVITT, Norman & LEWIS, Martin. (Eds). (1997). The Flight from Science and Reason (1996). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
HAACK, Susan. (2003). Defending Science – Within Reason: Between Scientism and Cynicism. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
________. (2004). “Science, Economics, ‘Vision’”. En: Social Research. 7.2, p.167-83.
________. (2005). “Trial and Error: The Supreme Court’s Philosophy of Science”. En: American Journal of Public Health. 95, p. 66-73.
________. (2007). “Peer Review and Publication: Lessons for Lawyers”. En: Stetson Law Review. 36, p. 789-819.
________. (2008). Putting Philosophy to Work. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
________. (2009). “The Meaning of Pragmatism: The Ethics of Terminology and the Language of Philosophy”. En: Teorema. XXX, III.3, p. 9-25.
________. (en prensa). “Federal Philosophy of Science: A Deconstruction – and a Reconstruction”. En: NYU Journal of Law and Liberty.
HALLER, Christine & BENOWITZ, Neal A. (2000). “Adverse Cardiovascular and Central Nervous System Events Associated with Dietary Supplements Containing Ephedra Alkaloids”. En: New England Journal of Medicine. 343, p. 1833-1838.
HEILBRONER, Robert L. (1999). The Worldly Philosophers. 7a ed. New York: Simon and Schuster. Capítulo XI.
HEINONEN, Olli P.; SLONE, Denis & SHAPIRO, Samuel. (1977). Birth Defects and Drugs in Pregnancy. Littleton, MA: Sciences Group.
HOBBS, A. H. (1953). Social Problems and Scientism. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Press.
HOTZ, Robert Lee. “Magic Flute: Primal Find Sings of Music’s Mystery”. En: Wall Street Journal. Julio 3-5 de 2009. p. A9.
________. “Tracing the Origins of Human Empathy”. En: Wall Street Journal. Septiembre 26 de 2009. p. A1.
________. “Fossils Shed Light on Human Past”. En: Wall Street Journal. Octubre 2 de 2009. p. A3.
HUTTEN, E. H. (1956). The Language of Modern Physics. London: Allen and Unwin.
HYLAND, William G. Jr. (2009). In Defense of Thomas Jefferson: The Sally Hemings Sex Scandal. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
JEFFERSON-HEMINGS SCHOLARS’ COMMISSION. (Abril 12, 2001). Report on the Jefferson-Hemings Matter.
KEATES, Nancy. “From Barn Raisings to Home Building: Consumers Hire Amish Builders, Citing Craftsmanship, Costs”. En: Wall Street Journal. Agosto 15 de 2008. p. W1.
KROCK, Lexi. Accidental Discoveries. [citado 6 octubre 2009]. Disponible en
LEFKOWITZ, Mary. (1996). Not Out of Africa. New York: Basic Books.
MADDOX, John. (1998). What Remains to be Discovered: Mapping the Secrets of the Universe, the Origins of Life, and the Future of the Human Race. New York: Simon and Schuster.
MARGLIN, Fredérique Apffel. (1990). “Smallpox in Two Systems of Knowledge”. En: MARGLIN, F. A. & MARGLIN, Stephen (Eds.). Dominating Knowledge: Development, Culture and Resistance. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
MEDAWAR, Peter. (1969). “Science and Literature”. En: Encounter. XXXI . 1, p. 15-23.
MERTON, Robert. (1968). Social Theory and Social Structure (1957). Glencoe, IL: Free Press (edición aumentada).
MERZ, John T. (1896). History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century. Vol. I. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons.
MILLER, David (Ed). (1983). A Pocket Popper. London: Fontana. p. 239-246.
MILTON, Katherine. (Marzo de 1992). “Civilization and Its Discontents: Amazonian Indians”. En: Natural History. 101.3, p. 36-42.
NANDA, Meera. (1998). “The Epistemic Charity of Social Constructivist Critics of Science and Why the Third World Should Reject the Offer”. En: KEORTGE, Noretta (Ed.). A House Built on Sand: Exposing Post-Modern Myths about Science. New York: Oxford University Press.
NORMAN, Jeremy N. (1985). “William Withering and the Purple Foxglove: A Bicentennial Tribute”. En: Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 25, p. 479-83.
OLBY, Robert. (1974). The Path to the Double Helix. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. Oxford English Dictionary [en línea]. Disponible en internet:
PEIRCE, Charles Sanders. (1931-58). Collected Papers. HARTSHORNE, Ch.; WEISS, P. (vol. 7-8) y BURKS, A. (Eds). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
PERSAD, Govind; WERTHEIMER, Alan & EMANUEL, Ezekiel J. (Junio 2009). “Principles for Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources”. En: The Lancet. 373, p. 423-431.
POPPER, Karl R. (1959). The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934). London: Routledge.
________. (1978). “Natural Selection and Its Scientific Status” a lecture of 1977. En: Dialéctica, 32.
________. (1979). Unended Quest. La Salle, IL: Open Court.
POLANYI, Michael. (1946). Science, Faith and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
PORTUGAL, Franklin H. & COHEN, Jack S. (1977). A Century of DNA: A History of the Discovery of the Structure and Function of the Genetic Substance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
RAVETZ, Jerome. (1971). Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
REYNOLDS, James E. F. (Ed). (1993). Martindale: The Extra Pharmacopoeia. 30a ed. London: Pharmaceutical Press.
RICHARDSON, Jeff. (s.f.) “Age Weighting and Discounting: What Are the Ethical Issues?” En: Working Paper 108, Health Economics Unit, Monash University (Australia).
SCHILPP, Paul A. (Ed). (1974). The Philosophy of Karl Popper. La Salle, IL: Open Court. p. 3-181.
SHERMER, Michael. (Septiembre de 2002). “The Shamans of Scientism”. En: Scientific American, 287.3.
SNOW, C. P. (1964). “The Two Cultures” (1959). En: The Two Cultures and a Second Look. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
STEWART, Matthew. (Junio 20 de 2007). “The Management Myth”. En: Atlantic Monthly. 297.5, p. 80-87.
TROPICAL PLANT DATABASE FILE FOR QUININE. [citado 6 octubre 2009] Disponible en internet:
TRUSEDELL, C. (1968). Essays in the History of Mechanics. New York: Springer.
TSUCHIYA, Aki; DOLAN, Paul & SHAW, Rebecca. (2007). “Measuring People’s Preferences Regarding Ageism in Health: Some Methodological Issues and Some Fresh Evidence”. En: Social Science and Medicine. 57, p. 688-696.
Von HAYEK, F. A. (Agosto de 1942). “Scientism and the Study of Society”. En: Económica. p. 267-91.
________. (1952). The Counter-Revolution of Science. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
WEINBERG, Steven. (1993). Dreams of a Final Theory. New York: Vintage Books.
WHITE, Gregory L. “GM Takes Advice from Disease Sleuths to Debug Cars”. En: Wall Street Journal. Abril 8 de 1999. p. B1, B4.
WILSON, E. O. (1999). Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. New York: Vintage Books.
WISH YOU WERE HERE. (1998). En: Oxford Today. 10.3, p. 40.
WRAY, Susan; EISNER, D. A. & ALLEN, D. G. (1985). “Two Hundred Years of the Foxglove”. En: Medical History. Supplement 5, p. 132-50.
