Radical Skepticism and Scientism Reflection PDF

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RADICAL SKEPTICISM AND SCIENTISM REFLECTION

Gabrielle C. Koch Grand Canyon University PHI-103 Dr. Rich Holland October 4, 2020

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RADICAL SKEPTICISM AND SCIENTISM REFLECTION

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Radical Skepticism ad Scientism Reflection Radical Skepticism and Scientism are different beliefs about how we accumulate knowledge. Radical skepticism is the belief that we are always going to fall short of certainty, so not even science leads to knowledge. While scientism states that only the hard sciences lead to knowledge, but even science doesn’t tell us that. While both radical skepticism and scientism are different in the belief systems, they are both wrong according to the Christian Worldview. Radical Skepticism is the belief that you have to have 100% certainty to have knowledge and if you don’t have 100% certainty, then you don’t have knowledge. There are three different types of radical skepticism: “The Dreaming Argument”, “The Deceiving Demon Argument”, and “Brain in a Vat Argument”. The Dreaming Argument states that you could be dreaming right now and that everything you take in is just happening in a dream. If you are dreaming, then you don’t have any knowledge about your environment or even about yourself. A modern example of this phenomenon is the movie Inception. The Deceiving Demon Argument states that right now we could be under control of an all-powerful deceiving demon. Rene Descartes came up with this phenomenon as something that is worse than the Dreaming Argument. He wanted to prove that the Dreaming Argument isn’t as bad as it could be. He states that the deceiving demon could easily deceive you about all of your sensory perceptions. The demon can also deceive you that even though somethings seem true to you, they aren’t really true. The Brain in Vat Argument states that we are all dismembered brains being kept alive by one big supercomputer. The computer generates and feeds us electrical impulses that are nearly identical to what the brain would be experiencing as an ordinary person. A modern incarnation of this phenomenon would be the movie The Matrix.

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The implications of radical skepticism for knowledge and for the rest of life are that since we can never have 100% certainty about anything in the world, then no one has knowledge. There is no way to prove that we are not in a simulated reality. Each deceptive scenario seems to be identical to what the real world would be for the subject going through it. Skepticism says because you can’t prove that you aren’t being deceived, you can’t know what you think you know. Formalized, the skeptical argument can be formatted as: If you can’t prove the external world is really can’t know anything. You can’t prove that the external world is real. Therefore, you can’t know anything. Some problems with radical skepticism, according to the Christian Worldview are that real knowledge is possible despite any scenario. According to the Christian Worldview, God is the creator of the universe, humans are creatures made in God’s image, humans are damaged by “sin”- willful rebellion against God’s purposes, and God communicates to humans. There are also beliefs that were created by philosophers that would try and disclaim radical skepticism: Descartes’ belief in God’s existence, Russell’s “Best Explanation”, and G.E. Moore’s response “no reason to doubt”. All three of these beliefs were to try and prove that we don’t live in an alternate world being controlled by another. Scientism is an extremely influential perspective in epistemology. It relates to the empiricism in that it is another “extreme me” version. It is the view that only the “hard” sciences are the only legitimate way to gain knowledge in any field. Scientism is more about science rather than of science. It is not a scientific one because it is examining things about science rather than just speaking straight scientific facts without examination. The “hard” sciences are mainly chemistry and physics rather than the “soft” sciences which are the ones that express more emotion and personal claim.

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Some implications of scientism on the rest of life and for science are that scientism never states specifically that only the “hard” sciences are the only way that you can gain knowledge. Knowledge can be found in other ways than just physics and chemistry. Knowledge is found in many ways. The belief that the “hard” sciences are the only way to get knowledge, is causing people of faith the stray away from Christianity (Moreland, 2018). Moreland conducted a poll that five of the six reasons people leave the church and abandon Christianity are suspicious that there is no reason to believe in the first place. One main reason was that churches don’t keep up with modern sciences and how they relate to a biblical world (Moreland, 2018). The belief of scientism and how it relates to a Christian Worldview are two very different sides of the spectrum. The Christian Worldview states that God is the creator of the universe, humans are creatures made in God’s image, humans are damaged by “sin” and God communicates to humans. Since God is the creator of the universe, it means reality is mindindependent, objective, orderly and structured, all knowledge of reality is possible, and science and other methods of inquiry are possible and lead to real knowledge. God says that humans are innate rational faculties, designed by God to interact with the physical world and learn about it, are finite; but have the ability to learn, understand, and accumulate knowledge, and that they can do science. God says humans are imperfect, senses are imperfect, knowledge is imperfect, and we will always make mistakes but we all still have the ability to real knowledge. God will communicate with humans, so they are able to have knowledge of God and God has put information in every element and aspect of the created order. Radical Skepticism and Scientism are both a different belief in how we as humans accumulate knowledge. Radical skepticism is the belief that we will always fall short of certainty and scientism is the belief that knowledge only comes from the “hard” sciences.

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Reference Page Moreland (PhD), J.P. (2018, September 19). 10 Things You Should Know about Scientism. Retrieved October 05, 2020, from https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-shouldknow-about-scientism/...