Superultramodern Scientism (SSism)
Superultramodern Scientism (SSism) is Scientism of
Superultramodern Science (SS). Without SSism, SS would be seen
as a philosophy instead of science. SSism agrees with the
definition of Science as a systematic body of knowledge. More
systematic a body of knowledge is the more scientific it is.
SSism is essentially based on its critique of logical positivism
as well as falsificationism and the principle of universal
doubt. :
1. Critique of logical positivism -
Logical positivism is a doctrine that if some theory ( that is
supposed to be speaking about the nature of physical /material
reality ) is not verifiable then it is meaningless or absurd.
SSism states that the meaning of a theory has nothing to do with
its verifiabitlity but rather the nature of concepts it
involves. ( This is axiomatic. )
2. Critique of logical falsificationism -
Logical falsificationism is a doctrine that if some theory (
that is supposed to be speaking about the nature of physical /
material reality ) is not falsifiable then it is unscientific.
Thus it is instead metaphysical, if at all meaningful. SSism
states that falsifiability of a theory has nothing to do with
its being scientific. (This is axiomatic.)
3. The principle of universal doubt -
It is the principle that 'anything may be possible' for what is
believed to be 100 % certain at the moment may be because of the
limited intellectual capacities of the believer. This suggests
that no part / kind of science (including pure mathematics) is
to be seen as absolutely certain. Thus the idea of science
reduces to the idea of systematic body of knowledge where each
group or proposition has its own probability attached to it.
The word philosophy, as it is distinguished from science, is
misleading, as it means what philosophy contains is impossible
to be a systematic body of knowledge and what science contains
is certain or proved.
Kedar Joshi BSc MA MRI Cambridge, UK.