Science and Other Common Nouns: Further Implications of Anti-Essentialism

The term “science” is a common noun that is used to designate a whole range of activities. If Reeves is right—and I think he is—that there is no essence to these activities that allows them to be objectively identified and demarcated from nonscience, then what qualifies as science is determined by c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Main Author: Stump, J. B. 1969- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2020]
In: Zygon
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Reeves, Josh A. 1976-, Against methodology in science and religion / Natural sciences / Religion / Essentialism
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
CF Christianity and Science
Further subjects:B Essentialism
B Language
B Scientific Method
B Evolution
B History
B Pseudoscience
B Truth
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The term “science” is a common noun that is used to designate a whole range of activities. If Reeves is right—and I think he is—that there is no essence to these activities that allows them to be objectively identified and demarcated from nonscience, then what qualifies as science is determined by communities. It becomes much more difficult on this antiessentialism position to identify and dismiss pseudo-science. I suggest we might find a way forward, though, by engaging a philosophical tradition that has largely been neglected in English-speaking science and religion studies, and by articulating a theory of consensus along the lines of Oreskes (2019).
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12622