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Scientific therefore neutral

Does science = neutrality ? This is an assumption we

take for granted in the modern era(by modern I refer

to the era during and post enlightenment). We havecome to believe that science unlike religion is more

informed and is rational. The term rational is quite

problematic as it assumes there is something

irrational. It creates a dichotomy between ancient and

medieval and modern. Modern being a better state.

The realm of the other 2 eras is relegated to being

romanticised or being seen through biased eyes.

Our idea that science is rational when compared

religion or belief is misleading, science is never

neutral. The assumption that cutting something of

from its natural environment and studying it will give

us a neutral response. Psychology is one such

discipline that desperately tries to use scientificity as

a means to justify its end. At it heart lies the

assumption that it can acquire the same status as thenatural science if its methods are mimic those used in

the natural sciences. Statics come to the rescuehere;

breaking something down into numbers will

apparently make it more scientific.

This fallacy has often lead to disastrousresults by

scientists conducting scientific research. One of my

favourite examples is intelligence and intelligencetesting. Intelligence is a badly defined concept and

one that most psychologists do not agree upon. On

this shaky foundation intelligence tests were

constructed using scientific means. The Nazis picked

up on these ideas of inferiority and superiority as a

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basis for killing people. this of course is well

documented history and an extreme example. There

are a lot more horror stories but I will skip them.

Today intelligence tests help separate students with

difficulties from well functioning children. We set upspecial schools for such children. All of this can hide

behind the guise of being helpful and science.

We have come to believe in science as something that

will give us the right answers. I use the term believe

deliberately because we dont question its authority

and believe in its benign presence. We assume that if

an idea has some scientific backing it is good andcorrect and neutral.

Science however is never neutral, and it can never be.

By writing a certain way or by following certain

methods and idea does not become neutral. Natural

science isnt neutral. It takes a certain amount of

conjecture and intuition to prove something in the

natural sciences. The natural sciences are learning tolive with uncertainty. Psychology however needs to

prove the existence of things that are merely

constructed by it. By hiding behind the guise of

pseudo neutrality psychology subtly pushes its own

agenda.

Most scientific ideas are based in not so neutral ideas.

Take for example eugenics, which sorted out goodhealthy people from the ones that were useless to

society. This idea has taken the form of cultural

differences or gender differences. Women are not

unclean creatures (not a medieval idea as we like to

assume) but they are trapped by their biology. PMS

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syndrome is presented as evidence for a womans

weakness and her inability to be as competent as a

man. The people behind such research are not

consciously trying to suppress women nor are a part

of a grand conspiracy; they are products of theirenvironment in which women internalise passive

roles.

Good science if there is such a thing isnt about

proving something it is more profound than that, it is

about accepting that a problem may not have an

answer or the answer isnt what one hoped for or that

the answer isnt dependent on the method.

Science has come to take the place of religion. Lets not

say but religion was false and look at how it

oppressed people. This is a weak argument that goes

nowhere. Lets not assume religion was universally

bad and science is universally good and is helping us

become rational beings. We cant discard either. We

need to question both. Lets not assume that a sterilelab can give us all the answers we are looking for and

we can do things better. The egocentricism that

modernity has assumed towards other forms of

thought are repressive.

I am attaching 2 links one to a program which is aired

on BBC Horizon which starts with the question howlong is a piece of string. This program challenges the

idea of observation and measurement as an absolute.

The second link if for a documentary by Adam Curtis-

All Watched By Machines Of Loving Grace. This

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documentary looks at how we have come to believe

that technology will set us free and how ideas of

order and balance have been oppressive. The

documentary a lot of interpretations these are just

two of them that I thought complimented the paper.