The Scientific Irony

Published on Oct 31, 2017 (updated Dec 17, 2023), filed under philosophy. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on Bluesky.)

The scientific method—science—makes many assumptions (materialism, empiricism, determinism, temporality, logic, &c. pp.) and therefore seems constrained to physical reality, if not parts of that. In my mind, science is of limited—but not of no—use to our view of the world, to philosophy, and especially to metaphysics.

There is, and please share your thoughts as I have convictions and am quick with assertions, some quite delicate irony, however, in what science has led us to believe. Two of the root arguments are as follows:

P

There’s no proof that life is not based on chance.

C

Therefore, life is based on chance.

And:

P

There’s no proof that life has meaning.

C

Therefore, life is meaningless.

The irony is not that these arguments, even if the premises were true, aren’t sound. The irony is not that they, when believed, are disproportionately impactful. The irony is not that these arguments are, indeed, destructive, counter a constructive world view and a healthy psychological model of reality.

The irony is that the faith-rejecting, (dis)proof-centered enterprise of science is but based on faith.

What the scientific method does is to ask for faith to reject faith.

Just as some believe that there’s a God, others believe life is physical and explicable and meaningless.

We could go further and note how the parallel makes for a contradiction: a fact-centered world view based on belief. However, that’s yet not a problem because logic appears limited, too, and because I don’t want to go further (I’m not even sure I can). I just want to challenge the assumptions we’re making about our world—and how science seems to be a faith-based enterprise just like religion is. Everything may be, and so science really is nothing different or special or better. Problems arise when we fail to recognize this.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you use every day (like Google) and companies you’ve never heard of, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also with respect to politics and philosophy. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my experiences and perspectives. (Please share feedback: Interpret charitably, but do be critical.)